CIA Invests in Social Media Monitoring Firm

If someone told you that the CIA was spying on you by way of your Twitter updates, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, or Amazon reviews, you’d probably chalk it up to a conspiracy theory.
But today we’re learning from Wired that the CIA’s technology arm In-Q-Tel has invested an undisclosed sum in Visible Technologies, a firm that provides software to companies like Microsoft for social media monitoring.

How Local Politicians are Using Social Media

Former Speaker of the House of Representative Thomas “Tip” O’Neill famously said that “All politics is local;” and social media is making that more true than ever before. It used to be that most of us couldn’t point out our local representative, councilman, alderman, or public advocate if we tripped over him or her, but that’s starting to change, thanks to social media helping us raise our civic literacy levels and altering the way politics are done. We now expect our local representative for our state or town Assembly or Senate or Council to connect with us on a more personal level. And it’s happening.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Others Outline Support for Net Neutrality Rules

This week, the FCC is expected to reveal the details of its Net Neutrality plan, which Chairman Julius Genachowski has discussed numerous times over the past month.
Now, a coalition of 23 of the world’s largest Internet and technology companies are formally offering their support for the new rules in a letter to the Chairman, posted to the Open Internet Colaition website.