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Title: Feds consider searches of terrorism blogs
Source:
USA Today
URL Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-12-23-terrorblogs_N.htm
Published: Dec 24, 2008
Author: Thomas Frank
Post Date: 2008-12-24 11:33:37 by bush_is_a_moonie
Keywords: None
Views: 192
Comments: 16
WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department may soon start scouring the Internet to find blogs and message boards that terrorists use to plan attacks in the USA. The effort comes as researchers are seeing terrorists increasingly use the Internet to plan bombings, recruit members and spread propaganda. "Blogging and message boards have played a substantial role in allowing communication among those who would do the United States harm," the department said in a recent notice. Homeland Security officials are looking for companies to search the Internet for postings "in near to real-time which precede" an attack, particularly a bombing. Bombings are "of great concern" because terrorists can easily get materials and make an improvised-explosive device (IED), the department said. "There is a lot of IED information generated by terrorists everywhere — websites, forums, people telling you where to buy fertilizer and how to plant IEDs," said Hsinchun Chen, director of the University of Arizona's Artificial Intelligence Lab. Chen's "Dark Web" research project has found 500,000,000 terrorist pages and postings, including tens of thousands that discuss IEDs. Chen and others aren't sure how helpful blogs and message boards will be in uncovering planned attacks. "I just can't envision a scenario where somebody posts to a message board, 'I'm getting ready to launch an IED at this location,' and the government will find that," said terrorism analyst Matt Devost. A lot of postings about attacks are "fantasy, almost role-playing," Devost said. Internet searches are used routinely by government agencies, such as the Defense Department, in gathering intelligence, said Chip Ellis of the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. The searches use methods similar to a Google query and can be helpful in uncovering the latest IED technology, Ellis said. Steven Aftergood, an intelligence expert at the Federation of American Scientists, praised Homeland Security for "trying to develop innovative approaches" and said its effort would not jeopardize privacy because the department would be scanning public websites. The department, which declined comment, has made no decision about using Internet searches and is reviewing statements that companies submitted last month describing their ability to do the searches.
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#1. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
This will evolve into the feds keeping a database of anyone who has ever said anything the government considers a threat. For an example of what they consider a threat just look at the flyer put out by the Phoenix FBI and the Maricopa county joint terrorism task force
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976 The purpose of the legal system is to protect the elites from the wrath of those they plunder.- Elliott Jackalope
Not for anything, but I've been hearing this BS since I first hopped on the 'net. Abe and the boys plant these stories to keep the more timid of us under our beds. eff them. We either use our 1st or willingly surrender it.
A few years a go there were some (I won't mention any names LOL) that automated emails that had specific words being tracked via NSA satellites and other locations. This caused emails with these words to be generated non-stop from PCs etc. It was so bad/heavy that the FCC and NSA stopped the monitoring because everything was so overloaded. Revolution created America and every now and then it is again needed to maintain liberty and freedom. EFF and a coalition of public interest, industry, and academic groups filed suit in 2005 challenging the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) unjustified expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). By forcing broadband Internet and interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to become wiretap-friendly, the FCC ignored CALEA's plain language and threatened privacy, security, and innovation. Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in 1994 to make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap digital telephone networks. CALEA forced telephone companies to redesign their network architectures to make wiretapping easier. It expressly did not regulate data traveling over the Internet. But now federal law enforcement agencies want to change that. On March 10, 2004, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) filed a joint petition with the FCC. The petition requested that CALEA's reach be expanded to cover communications that travel over the Internet. Thus, Broadband providers would be required to rebuild their networks to make it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet "phone calls" that use VOIP applications such as Vonage, as well as online "conversations" using various kinds of instant messaging (IM) programs like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_p...achmatch/FCC-04-187A1.pdf On May 5, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in a suit brought by EFF and a coalition of public interest, industry, and academic groups challenging the FCC's unjustified expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). By forcing broadband Internet and interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to become wiretap-friendly, the FCC ignored CALEA's plain language and threatened privacy, security, and innovation. www.eff.org/deeplinks/200...vices-be-wiretap-friendly The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping, CNET News.com has learned. news.cnet.com/FBI-plans-n.../2100-1028_3-6091942.html WASHINGTON – The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) today released the following statement in reaction to recent actions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that imperil basic civil liberties of American citizens: CCIA regrets that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is advancing an agenda that endangers the basic rights of millions of Americans. However temporarily appealing it may seem to fight the "evils du jour," the Federal government’s persistent efforts make it easier to spy o n not just terrorists or criminals, but law-abiding citizens as well. Our Founding Fathers were well aware of the omnipresent presence of evil in the world. However, they recognized such evil does not justify indiscriminate government intrusion. Their brilliance was in their commitment to checking the power of the federal government. Where the potential for abuse exists, it often occurs. The First and Fourth Amendments were conditioned o n precisely this principle: The capacity to use government power for good can easily result in excess and overreaching, and place undesirable burdens o n the innocent. The FCC’s actions to facilitate surveillance of Internet communications is yet another example of federal government overreaching. This effort, currently being questioned before a federal court of appeals, will place an undue burden o n the rights of average citizens and o n those of thousands of innovative companies in an important, expanding market. The controversial FCC order adopted in August 2005 requires broadband Internet providers and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) companies to configure their networks for simplified eavesdropping by law enforcement agencies. In addition to being fundamentally flawed, the FCC’s rigid 18-month deadline for compliance provides little technical guidance and, as a result, is not feasible given the scope of the ambiguous order. In its First Report and Order, the FCC recognized that "broadband Internet access providers today are subject to a number of electronic surveillance statutes that compel their cooperation with law enforcement agencies." Because these agencies already possess the tools necessary to enlist service providers’ assistance in electronic surveillance, this order fails to justify the burden it will impose o n private companies and institutions. When enacting the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in 1994, Congress recognized the potential value and benefits of the Internet and the problems inherent in constraining Internet companies with design mandates. Consequently, Congress explicitly exempted the Internet from the provisions of the law. Extending CALEA beyond—and in conflict with—congressional intent by regulatory fiat is unwise policy and well outside the authority vested in the FCC by Congress. The FCC order imposes: * a government "back door" into Internet communications applications and private institutions that threatens privacy o nline * a significant and unjustified burden o n anyone who routes Internet traffic, including private universities and VoIP companies * increased overhead costs and barriers to entry in a fragile, emerging market * industry compliance with a timetable that is neither clear nor technically feasible "Broadening CALEA to include the Internet will further cast a shadow of surveillance on all Internet users and impose significant burdens o n well-functioning, emerging markets," CCIA president Ed Black said. "This is another example of ill-conceived, heavy handed government regulation that will stymie innovation and threaten privacy."
Arpaio is a joke. If looks could lock a person up I would have been incarcerated at "tent city" back in 2001 because of what I told Arpaio to his face. He looked at me with that "I'm a tough guy" Arpaio look like he thought he was going to intimidate me after what I said to him. I just laughed, walked away and said have a nice day.
This is so much b.s.
I don't know. One time after going to a site "Conservatives against Bush" it was closed down and a message came up from DoJ and then my browser was redirected to part of the DoJ website. Fortunately I have two firewalls (pix 515 and sonicwall pro) and some pretty expensive/sophisticated KeyLogger monitoring software. Guess what came down from the DoJ website but was caught by the KL software above? Yep, you got it.
If that's true, you should document it publicly. I don't doubt they do it, I just doubt you based on recent history. Credibility gap. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
I don't care what you doubt. If I remember right It happened sometime in 2004. I sent the info to EFF and a couple of others. Another site that used to try to push stuff onto a visitor's machine is the no-plane hit the pentagon site by Thierry Meyssan. This site was setup via NSA funding/budget as a government propaganda site to try and discredit all those who even remotely question anything about 9/11. Meyssan was paid a pretty good sum of taxpayer $ to help create and manage the site. During the first 6 or so months it was up it would try to push keylogging software onto the visitor's PC.
We just need to flood blogs with such:
See above.
I can see terrorists registering domain names like blowupamerica.com for just such purposes.
That is purely and simply eyewash i.e., Bullshit. This is a thinly veiled pretext for forming a new layer of surveillance of posters on the Web who are Patriots and are loyal first to the United States and not the current criminals infesting its government. What the criminal cabal most fears is a general uprising by those whom they are trying to enslave. The necks start itching at the thought of all this free speech taking place. The one thing criminals fear most is being exposed, and that is done daily on the Internet. Thus they want to ever increase the level of surveillance in order to silence unrest and punish people for telling the truth and disseminating the facts. 911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB! ""I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Funny, they already scour places like this to make their list of bad Americans. They're just getting to looking for terrorists?
I shall not vote for evil, lesser or otherwise. I had the pleasure of hosting a few controversial sites over the years and had access to the server logs, of course. You would be surprised at how many visitors came from DOJ, IRS, and other gov't IP addresses. They also save copies of pages to their hard drives because on the server log, you can see the referring hard drive and directory on the visitor's computer.
I shall not vote for evil, lesser or otherwise. Yep.
What a complete waste of taxpayers' dollars. Honestly. Instead of sitting on their overpaid civil servant fat butts looking at porn sites and doing their online shopping, all the while pretending they are monitoring blogs and forums for possible turrurists,( uh huh righhhhtttt), maybe they should do something useful like patrolling the open as a sieve southern border and/or tracking illegals in the country and deporting them to their country of origin before they can deliver anchor babies. Without doubt the biggest threat this nation faces today ( apart from its corrupt politicians) is from being swamped 24/7 with a deluge of the world's poor. Soon the non-income tax paying illegals and their anchor babies will outnumber worker bee US citizens. That poses a significant economic threat to our viability as a First World nation.
#2. To: Hayek Fan (#1)
#3. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
#4. To: Hayek Fan (#1)
#5. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
#6. To: lodwick (#5)
This is so much b.s.
#7. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#6)
Guess what came down from the DoJ website but was caught by the KL software above? Yep, you got it.
#8. To: Rotara (#7)
#9. To: christine, Pinguinite, angle, Lady X, Cynicom, Tauzero, aristeides, wbales, Ridinshotgun, DeaconBenjamin, Horse, Ada, HOUNDDAWG, nikki, farmfriend, Jethro Tull, Dakmar, echo5sierra, scrapper2, noone222, Rotara, honway, Original_Intent, Hayek Fan, (#0)
#10. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#9)
#11. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
#12. To: bush_is_a_moonie, Hayek Fan, Twenty Twelve, HOUNDDAWG, Rotara, all (#0)
The Homeland Security Department may soon start scouring the Internet to find blogs and message boards that terrorists use to plan attacks in the USA.
Bush Lied and Millions Died, and are still dying daily.
Bush, Cheney, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff need to be held accountable and tried for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
#13. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#0)
The Homeland Security Department may soon start scouring the Internet to find blogs and message boards that terrorists use to plan attacks in the USA.
Used Tires Albany, NY
#14. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
Used Tires Albany, NY
#15. To: Original_Intent (#12)
This is a thinly veiled pretext for forming a new layer of surveillance of posters on the Web who are Patriots and are loyal first to the United States and not the current criminals infesting its government.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss — The Who
#16. To: Critter (#14)
I had the pleasure of hosting a few controversial sites over the years and had access to the server logs, of course. You would be surprised at how many visitors came from DOJ, IRS, and other gov't IP addresses. They also save copies of pages to their hard drives because on the server log, you can see the referring hard drive and directory on the visitor's computer.
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