The Department of Homeland Security has paid contractors to monitor social networking sites — like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and reader comments on mainstream news media articles — for “public reaction to major governmental proposals with homeland security implications,” according to newly disclosed documents.

3:43 pm - Fri, Jan 13, 2012: 110 notes

The Department of Homeland Security has paid contractors to monitor social networking sites — like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and reader comments on mainstream news media articles — for “public reaction to major governmental proposals with homeland security implications,” according to newly disclosed documents.

Well, the government wasn’t lying when they said CentCom wasn’t monitoring our social networking endeavors.

From The Guardian (3/17/11):

Centcom spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said: “The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US.”

He said none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to “address US audiences” with such technology, and any English-language use of social media by Centcom was always clearly attributed. The languages in which the interventions are conducted include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.

Centcom said it was not targeting any US-based web sites, in English or any other language, and specifically said it was not targeting Facebook or Twitter.