À atenção dos críticos dos Estados Unidos:
Software Being Developed to Monitor Opinions of U.S.: A consortium of major universities, using Homeland Security Department money, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders in newspapers and other publications overseas.
Such a ?sentiment analysis? is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said.
Researchers at institutions including Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Utah intend to test the system on hundreds of articles published in 2001 and 2002 on topics like President Bush?s use of the term ?axis of evil,? the handling of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the debate over global warming and the coup attempt against President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. [...]
"It is just creepy and Orwellian," said Lucy Dalglish, a lawyer and former editor who is executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. [...]
?There has to be guidelines and restrictions on the use of this kind of technology by the government,? [associate professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh] Wiebe said. ?But it doesn?t mean it is not useful. It can just as easily help the government understand what is going on in places around the world.?
