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October 20, 2009

CIA Unit Invests in Firm that Monitors Social Media Websites
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In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA, is investing in Visible
Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social
media websites, including blogs, Twitter, Flickr, You Tube and online
forums. Wired.com reports this is part of a larger movement within the
spy services to get better at using “open source
intelligence”—information that’s publicly available. A spokesperson for
In-Q-Tel said it wants Visible to keep track of foreign social media and
give spies early warning detection on how issues are playing
internationally.



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