5/14/09 2:00 AMCIA enlists Google's help for spy work - Times Online

Page 1 of 3http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3652494.ece

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CIA enlists Google's help for spy workUS intelligence agencies are using Google's technology to help itsagents share information about their suspects

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Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to helpthem better process and share information they gather aboutsuspects.

Agencies such as the National Security Agency have boughtservers on which Google-supplied search technology is used toprocess information gathered by networks of spies around theworld.

Google is also providing the search features for a Wikipedia-stylesite, called Intellipedia, on which agents post information abouttheir targets that can be accessed and appended by colleagues,according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The contracts are just a number that have been entered into byGoogle's 'federal government sales team', that aims to expandthe company's reach beyond its core consumer and enterpriseoperations.

In the most innovative service, forwhich Google equipment providesthe core search technology,agents are encouraged to postintelligence information on asecure forum, which other spiesare free to read, edit, and tag -like the online encyclopediaWikipedia.

Depending on their clearance,agents can log on to Intellipediaand gain access to three levels ofinfo - top secret, secret andsensitive, and sensitive butunclassified. So far 37,000 usershave established accounts on theservice, and the database nowextends to 35,000 articles,according to Sean Dennehy, chiefof Intellipedia development for theCIA.

"Each analyst, for lack of a betterterm, has a shoe box with theirknowledge," Mr Dennehy wasquoted as saying. "Theymaintained it in a shared drive orWord document, but we're

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5/14/09 2:00 AMCIA enlists Google's help for spy work - Times Online

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encouraging them to move those platforms so that everyone canbenefit."

The collection of articles is hosted by the director of nationalintelligence, Mike McConnell, and is available only to the CIA,the FBI, the National Security Agency, and other intelligenceagencies.

Google's search technology usually rates a website's importanceby measuring the number of other sites that link to it - a methodthat is more problematic in a 'closed' network used by a limitednumbr of people. In the case of Intellipedia, pages become moreprominent depending on how they are tagged or added to byother contributors.

As well as working with the intelligence agencies, Google alsoprovides services to other US public sector organisations,including the Coast Guard, the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration, and the National Oceanographic and AtmosphericAdministration.

Often, the contract is for something as simple as conductingearch within an organisation's own database, but in the case ofthe Coast Guard, Google also provides a more advanced versionof its satellite mapping tool Google Earth, which ships use tonavigate more safely.

There is no dedicated team promoting sales of Google productsto the British Government, but a Google spokesperson said thecompany did target public sector organisations such as councils,schools and universities through the team that run AdWords, itsinternet advertising platform.

Isn't ironic that those who are so prone to suspect and accuse anyintelligence agency of the direst threats to their own vague personalinsecurities, are also included among those protected by thesesame intelligence agencies from the likes of Islamist terrorism.Critics: "Get a life."

Charles Griffith, Middletown MD, U.S.A.

I always believed google was brought about by the u.s. governmentas a spy system. Remember carnivore? When the government backpeddled on that spoy program, google suddenly came on thescene.

I would not be surprised if google was entirely operated and fundedby the u.s. government.

Kim, atlanta, ga, u.s.a.

If the government gets involved, google is sure to fail. Better sellthose stocks now. (Shhhhhh! They might be watching!)

Chris, St Paul, MN

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