CIA, FBI push 'Facebook for spies'
When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook and MySpace, you might suspect those workers are slacking off.
But that's not the case at the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, where bosses are encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying.
"It's every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it's much, much more," said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis.
The program is called A-Space, and it's a social-networking site for analysts within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.
articles.cnn.com/2008-09-05/tech/facebook.spies_1_facebook-social-networking-site-space?_s=PM:TECHWhy Does The CIA Fund Facebook?Category:Internet & Technology - CybercultureDescription:
As if recent privacy concerns weren't enough to scare Facebook users, a member of SA just made a loose-change esque video about Facebook.
video was banned
Some of it just goes over the simple privacy concerns.
But the second half details how the Facebook venture capitalist money has come from conservative think tanks and organizations affiliated with the CIA.
1) Facebook's leading Venture Capitalist firm is Accel Partners
2) Accel Partner's CEO is Jim Breyer
3) Breyer is the former chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVAC), where he served with Gilman Louie, CEO of In-Q-Tel. In-Q-Tel is a venture capital firm established by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999. This firm works in various aspects of information technology and intelligence, particularly in "tools for the rapid deployment of distributed, economical data collection networks. Systems that are self-organizing or that provide tools for the aggregation and management of data from large numbers..." and other items "of interest to the CIA."Breyer has also served on the board of BBN Technologies, a research and development firm also closely tied to In-Q-Tel. In fact BBN shared board members with In-Q-Tel, such as Anita Jones, former Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the U.S. Department of Defense. Her responsibilities included serving as an advisor to the Secretary of Defense and overseeing the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
choicelearning.blogspot.com/2006/01/personal-security-cia-and-social.htmlwww.accel.com/news/news_one_up.php?news_id=1jacobmorse.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-would-orwell-do.htmlVIDEO FORM:
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As if recent privacy concerns weren't enough to scare Facebook users, a member of SA just made a loose-change esque video about Facebook.
Some of it just goes over the simple privacy concerns.
But the second half details how the Facebook venture capitalist money has come from conservative think tanks and organizations affiliated with the CIA.
Say WHAAAAAAA
1) Facebook's leading Venture Capitalist firm is Accel Partners
2) Accel Partner's CEO is Jim Breyer
3) Breyer is... (read more)
Breyer is the former chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVAC), where he served with Gilman Louie, CEO of In-Q-Tel. In-Q-Tel is a venture capital firm established by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999. This firm works in various aspects of information technology and intelligence, particularly in "tools for the rapid deployment of distributed, economical data collection networks. Systems that are self-organizing or that provide tools for the aggregation and management of data from large numbers..." and other items "of interest to the CIA."Breyer has also served on the board of BBN Technologies, a research and development firm also closely tied to In-Q-Tel. In fact BBN shared board members with In-Q-Tel, such as Anita Jones, former Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the U.S. Department of Defense. Her responsibilities included serving as an advisor to the Secretary of Defense and overseeing the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Facebook have 300 million users worldwide and that is what the intelligence agencies want.
Lewis Shepherd the former senior technology officer at the Defence Intelligence Agency (now working for Microsoft) says of the CIA interest in social media, “Facebook says that more than 70 percent of its users are outside the U.S., in more than 180 countries. There are more than 200 non-U.S., non-English-language microblogging Twitter-clone sites today. If the intelligence community ignored that tsunami of real-time information, we’d call them incompetent.”
So if that’s happening in the U.S, which of course affects us here. What’s happening on old Blightys shores, well recently the U.K government has said that it will be storing all U.K web data for a year in a new ‘super data base’ costing around £12 billion (almost 1 months salary for a trader at Goldman Sacs) and it’ll be safe too, so long as someone doesn’t leave all your data on a USB storage device on the number 19 bus. It will be handled by GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre and will lead to live monitoring and collection of personal data from quite possibly BT and Vodafone. Officials claim live monitoring is necessary to fight terrorism and crime
Although the new retention powers don’t extend to saving the content of emails or phone calls, it does cover the storing of your IP addresses, dates, times and user telephone numbers. A home office spokesman said “It is the Government’s priority to protect public safety and national security.”
There is that word again national security, what about personal security?
Phil Booth of the civil rights campaign group, NOID, said: “Inch by inch, the Government’s plans to map and monitor everyone’s communications are creeping into place. Today it’s retention of data; soon it’ll be a giant database to suck it all up. And unless we speak out and stop this, what used to be private – details of your relationships and personal interests – will end up in the ever-widening control of the stalker state.”
The Timesonline said “Critics question whether such a vast system can be kept secure. A total of 57 billion text messages were sent in the UK last year – 1,800 every second.”
Ask yourself this question? Do you really know that one of your Facebook friends, blog subscribers, Twitter friends, Digg fans, Flickr friends or YouTube buddies aren’t actually watching your every move?
It's easy to make a socalled internet friend but they could be anybody!
Be vigilant people of the web