Topic: Social Monitoring

A report from Moscow details Russia's strict COVID-19 quarantine measures, which require infected individuals to install a "Social Monitoring" app. Users must take a selfie every four hours to prove they are at their place of residence; failure to do so results in a 4,000 ruble fine. The hosts compare these tracking measures to potential future developments in Western countries.

The city of West Sacramento has implemented a program called ZenCity, which uses algorithms to monitor public social media posts for community concerns like mailbox thefts and potholes. While city leaders frame it as a way to hear citizen signals, the ACLU has raised concerns about the potential for surveillance and misuse of data. The technology is described as a sophisticated keyword "grep" rather than true artificial intelligence.

A massive data breach at Experian exposed the personal information of 15 million T-Mobile customers, including social security numbers and passport data. In response, Experian offered victims two years of free credit monitoring, which critics noted was ironic given the company's failure to protect the data initially.

The United States Secret Service issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for software capable of detecting sarcasm on social media. While the news was met with skepticism regarding the technical feasibility of such a tool, the official documentation confirms the agency's interest in advanced sentiment analysis.

A leaked proposal from the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford to the American Bankers Association outlines a $850,000 plan to counter the Occupy Wall Street movement. The strategy includes "sophisticated monitoring" of social media to identify extreme language and develop "actionable intelligence." The hosts mock the high cost for what they describe as basic Twitter trend analysis and PowerPoint reporting.