If you’ve used these words online, then the Department of Homeland Security has probably checked up on you. The Daily Mail has posted a full list of keywords — brought to light via a Freedom of Information Request — the DHS uses to “…identify ‘media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities’.”
That could mean just about anything. The DHS, naturally, denies it was trying to root out fifth columnists and whatnot:
…they insisted the practice was aimed not at policing the internet for disparaging remarks about the government and signs of general dissent, but to provide awareness of any potential threats.
Of course it was.
And to save you a click, here are the words that raise red flags. And yes, by printing them here, I’ve now put this site, if it wasn’t already, on the naughty list. Just in case though…
Dear DHS threat detector:
Neither this web site, nor its contributors, pose a real or existential threat to national security (though some of them do insist on brewing their own beer, which is a threat of an entirely different order). We do, however, reserve the right to use the words “help,” “cloud,” “delay,” “burn” and “pork,” among others. We have every right to do so (look it up).
