How secretly developed software became capable of tracking people’s movements online
The U.S. government can track where you are, who you’re with, what you look like, and where you’ll likely be next thanks to a tool created by defense contractor Raytheon.
The tool, called Riot, or rapid information overlay technology, looks at your Twitter, Facebook, Gowalla, and Foursquare to determine these different data points about you, according to the Guardian, which procured a video showing off Riot. It was created out of a partnership between the U.S. government and Raytheon, though the company says it has not been sold to anyone yet.
While the tool will likely see use in uncovering information about individuals who could be considered a threat, it’s a reminder to all of us that our social data, in aggregate, is a very powerful thing. The tool scrapes these four social networks and can map out where you’ve been on Google Earth, with little pin drops denoting your check-ins. It can do the same for your photos, which have meta data often showing location coordinates. Those are then mapped out, allowing anyone to view a photo based on the location is was taken.
Once they’ve viewed one of your photos, of course, then they know what you look like.
Based on your location data, Riot can create graphs that show not only where you check in, but how often, what days of the week, and what times you most frequent that place. In the video, a Raytheon employee Brian Urch used his colleague Nick as an example. He was able to see that Nick goes to the gym most often during June on Mondays at 6 a.m.
“So if you ever did want to try to get a hold of Nick, or get a hold of his laptop, you may want to visit the gym at 6 a.m. on Monday,” said Urch in the video.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the U.S. government reach out for social data. In January 2012, the FBI put out a request for proposals for a tool that could spider different social networks, gathering keywords, to determine when an emergency situation was occurring, or about to occur. It would then set off alarms, alerting the authorities as early as possible.
US Debt
Archives
Twitter Updates
- Tate is back, truth is back twitter.com/Cobratate/stat… 2 months ago
- @NeimanMaurice @m0e_almighty Charleston White vs TI 3 months ago
Translate
Recent Posts
- The Last, Great Run For The U.S. Dollar, The Death Of The Euro And 74 Trillion In Currency Derivatives At Risk
- Are you ‘over-connected’?
- Earth-directed solar X-flare March 11
- Rate Of Climate Change To Soar By 2020s, With Arctic Warming 1°F Per Decade
- American Millennials Are Some Of The World’s Least Skilled People, Study Finds
- Russia and North Korea forge ‘year of friendship’ pariah alliance
Archives
- March 2015
- February 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- September 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- August 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
Top Posts & Pages
- China used downed U.S. fighter to develop first stealth jet
- THE TRUTH BEHIND FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES
- Freemasonry And The Oath Of Nimrod: The Masonic Connection To The Ancient Babylonian Mystery Religion
- Earthquakes and Volcanoes in Prophecy
- UAE Signs Deal to Integrate National IDs Into Mobile Phones
- Dead Men's Secrets - George Gordon forbidden archeology
Links
Blog Stats
- 1,374,432 hits