[Bumped by Request /SD]
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is now getting ready to hire public companies, individual contractors outside government, to scour public data and social media in order to provide information for the new “domestic terror watch lists.” From the description it appears DHS is going to pay “big tech” (Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter, etc.), via contracts, to hire and organize internal monitoring teams to assist the government by sending information on citizens they deem “dangerous.”
Gee, what could possibly go wrong with this?…
NBC is reporting on these new developments as the U.S. intelligence apparatus is preparing to go live with the assembly of lists of Americans who “could be” potential threats to the government; and need to be watched.
However, even NBC is beginning to realize the consequences: “DHS planning to expand relationships with companies that scour public data for intelligence and to better harness the vast trove of data it already collects on Americans. The department is also contemplating changes to its terrorist watch listing process.”
Here’s the article:
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security, created after the 9/11 attacks to protect the country from international terrorism, is moving toward a sweeping set of policy changes aimed at detecting and stopping what intelligence officials say is now a top threat to the homeland: domestic violent extremism.
Two senior Biden administration officials told NBC News that DHS, whose intelligence division did not publish a warning of potential violence before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, is seeking to improve its ability to collect and analyze data about domestic terrorism — including the sorts of public social media posts that threatened a potential attack on the Capitol, but were not deemed “actionable” by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
DHS is planning to expand its relationships with companies that scour public data for intelligence, one of the senior officials said, and also to better harness the vast trove of data it already collects on Americans, including travel and commercial data through Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and other DHS components. (read more)
Expand your thinking to what was initiated with the COVID model for “contact tracing” and you can quickly see how physical proximity to a rogue dissident, a person with wrong thoughts – aka a domestic extremist, can result in you being labeled along with that dissident…. and you are on the list. Then overlay the efforts of Big Tech to assist the administrative state with an electronic trail of your habits, contacts, phone calls, text messages and internet patterns…. and you are on the list.
Remind yourself what FBI “contractors’ with access to the NSA database already did in their quest for political opposition research and surveillance {Go Deep}. Then overlay all of the above and you get an alarming picture that is not something to dispatch.
Well I’m not hard to find so pack a lunch and come on a$$holes.
It won’t start out that way. What will happen is, you’ll book a last-minute flight to attend on out-of-state funeral of a family member, and they’ll deny you at security, saying you’re on a no-fly list. And then they’ll take you into a back room for interrogation – alone and unarmed. On their turf.
well, I like driving after all 🙂
Got a call on my landline the other day, some guy wanted to know if I would answer some questions, said they would be on politics and covid and that he was not affiliated with any political party. Since I have never done any social media and use an old flip phone and rarely ever comment on any blogs I would imagine most folks don’t know what I think other than those who know me personally, years ago I joined Oathkeepers and 25 yrs ago declared myself as a sovereign American so I know I’m on at least one bad boy list, anyhow I ask this guy who he is with he just tells me he is not with any political party, I ask him several times who he is with, who he works for or what organization he is affiliated with and the only answer he provides is he is not with any political party, finally he hangs up when he realizes this conversation is headed nowhere. I wonder which 3 letter agency that came from.
They don’t need private contractors, Big Tech will do it for the gov.
Only when the Democrats control the government. As soon as a Republican wins, expect them to fight all subpoenas.
Were you here for the last “election?” Did you see what happened? You think there will ever be another republican elected resident again?
Of course there will be get ready for President Romney to continue the plan in 4-8-12 years depending on if they can somehow squeeze half a term out of Biden before handing over the reign to Queen Kamala for a decade straight.
and there are plenty more ready to go. true reformers are a small minority. look at those trump beat in ’16. maybe rand paul. anyone else?
aipac among others vets the vast majority of politicians. trump was the exception because he was rich enough and famous enough to sidestep/leapfrog that process. most aren’t.
they are opening a can of worms that will surely backfire on them…people are going to be pushed just so far.. i see a big problem down the road…and the left is too stupid to see it.. sure they are funded, connected, now they have a defense secretary that looks like a fruitloop, but there are many more military thinking conservatively than they know..they already know who i am, so stop by for coffee, don’t think you’re going to take my guns though…my wife will kick your ass…lol
It will backfire on US, not them. D H S will collect payment and walk out the building.
“they are opening a can of worms that will surely backfire on them…people are going to be pushed just so far.”
I pray you are right, but I am afraid we are frogs in an ever deepening and slowly simmering pot, and then it may be too late
If you’re not on someone’s list by now you’re doing something wrong!
Start with a 545 communist that reside in DC.
They are anti-American
But of course they will allow for Crinimals to be allowed to fly all over the Nation and the World the Democ-Rats need thier voters and supporters from Prison to vote them into office
The only problem I have with this article is that it’s at least FIVE YEARS TOO LATE!!! This happened to me at the end of 2016 or sooner, when the anti-Christian, anti-conservative types I used to work with in my State of Illinois jobs literally *LIED TO THE FBI* to get me named to the bogus FIB-DHS Terror Watch List at the Springfield, Illinois, fusion center. These Democrats never met a lie they didn’t like, especially when they could get paid a vehicle, gift card, vacation, or other ill-gotten reward for it. Taxpayer-funded kickbacks are the name of the game in this demonic program!
#FBI. But then again, “FIB” is really more accurate . . .
Precise writing matters.
“From the description it appears DHS is going to pay “big tech” (Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter, etc.), via contracts, to hire and organize internal monitoring teams to assist the government by sending information on citizens they deem “dangerous.””
Let me re-write this:
From the description, it appears DHS [intends to contract with] “big tech” (Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter, etc.)…to hire and organize internal monitoring teams to assist the government by sending information on citizens THEY deem “dangerous.”
Who is the “THEY” in that re-writing? Is it “Big Tech” or is it DHS? Who is doing the “hiring” of the monitoring teams? Whose employees are they? Big Tech’s or DHS’? Has DHS yet contracted with Big Tech? Or is this just online talk about the possibility of DHS doing that. More importantly, there’s a big difference between DHS tasking Big Tech to ID and supply info on citizens who Big Tech considers “dangerous” and tasking Big Tech, via contract, to supply DHS with social media data created by citizens in Big Tech’s platforms of citizens whom DHS has deems and ID’s as “dangerous”. I’m not sure there’s any real Fourth Amendment issues directly implicated in either scenario since in both cases the actual data is, presumably, public by virtue of the social media activity of citizens who have made decisions to make public communications. There may be fine lines on some platforms where users can make certain post ‘private’ to only limited people and whethere that platform design and function creates any “expectation” of privacy” that may implicate government activity under the Fourth Amendment. There’s certainly a potential political scandal in terms of government activity in monitoring and gathering data available from Big Tech platforms and the possibility (indeed, likely probability) of political abuse of those citizens who are deemed “dangerous” by the DHS and on what factual basis such a determination is made, but this little exercise points to the importance of being precise in one’s language in describing what is actually being done or merely considered and who is doing the selection of targets and on what basis, as well as who is hiring and paying the “teams” of “monitors”.