Homeland security

Human vetting more effective than computers, Homeland Security finds

US security used software to scan the social media profiles of visitor to the country – but it worked so badly a report concludes it is more reliable to check accounts manually.

A study by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector this week revealed that in December 2015, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ran a pilot scheme monitoring the social media accounts of visitors both manually and automatically.

The computer programmes used were not named in the heavily redacted report, but the tests were repeated in April and August 2016 using different software.

“In reviewing the pilot, USCIS concluded that the tool was not a viable option for automated social media screening and that manual review was more effective at identifying accounts,” the report states.