U.S. To Monitor Social Networking Sites

The Pentagon is to monitor social networking sites for threats such as cyberterrorism and the next Arab revolution. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

Pentagon To Monitor Social Networking Sites For Threats -- The Guardian

US defence department to search for potential cyberterrorism and next Arab revolutions on sites such as Facebook and Twitter

he Pentagon is planning to use social networking sites to tackle threats such as cyberterrorism and to identify where a major event like the Arab revolutions might next take place, reports in the US say.

The US department of defence is offering $42m (£25m) to fund research into monitoring social networks to track the formation, development and spread of ideas, and identify misinformation and attempts to foment unrest. The move by Darpa, the defence advanced research projects agency, comes in the wake of use of social networks by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq and by home-grown threats such as Anonymous. Darpa did not respond to requests for comment from the New York Times.

Read more ....

Update #1: White House to monitor extremism on social networking -- Tech Eye
Update #2: White House: Need to monitor online 'extremism' -- CNet

My Comment: I personally thought that they were already monitoring them. What I am interested in now is .... will this monitoring be done on domestic or foreign contributors/members to these social networks.