Politics

Report: DHS to compile database of bloggers, journalists, ‘media influencers’

On Saturday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants to monitor bloggers, journalists and so-called “media influencers” through a database.

According to the report:

The DHS’s “Media Monitoring” plan, which was first reported by FedBizOpps.gov, would give the contracting company “24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, including journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc.” in order to “identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event.”

The database would be designed to monitor the public activities of media members and influencers by “location, beat and influencers,” the document says.

The chosen contractor should be able to “present contact details and any other information that could be relevant including publications this influencer writes for, and an overview of the previous coverage published by the influencer.”

Nothing scary about this, right?  After all, what could possibly go wrong with a government entity tracking those of us who write news and/or opinion?

Lest anyone think there’s something not quite right about any of this, DHS spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton issued a tweet calling it “standard practice.”  And anyone thinking otherwise is a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist:

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Houlton’s tweet was soundly criticized by many:

https://twitter.com/windy_kroy/status/982376620257406976

Yes, believe it or not…

Some engaged in a bit of word play:

https://twitter.com/JamesRussell88/status/982408185825771520

https://twitter.com/JamesRussell88/status/982419143721799680

You get the idea.

One person noted:

Fox News added:

The chosen company must have the ability to track more than 250,000 global news outlets in more than 100 languages, with the “ability to create unlimited data tracking, statistical breakdown, and graphical analyses on ad-hoc basis.”

Contractor bids are said to be due April 13.

Writing at Forbes, Michelle Fabio said the DHS move would give opponents of a free press too much information on individual reporters and said the move is “enough to cause nightmares of constitutional proportions, particularly as the freedom of the press is under attack worldwide.”

Meanwhile the DHS wants us to think this is just part of the “new normal…”

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Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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