The US Secret Service is looking to buy software that can spot sarcasm on social media.
Yeah, good luck with that.
The agency wants to buy software that, among other things, has the ability to “detect sarcasm” and language that may mean something different than it appears on first glance.
Government agencies and corporations have long used social media to try to influence the public and get their messages out, while law enforcement agencies increasingly monitor such sites for signs of trouble.
Advertisement
But getting a computer to detect sarcasm and its linguistic complexities can be difficult – and some experts worry at the prospect of attempts to parse speech by a government agency that has the power to arrest people for posting alleged threats online.
“It does appear that it’s going to be a pretty broad monitoring program. It will likely sweep in some First Amendment protected expression,” said Ginger McCall, associate director of the United States’ Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “It is troubling, because it really stifles people’s ability to freely express themselves and it has a tendency to quell dissent to make people think twice before they express themselves online.”
The Secret Service request for the software, first reported by nextgov.com, was posted on Monday. The agency is accepting proposals until Monday.
The work order asks for a long list of specific tools, including the ability to identify influential figures on social media, analyse data streams in real time, access old Twitter data and use heat maps. (It also wants the software to be compatible with the five-year-old Internet Explorer 8 browser – a sign of the government’s outdated technology.)
The post Secret Service seeks out sarcasm on social media appeared first on Trunews:.
from Trunews: http://ift.tt/1mcEikj
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment