An incredibly nosy new software has been developed by the company Raytheon. The software, called Riot, uses social media to track and predict a person’s every move. According to the UK Guardian, “Raytheon’s Riot program mines social network data like a ‘Google for spies'”.
Russia Today reported on the disturbing implications of the software:
Using public websites for law enforcement is considered legal in most countries, and Riot will be of interest to intelligence and national security agencies. In February last year the FBI requested that it wanted to develop ways of mining social media sites for monitoring “bad actors or groups”.
This has prompted concern from civil liberties groups about online privacy. Ginger McCall, an attorney at the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, said Riot raised concerns about how an individual’s data could be collected covertly without oversight or regulation.
“Users may be posting information that they believe will be viewed only by their friends, but instead it is being used by government officials or pulled in by data collection services like the Riot search,” McCall told The Guardian.
But Raytheon defended its product and in an email to the Guardian Jared Adams, a spokesman for the company’s intelligence and information systems department, said it would help to meet the US’s rapidly changing security needs.He also highlighted that it does not analyze personally identifiable information, such as bank details or social security numbers.
In December Raytheon indicated that Riot would be part of a patent the company is pursuing for a system designed to gather data from social networking sites and blogs to identify if someone is a national security risk.
The release of this software coincides with the expected announcement of yet another Executive Order on Tuesday. President Obama has hinted that CISPA, which did not pass congress, will be passed using his highly overworked executive authority.
CISPA allows for the voluntary sharing of information about internet traffic between private companies and the government. Its intention is to assist the intelligence service in identifying and neutralizing cyber and hacking attacks and to ensure the security of networks against attack …Opponents of the bill say it will allow government to track an individuals browsing information, allowing them to spy on individuals at will.
