The Department of Homeland Securityannounced a public bidfor third party company to build up a “ medium influence database ” subject of tracking more than 290,000 news show beginning across the globe . Firstspotted by Bloomberg Law , the public bid would also track journalists and bloggers , compiling their personal information and the publishing for which they write .
place on April 3rdas a call for “ Media Monitoring Services , ” the database has a dual function : monitoring hundreds of M of news sources at the same time worldwide as well as tracking and categorizing journalist and bloggers . The “ Media Intelligence and Benchmarking Platform , ” as the proposed database is visit , would supervise more than 290,000 “ online , mark , program , cable , radio , trade and industriousness ” news sources worldwide . DHS wants the database to outrank and categorize news sources according to a variety of ingredient , including content and topics covered , reach , circulation and location , and sentiment .
Perhaps even more scarey given the current spiritualist climate , the platform would also feature a database filled with the personal and social medium data of “ journalists , editor , correspondents , social media influencers , [ and ] blogger , ” searchable by location , beat , publishing , and ad - hoc keywords .
It ’s not at all unheard of for the PR wings of big companies to keep lists of journalist , both favorable and unfriendly , on hand — but not at this ordered series . Of course , the FBI has along history of tracking diarist , but many questions stay : Will the journalists on the listing be advise they ’ve been tot ? Do they have any control over what information is added about them ? The bidding ’s language , “ present contact details and any other information that could be relevant , ” seems to incriminate journalists will have profiles with a variety of information . Does that reach the room access to link this information with any other datum DHS can get its paw on : business history , criminal histories , a list of phobic neurosis , etc ?
President Trump has used his Twitter report to flog out at individual journalists before . The implication of a stridently anti - press administration with a database of journalist is troubling , yet , hand the surveillance power of the American political science , feels almost inevitable .
No value for the dictation has been disclosed . Responses are due April 13th .
[ Big Law Business ]
AI / Ethics
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