Surely you jest - Secret Service to buy Sarcasm detecting software

DAB · 06-04-2014, 9:05am

Secret Service is buying sarcasm-detecting software.

Quote:

The Secret Service wants to know if you were just being sarcastic right there in that last Tweet. It can’t really tell. Which makes sense since sarcasm is defined as “the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny.” Sarcasm on the Internet is a particularly tricky thing.

But the Secret Service thinks it has a solution to its slow wits when it comes to getting the joke—data! The agency, in a work order posted Monday, nextgov.com discovered, began soliciting bids for analytics software that, among other things, has the “ability to detect sarcasm” and do a “sentiment analysis” on social media.

If this technology ever makes it onto the open market, online dating will never be the same.

i would have thought their money would be better spent making sure their agents weren't drunk and passed out in hallways while on duty and armed. guess they have different priorities. the laws in NM are that you can't conceal carry when drunk, guess different laws apply to them.