DHS: Scour Blogs To Stop Bombs

By Noah Shachtman
October 31, 2008 7:39:00 AM
Categories: Info War
Courtesy Of Wired Blog Network

Could blogs be the key to building better bombs? The Department of Homeland Security is worried they just might. So DHS is looking for teams of geeks and social scientists to "gather data on a near real-time basis from blogs and message boards... in order to better counter the use of IEDs," or improvised explosive devices.

"As the use of the internet by terrorists has increased, blogging and message boards have played a substantial role in allowing communication among those who would do the United States harm," the agency adds, in a solicitation for contractors. That's why "it is necessary to identify speech acts in near to real-time which proceed the decision by terrorists to use an IED."

Military, security, and intelligence circles have grown increasingly worried about how would-be terrorists might use emerging tools. Everything from Twitter to World of Warcraft has earned a suspicious eye.

In contrast, the threat raised by DHS' "Counter-Improved Explosive Devices Blogging" project is relatively old. Jihadist groups have been using online forums and, yes, blogging software for years. Dozens of federal agencies and independent firms keep tabs on these sites, for potentially hazardous chatter. Which makes you wonder why is DHS is suddenly looking to get into the blog-spotting game, too.

The Department is promising to meet with potential contractors to explain "the types of information that needs to be collected from blogs and message boards (amount of discussion about IED technology, depth of discussion about IEDs, support for use of IEDs, etc.)."

From there, it'll be up to wannabe online monitors to build a plan for "developing objective, systematic data collection and retrieval techniques to gather data on a near real-time basis from blogs and message boards."

Data will be collected at multiple, pre-determined times to evaluate the transmission of information over time, and should include metrics for determining the impact factor and usage patterns of the blogs and message boards. 3) identifying blogs and message boards utilized or favored by groups that engage in violent or terrorist activity to include in the study. Blogs and message boards must be representative of various characteristics of the larger populations of interest. and 4) collecting quantitative and qualitative data from the bloggers to evaluate such issues relating to knowledge of the preparation and execution of violent activities, including IED attacks.

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