The United States Secret Service is set to purchase software that can track Twitter users in real time, prompting concerns that individuals could face greater harassment over tweets deemed to be threatening or anti-government. According to a solicitation posted this week, the federal agency announced its intention to use the tool to undertake “sentiment analysis,” “influencer identification,” “access to historical Twitter data,” “ability to detect sarcasm,” and “heat maps” that will show user trends. The software will also have the capability to “send notifications to users,” suggesting that the Secret Service intends to directly address Twitter users who are deemed to have tweeted something unsavory. There have been numerous instances where Twitter users have been harassed by the Secret Service after making anti-Obama or anti-government statements that could not be construed at threatening. The Secret Service’s acquisition of more sophisticated tracking software will only serve to make these incidents more common.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 18:50:37 +0000
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