
A coule weeks ago, the FBI put out an official inquiry exploring whether it would be possible to build a web tool to look through Twitter and other social media services and monitor key words -- and combine that with location data to understand any threats that may be occurring in real-time.
We spoke to Sean Gourley, co-founder of quantitative analytic startup Quid, to find out how social media information could be used to catch the bad guy.
The social reward system -- likes and badges and so on -- has made us willing to share information about, say, where we're eating dinner. But if all the information from Twitter posts, Facebook status updates, and Foursquare checkins is combined to create a profile, then agencies can use that information to monitor the world.
"10 years ago, that's not the world we thought we'd live in," Gourley said.
For instance, if a protest is about to turn ugly, a bunch of people will be checking into a certain place, and their words might indicate that violence is coming. Comments about police brutality may also hint at trouble.
Or say there's a bomb in downtown San Francisco. You would have a flood of social media information: tweets with the word 'explosion' or 'people running' or 'lots of smoke' would probably be accompanied by a large spike in volume of tweets. Then you could look to see if it's all coming from the same area. It would all happen at approximately the same time period. There would be a huge photo dump of uploaded photos at the same time.
The idea is that the FBI would then know what happened before the mainstream media picks it up.
"The challenge is differentiating false positives from actual positives. A simple search for 'bomb' would not be able to differentiate from Kanye West is da bomb," Gourley explained.
But still, you would see a different statistical signature associated with the Kanye 'event' than you'd see with the actual bombing event. The game here is to differentiate signal from noise, Gourley explained.
"Technology has evolved, so it can predict your actions on what you want to buy. The math is similar to the math to predict if you're likely to be a bad actor."
"But the danger is on the individual scale it might not work. 98 percent for a book recommendation is fine. But I do care if you put me in handcuffs because of the actions that I've done that people like me have done or likely to do. The FBI will have to decide if 2 out of 100 people is a bad thing when you're dealing with terrorism," he added.
What do you think? Is it a good thing that the FBI is asking brands and outsiders to come up with a tool that would repurpose the social network technology that we use in our daily lives to catch bad guys?
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This post originally appeared at Oyster.com.
If you haven’t found “the one” yet, but are planning on taking out someone new (and maybe special) this Valentine’s Day, some serious impressing is in order.
Hotels exude sexiness on any given day, and these bars don’t disappoint: Each of them has its very own get-into-his-or-her-pants kind of charm.
The Hotel: 60 Thompson; New York City, NY
Why We Love It: The trendy NYC ambiance simply rules. Although the food — which is thai — is only so-so on a good day at this combo bar/restaurant, the romantic atmosphere makes up for its over salted fare. Eclectic music (think French renditions of silly American nursery rhymes) adds to the quirky-chic vibe, just be prepared to shell out a few bucks: Everything’s more expensive in Manhattan.
Source: Oyster.com
The Hotel: Hotel Monteleone; New Orleans, LA
Why We Love It: It’s everything that Bourbon Street spots aren’t. Even though Carousel Bar is a mere block from the French Quarter nightlife that New Orleans is renowned for, the vibe is other-wordly here. Watch the stationary bartenders as you circle around the bar — it’s kind of dizzying — while taking in Southern charm and delicious drinks. For a sweet treat, get the Tiramisu martini.
Source: Oyster.com
The Hotel: Hard Rock Hotel Chicago; Chicago, IL
Why We Love It: Rocker Pete Wentz moved his Chicago bar into the Hard Rock’s space at the beginning of the year — hopefully breathing some new life into an already old-news place. But the lush couches, cool artwork and no-velvet rope policy make this a perfect spot to get to know someone in a cozy environment. But don’t bring anyone expecting a list — the bar maintains a “come as you are” policy, meaning no one’s (not even sweatpants over there) turned away at the door.
Source: Oyster.com
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Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2012/01/30/voluntary-liquidation-of-an-small-business/
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Today was Super Bowl media for the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. And while most players and teams loathe the circus, Tom Brady and company appeared relaxed and having a good time. Even Bill Belichick cracked a smile when he was flirting with being interviewed by Deion Sanders.
Below is a look at some of the more entertaining moments from Pats media day. The Belichick interview starts at about 2:40...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/CaVqsYIMckg/patriots-media-day-highlights-2012-1
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The NFL, which last year censored an ad in the Super Bowl by Toyota because it talked about football-related head injuries, will this year run a 1 minute commercial about player safety.
It's not clear how squarely the new ad will address concussions and other brain injuries among football players.It's an abrupt U-turn that shows the NFL is worried about its image following a dozen or more lawsuits from former players claiming it concealed the risk of concussion injuries from repeated hits to the head.It also shows the NFL is worried about losing the ethical debate over whether it is right to allow youngsters to play a game that requires them to hit each other with their heads.
Here's what Mark Waller, the NFL’s chief marketing officer, told the New York Times:"You’ve got a massive audience, a massive casual audience, and this topic is probably one of most important topics for casual fans, particularly mothers. … And so the possibility that we could actually address the issue in a constructive, engaging way with that audience makes it definitely worth the challenge. It’s a risk, without a doubt.”
The ad will feature the history of safety improvements in the NFL, from the days of leather helmets to the appearance of full-grill face masks.
Last year, the NFL didn't want any discussion of player injuries in its Super Bowl ad breaks. Toyota wanted to run this ad (below), which described how technology that makes passengers safer in car crashes was used to make helmets safer, but the NFL insisted the carmaker take out an image of a head-to-head collision and replace a reference in which a mother worried about her son playing football with her worrying about him playing "sports."A call to league spokesman Greg Aiello asking for more detail on the ad was not immediately returned.The NFL will also launch a new web site about the evolution of the game on Sunday.
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This is an interesting note from BTIG's Dan Greenhaus...
We have had some very interesting meetings of late, where the focus of conversation has been (unfortunately for these bottom up managers) on fiscal policy and the looming 2013 fiscal contraction. These conversations have focused on how best to “solve” the longer term deficit picture facing the United States and what effect this might have on the investment process. We touched on this a while back and while its hard to make investment decisions today based upon tomorrow’s unknowns, keeping this debate in mind is a very, very good idea.
We've been talking about the 2013 meme a lot, so we're glad to see others have the same concerns.
The bottom line is that the US government is already in austerity mode, but then in 2013 we're getting automatic defense cuts, as well as a debt ceiling fight.
Should be fun.
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Great chart from Credit Suisse, via PragCap, pointing out a depressing fact: 2011 saw the lowest GDP growth of any non-recessionary year since 1947.

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