Avoid these words to prevent Homeland Security from spying on your social networks

In reality, smart terrorists are going to speak in some sort of code or use veiled euphemisms: "The pizza was delivered on time, and the partygoers ate it all up" or something like that.

In my academic research I am interested in historical epidemics; I have no doubt that DHS has at least a small file on me for my Internet and database searches of words like "smallpox" and "Ebola" and "outbreak." I am surprised I have never been interrogated at the airport, though peppering this post with word related to epidemics might be enough to get me on the no-fly list. :-)

Is it really "spying" when they search for words that people put on the public Internet for all to see? When I think of spying, I think of subterfuge, not social media.

Seeing as how the general rule is, "Never write anything in email that you aren't prepared to shout in a crowded room", I find this revelation is pretty trivial. Social networks are public by design; it's likely everything gets recorded anyway.

If you really want to keep your email private, use public key encryption.