REVEALED: Hundreds of words to avoid using online if you don't want...

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Department of Homeland Security forced to release list following freedom of information request Agency insists it only looks for evidence of genuine threats to the U.S. and not for signs of general dissent
By Daniel Miller PUBLISHED: 04:32 EST, 26 May 2012 | UPDATED: 12:46 EST, 26 May 2012

Revealing: A list of keywords used by government analysts to scour the internet for evidence of threats to the U.S. has been released under the Freedom of Information Act

The Department of Homeland Security has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S. The intriguing the list includes obvious choices such as 'attack', 'Al Qaeda', 'terrorism' and 'dirty bomb' alongside dozens of seemingly innocent words like 'pork', 'cloud', 'team' and 'Mexico'. Released under a freedom of information request, the information sheds new light on how government analysts are instructed to patrol the internet searching for domestic and external threats. The words are included in the department's 2011 'Analyst's Desktop Binder' used by workers at their National Operations Center which instructs workers to identify 'media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and

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response activities'. Department chiefs were forced to release the manual following a House hearing over documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit which revealed how analysts monitor social networks and media organisations for comments that 'reflect adversely' on the government. However they insisted the practice was aimed not at policing the internet for disparaging remarks about the government and signs of general dissent, but to provide awareness of any potential threats. As well as terrorism, analysts are instructed to search for evidence of unfolding natural disasters, public health threats and serious crimes such as mall/school shootings, major drug busts, illegal immigrant busts. The list has been posted online by the Electronic Privacy Information Center - a privacy watchdog group who filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act before suing to obtain the release of the documents. In a letter to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counter-terrorism and Intelligence, the centre described the choice of words as 'broad, vague and ambiguous'.

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Threat detection: Released under a freedom of information request, the information

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sheds new light on how government analysts are instructed to patrol the internet searching for domestic and external threats

They point out that it includes 'vast amounts of First Amendment protected speech that is entirely unrelated to the Department of Homeland Security mission to protect the public against terrorism and disasters.' A senior Homeland Security official told the Huffington Post that the manual 'is a starting point, not the endgame' in maintaining situational awareness of natural and man-made threats and denied that the government was monitoring signs of dissent. However the agency admitted that the language used was vague and in need of updating. Spokesman Matthew Chandler told website: 'To ensure clarity, as part of ... routine compliance review, DHS will review the language contained in all materials to clearly and accurately convey the parameters and intention of the program.'

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE: THE LIST OF KEYWORDS IN FULL

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Comments (174)
Newest Oldest Best rated Worst rated View all America: Land of the Free and Home of the Red/Islamic terrorist under every bed ! - Ishkandar, London, 26/5/2012 22:24 Click to rate Report abuse Muppets! Anyone planning dirty deeds will code their intentions. What a waste of time and money. George Orwell was so correct. - Rick, Cuiaba Brasil, 26/5/2012 22:19 Click to rate Rating 1142 Rating 619

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Report abuse My friend just called from MEXICO to say it's very CLOUDY and she's eating a PORK chop. Uh oh. I can here the sirens.... - Georgie, London, 26/5/2012 22:16 Click to rate Report abuse Pork, cloud, team, Mexico. There, I've said it, now come and get me. - Gee, Yorkshire, UK , 26/5/2012 22:15 Click to rate Report abuse Can't think that t*rr*rists would be so daft as to refer to anything they might do by its proper terms as in the list - Ken Mist, Paris, 26/5/2012 22:14 Click to rate Report abuse "the government" shouldn't refer to the US government in an English paper. - MattTheCobbler, Northampton, 26/5/2012 14:32_____________ Might that 'slip' have been Freudian? - Pauline, Hebburn. UK, 26/5/2012 22:14 Click to rate Report abuse If 9/11 happened in your backyard in your country you could only hope and pray that your government was doing all that is possible for you and yours families protection. They have thawarted dozens of terrorist attacks, how do you think they have managed that, with a crystal ball? - Val, New York, 26/5/2012 17:41 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Britain had terrorism in its "backyard" throughout the nineteen seventies and eighties. And guess what? Some of the funding for it came from America. Had Britain responded in such an hysterical and paranoid way then I have to wonder whether US citizens would have been allowed into the UK for holidays or family visits........you know, to protecty us and our families. - Wendy, UK, 26/5/2012 22:09 Click to rate Report abuse can somebody please make a song/ poem with all the words in - anon, Brighton, 26/5/2012 22:08 Click to rate Report abuse They have thawarted dozens of terrorist attacks, how do you think they have managed that, with a crystal ball?----- Val, New York, 26/5/2012 16:41---Val, you really do drink the kool aid don't you? Those "dozens" of attacks that our wonderful government "thwarted" we're created by, and carried out by our FEDS. At no time were any of those "threats" real. The three that were actually real were the underware bomber, the shoe bomber, and the bomb that was left in an SUV in your back yard. You know what these three have in common? They were all thwarted by regular citizens. It's frightened little children like you that condone the mass murder taking place across the globe in the name of false security as well as trashing our civil liberties. If you want to be a coward fine, but you have no right to demand the rest of us, including the world, have no civil liberties. Rating 428 Rating 329 Rating 115 Rating 378 Rating 663 Rating 1279

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- Sacha, here and there, 26/5/2012 22:07 Click to rate Report abuse Pork cloud and Mexico. Come and get me. - Ex Tory voter (but never again), UK, 26/5/2012 22:00 Click to rate Report abuse The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Rating 859 Rating 607

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