14 DAY TRIAL // The US Secret Service might soon be deploying a special software capable of detecting sarcasm on social media, it has emerged.
The news broke after the release of some documents which show that the agency wants to buy social media analytics software that can, among other things, “detect sarcasm and false positives.”
In the work order posted by the agency on the Federal Business Opportunities website, officials say that the software will “synthesize large sets of social media data” through sentiment analysis, influencer identification, and the ability to spot sarcasm in a bid to detect potential threats to national security.
The post published on Monday reveals that the Secret Service is seeking a software capable of doing several tasks, such as monitoring users in real-time, determining their location, detecting sarcasm, navigating through old tweets, analyzing massive sets of social media data and identifying trending topics in order to gain insight into issues that are occurring in real-time and may require immediate action.
“The Secret Service has had a Twitter account for several years. We are trying to procure a tool that can automate the social media monitoring process; synthesizing large sets of social media data,” spokesman Brian Leary told CBS News.
According to the same source, the US Secret Service is currently using the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Twitter analytics, but wants to have its own tool, with spokesman Ed Donovan highlighting that the sarcasm feature is only one of the characteristics they seek.
“We aren’t looking solely to detect sarcasm,” he said. “Our objective is to automate our social media monitoring process. Twitter is what we analyze. This is real time stream analysis. The ability to detect sarcasm and false positives is just one of 16 or 18 things we are looking at.”
However, some language and computer experts think the Secret Service may be asking for way too much, saying that no such software is currently available.
“We are not currently aware of any automated technology that could do that (detect sarcasm). No one is considered a leader in that,” said Jamie Martin, a data acquisition engineer at Sioux Falls, SD based Bright Planet.
On the other hand, freedom of speech campaigners were enraged by the news, warning that the implementation of such computer system could stifle people's ability to freely express themselves, because they would all think twice before posting something online.
The Secret Service is accepting submission until June 9 at 5 p.m.