CIA plans “MySpace for spies”

Any teenager could tell you that social networks are great for spying. Now the CIA has created an international communications tool called A-Space, which has been dubbed “MySpace for Spies.” The idea for the network was actually inspired by the Newscorp site. From the Financial Times:

A female employee who had arranged a high-school reunion on MySpace asked why the community had not created a similar tool. That prompted a response that she wasn’t thinking big enough. But Mr Wertheimer says two other people immediately jumped in with concerns about a “counter-intelligence nightmare” that could cost US lives.

“That is very typical within the intelligence community of the approach to social networking tools,” says Mr Wertheimer. “The positive value is…not easily quantified. The negative, the risk for people under cover… is drawn out so starkly, even though it is speculative, that they tend to carry the day.”

But he says the intelligence community needs to consider that not sharing information can also cost lives, a lesson learned from the 9/11 attacks.

“We are willing to experiment in ways that we have never experimented before,” he adds. “It breaks a lot of traditional senses that people’s lives are at risk, and how can you take any step that increases that risk.”

Mr Wertheimer says A-Space will initially be voluntary to assuage worries of spies concerned about blowing their cover. The DNI wants some foreign intelligence services to participate in A-Space, but there has been some resistance.

For the moment, the “social” network will have email, recommendation software and a collaborative word processor. But according to PC Advisor, “Speculation is rife that the CIA’s A-Space will also allow spies to swap photos, flirt and throw virtual food at each other.” And what about pokes? Perhaps spies are wary that they might cause leaks.

via FT.com