The Government is Spying on Your Internet Activity

Social scientists are tracking the things we do on the internet, including website searches, Twitter messages, Facebook and blog posts, as well as the digital location trails generated by billions of cell phones. This isn’t simple spying–or so they say (NOTE: subscribers can still listen to this show), but instead it’s a way to predict future human behavior, including political crises, revolutions and social and economic instability.

In the October 11th edition of the New York Times, John Markoff quotes researcher Thomas Malone as saying, "We have vastly more detailed and richer kinds of data available as well as predictive algorithms to use, and that makes possible a kind of prediction that would have never been possible before." And it’s not just sociologists who are interested in this: the government (as you might expect) is interested in the ides too. (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show too). The three-year experiment, which will begin in April, is being financed by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), which is part of the National Intelligence agency (NSA).

Speaking of spies, in his incredible book "The Omega Point," Whitley Strieber describes a mental institution which is actually filled with ex-CIA type agents who create a painting that is a time machine. This book is out-of-print, but YOU can still get a copy (along with an autographed bookplate designed by Whitley) from the Whitley Strieber Collection.

And HERE’S another book you won’t want to miss: "Solving the Communion Enigma," Whitley Strieber’s first nonfiction book about UFOs in a decade! You can pre-order it NOW and if you do, you can get a special bookplate for that too. Once you have purchased the book, you’ll need to either forward the e-receipt or send as a jpg, screenshot (etc.) to the publisher. You will then receive an autoresponse that will include a link to a page where you can input your address. Tarcher will send a special "Communion Enigma" bookplate out to the recipients shortly before publication date. To learn more, click here.