FUD flies as Raytheon reveals social media analysis tool

Source: The Register - Posted by Anthony Pell

Defence contractor Raytheon has developed a tool that can mine social media to track and predict individuals' behaviour, according to The Guardian. A global “Big Sinister Defence Company Develops 'Google For Spies' That Your Government May Already Have Bought “ story is therefore unfurling as you read this piece.

The key “features” of Raytheon's tool, developed in co-operation with the US government and delicately titled Rapid Information Overlay Technology (RIOT), are said to be an ability to sift through social media and figure out who your friends are and the places you frequent. With that data in hand, The Guardian feels “monitoring and control” of you, I, and everyone we collectively hold dear is eminently possible. It's implied, despite Raytheon saying it's had no buyers, that such software is likely to end up in the hands of a repressive State, or a shadowy agency inside a more open State. Australia's Sydney Morning Herald has piled in with a story on the same theme.

Read this full article at The Register

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