CIA funded study to spy on chat rooms [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

One of the FOIA'd documents, thanks to EPIC:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/nsf_mou.pdf

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http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-5466140.html

Security officials to spy on chat rooms
Published: November 24, 2004, 10:28 AM PST

The CIA is quietly funding federal research into surveillance of 
Internet chat rooms as part of an effort to identify possible 
terrorists, newly released documents reveal.

In April 2003, the CIA agreed to fund a series of research projects that 
the documents indicate were intended to create "new capabilities to 
combat terrorism through advanced technology." One of those projects is 
research at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., devoted 
to automated monitoring and profiling of the behavior of chat-room users.

Even though the money ostensibly comes from the National Science 
Foundation, CIA officials were involved in selecting recipients for the 
research grants, according to a contract between the two agencies 
obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and 
reviewed by CNET News.com.

NSF program director Leland Jameson said Wednesday the two-year 
agreement probably will not be renewed for the 2005 fiscal year. 
"Probably we won't be working with the CIA anymore at all," Jameson 
said. "I think that people have moved on to other things."

[...]
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