US seeks software to monitor social media

united states currency eye- IMG_7364_web (Photo credit: kevindean)

The US government agencies are looking for digital tools that can extract information from social media to predict everything from future terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings.

According to requests posted online by the US federal law enforcements agencies are looking for potential contractors to build a software that can monitor the entire universe of social media.

The Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Federal Bureau of Investigation are among US agencies that are looking for ways to automate the process of identifying emerging threats and upheavals from social websites.

“Social media has emerged to be the first instance of communication about a crisis, trumping traditional first responders that included police, firefighters, EMT, and journalists,” the FBI wrote in its request. More...