Homeland Security Internet Watch List leaked; Boing Boing omitted from list of must-read sites for domestic spying

I am outraged that our blog once again failed to make it on to the list of websites the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors. The grandfather of all rogue leak sites, Cryptome, published a copy of the 2011 edition of the government document (PDF link to document copy). Apparently, there's a new 2012 version some have seen, on which a current round of news coverage is based.

There's a Reuters article summarizing its significance here:

A "privacy compliance review" issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" which involves regular monitoring of "publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards." The purpose of the monitoring, says the government document, is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture."

The document adds, using more plain language, that such monitoring is designed to help DHS and its numerous agencies, which include the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency, to manage government responses to such events as the 2010 earthquake and aftermath in Haiti and security and border control related to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"This is a representative list of sites that the NOC will start to monitor in order to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture under this Initiative," the document reads.

Oh fine, so, the imminent Yeti invasion isn't something that needs to be monitored? The anal probe menace posed by illegal Martian invaders? No concerns about the toxicity of homemade sauerkraut as a biological weapon?

I mean, fucking MySpace and Hulu are on the list! Really? I'm surprised Friendster was omitted. And they're watching Flickr and YouTube and Huffpo! But our hard-hitting coverage of steampunk watches and DIY spaceships doesn't merit a click? Whatever, DHS. We don't want those ill-gotten clicks.

But there's still hope. "Initial sites listed may link to other sites not listed. The NOC may also monitor those sites if they are within the scope of this Initiative."

UPDATE: Leaked DHS internet watchlist "mistakes" msthirteen.com, skeevy German site about 13yo girls for MS-13 gang news.

• [Marilyn Terrell]

  How humiliating!

• [Jared McGuire]

  <——-DHS employee/avid Boing Boing reader.  We do care.

  • [Noctilucent Studios]

    Tell us more. What do you do there?

  • [ǝɔʎoſ ʇʇɐW]

    If you work for DHS, you obviously don’t care.

  • [Brad Zimmerman]

    You could probably do more for global security by working for DHL… but certainly not less.

  • [General Specific]

    I’m also a DHS employee, and I also care.

  • [teapot]

    How’s the Department of Horse Shit treating you lately?

  • [Megan Murray]

    I smell a t-shirt campaign! 

• [Private Private]

  I think I know why Hulu is on there. You can watch Basil Rathbone in ‘Terror By Night’.  http://www.hulu.com/terror-by-night

  With a title like that, it has to be seditious.

  • [Cris Noble]

    I want the job to make sure hulu doesn’t have any terrorist activities going down. 

• [Rob]

  Hulu’s on there so they have an excuse to loaf during business hours.

• [Roy Trumbull]

  They spend a lot of time on porn sites. DHS pseudo cops rank somewhere below airport boarding line scanner operators and Best Buy sales clerks in the scheme of things. Boing Boing is out of their league. So are comic books.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Who do you have to fuck to get onto a government watch-list in this shithole?

  • [SimGameIt]

    I love it!!!! LoL

  • [Noctilucent Studios]

    Duuuude…when did you add that all seeing eyeball to your avatar?!

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      It’s been in the system far longer than we’ve had viewable avatars. It’s just my eye; I didn’t really think of the CCTV implications until it started appearing in threads. Bonus points if you find the Salzman’s Degeneration.

      • [oasisob1]

        Top Center?

        • [Antinous / Moderator]

          Lower right.

  • [adam sharp]

    “Bring it”

• [Mongrove_Moone]

  “Oh fine, so, the imminent Yeti invasion isn’t something that needs to be monitored?”

  You’d get more traction if you were covering the *immigrant* Yeti invasion.

• [Nykki Saurini]

  Why is the PDF file dated for 2011? It makes no sense that they would make an internet watch list for 2012 a year in advance like that… Internet is full of change.

  • [Brandon Strangfeld]

    I’m guessing it was written in 2011 with the thought that most of the sites would still be relevant in 6-12 months. Also since it’s a pdf file it can be updated with new info and delete old but still retain the original date.

• [That_Anonymous_Coward]

  Wikileaks is on the list, isn’t being a Federal Employee and looking at Wikileaks grounds to be taken out and shot?

• [Scott Cushman]

  This is probably just a list of sites that DHS employees wanted to ensure wouldn’t be blocked from their access, as so many employers now are using white lists to try and curtail “wasted” employee time online. 

  “Umm, yeah, I have to watch Hulu at the office … it’s for work.” 

  As the “social media director” for my employer, I totally get it. 

  • [Cris Noble]

    That is the most logical explanation I have heard yet.

• [JohnnyLA]

  Is there a “7 seditious words that will get you on a watch list” like the George Carlin “7 dirty words” routine he did years ago?

• [Donald Petersen]

  Poop.  I guess my file is much thinner than I’d expected.

• [Gumper]

  WOW! Totally forgot about my Friendster account. Thanks for the reminder, Xeni.

• [Chris G]

  Oddly enough, the “MS-13 News & Analysis” site they list, msthirteen.com, is a German site that seems to be about adolescent/teenage psychology.

  • [pen25]

    the way boingboing puts it its skeevy though i didnt see it as skeevy. maybe cause i read the site and found no pics other then those on the front page? or the teens gone wild. part dunno

• [v67]

  Looks like they left out:  http://isc.sans.org/

• [Incipient Madness]

  We need to start making scarier comments here. That will get DHS watching..

• [Brian Shumate]

  You can’t really “leak” an already public document: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_ops_publiclyavailablesocialmedia_update.pdf

  • [Thomas Shaddack]

    No, but you can attract attention to it.

• [voiceinthedistance]

  Better luck next time, BB.  You gave it your best shot.

• [Werther deGoethe]

  Perhaps more stories on 3D printers and copyright laws. Plus, more monkeys. Everyone loves monkeys.

• [Florian Bösch]

  That’s a sweet list of good sites, thank you whoever you may be anonymous bureocrat for lovingly compiling this handy list I now don’t have to google for.

• [penguinchris]

   Since we know the DHS is inept it’s no particular honor (or disappointment) to be or not to be on this list. BB is most certainly on the radar (and on quite a few lists) in other government agencies – ones that are perhaps not quite as inept, and which actually matter (that is the question).

  Frankly even though I don’t often post political comments, I’d be disappointed if my prolific commenting here and the easy traceability to my name didn’t land my real identity on a few watch lists.

• [IronEdithKidd]

  What, pray tell, does DHS think they will uncover by monitoring plowshares.org?

• [Listener43]

  My colleagues and I are a bit fnord miffed that our site (http://iheardacouplethings.blogspot.com) is not included either.

• [Earl Cooley III]

  BB isn’t on the DHS watch list because they know better than to piss off Cory Doctorow. heh.

• [bklynchris]

  There is always next year.  OK Apeoples Lwe Qknow Ewhat Dto Ado, right?

• [Johnny]

  The best thing about this list was the masturbatory Drudge report headline yesterday.

• [MrHarley]

  Where do I apply for this sweet DHS internet surfing  job?

• [Trevor]

  As reported by JihadWatch (one of the monitored sites) on January 2nd 2012.