Washington, Oct 26, (RHC).- In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, is investing in Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media websites, including blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and online forums.

Wired.com reports this is part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using “open source intelligence” -- information that’s publicly available. A spokesperson for In-Q-Tel said it wants Visible Technologies to keep track of foreign social media and give spies early warning detection on how issues are playing internationally.