IP Democracy: Homeland Security Funds Media Monitoring Software

Speaking of creepy software, the New York Times’ Eric Lipton has this piece today about international media monitoring software under development by three universities that is funded by a $2.4 million Homeland Security Department grant. Researchers at Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Utah are working on technology that would let the government monitor negative overseas opinions of the U.S. or its leaders that appear in newspapers and other publications.

The goal is to identify potential threats in advance based on negative assessments of the U.S. or the President that appear in these publications.

The new software would allow much more rapid and comprehensive monitoring of the global news media, as the Homeland Security Department and, perhaps, intelligence agencies look “to identify common patterns from numerous sources of information which might be indicative of potential threats to the nation,” a statement by the department said

The researchers aren’t looking at U.S. publications. If they did, then the threat meter would likely hilt tilt.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on October 4, 2006 12:02 PM to IP Democracy