UK spooks poke Facebook for new spies
The name's Bond, find me on Bebo
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The British Secret Service has given up trawling the Oxbridge Junior Common Rooms for new recruits and begun advertising on Facebook instead.
The Queen's own spooks are running one advert aimed at university graduates, and another at those bored of their current jobs.
It reads: "Time for a career change? MI6 can use your skills. Join us as an operational officer collecting and analysing global intelligence to protect the UK.”
Presumably being a screaming self-publicist whose ego can only be propped-up by broadcasting one's every like and dislike via the internet is not seen as a bar to working for the UK's covert intelligence services.
The Secret Intelligence Service began openly advertising some time ago in an effort to widen its pool of recruits. Traditionally recruits were found by friendly dons at UK universities who would approach gay Cambridge undergraduates likely candidates to suggest joining.
SIS began advertising jobs on its own website some time ago.
A spokeswoman for MI6 told the Sunday Mercury: “As part of its ongoing staff recruitment campaigns, the Secret Intelligence Service continues to identify new and creative opportunities to engage with potential candidates for the Service.
“The Facebook adverts are a recent example. The title of operational officer is a cover for numerous different jobs carried out by the security services.
“These can range from analysing data sent in from agents to working in a hostile foreign environment and collecting information – closer to the James Bond role."
It has also given interviews to Radio 1 about the benefits of a job with the spooks. A cunningly disguised agent was also interviewed by The One Show last week.
Current technology vacancies include one for an information security accreditor to ensure IT systems are properly secure and an auditor to make sure IT systems meet SIS's own security policies. ®
COMMENTS
People who don't use facebook
All those people who think they are so clever not to use facebook are the same sort of troglodytes who dismissed the internet, computers, mobile phones, telegrams, writing, fire, etc. When you get over yourself and realise that it is merely a means to an end and actually aids communication and socialisation you might finally see the benefit.
YOU may well see the 5 people you know on a daily basis and have no need to see what they are up to but for my generation at least, getting a decent job and being able to afford to live requires more flexibility about where you are located than ever before. My friends are scattered across the country and facebook is an excellent tool not only for arranging events but for keeping in touch with those day to day things that you simply wouldn't bother to mention in a phone call. Those things ARE important, it is those things which really keep the familiarity and stop you from drifting apart.
When you talk to people on a daily basis do you add in pointless chit chat or do you cut that out and say only what is necessary like a lifeless robot? The same applies to pokeing and the rest of the add on junk. It is not quite as pointless as it first appears.
Looks like they are after shills
One of the sociology tricks is to take an event and lessen or emphasise certain things, by getting people to put out a logical but perhaps less than honest appraisal of events.
If that is coming from what you perceive to be another common person then the chances of you taking on that information is greater, than if it comes from say a news source nowadays.
People have become sceptical, and they know that news places withhold information at the behest of military intelligence and other security services.
So, really they are looking for puppets where they can control what is said at certain times for a few slivers of silver, and a paw mark on the official secrets act.
It is actually a bit double edged, because it will take emphasis off common sense views when discovered, tarring all with the same old brush and all that, which is where this is ultimately probably heading.
Though MI6 is meant to be for foreign operations, but hey who knows now perhaps we are the foreigners in our own country. They are not looking for white code in reverse.
Facebook and the like is probably profiled as being non tech, if you cannot upload information yourself to the net they are not after you for your elite facebook form submission skillz, they are after you for your gob.
Manna?
"Heaven help Facebook users if a half-decent Turing AI gets loose on the 'Net...." .... By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 29th September 2008 14:32 GMT
And QuITe Probably Also Spun to be So, AC. :-) Let IT Be v2.0?
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