[elroy]

Gay kiss ins, mormon charities and students researching communism are already a ' credible threat' according to the Bush admin, I have no reason to believe we're any less of a threat in their eyes.

[Ludi]

Oooooo....scary...

No, I'm not worrried.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Well, just in case. . . I'm not growing any poppies, boys.

[anymouse]

Hello everyone,
I've been lurking here for about a year, and this topic is the one that finally induced me to register.

To all the FBI, NSA and CIA spooks out there monitoring this board:
Happy Holidays to you all!
Although you're subverting the constitution and turning the US into a fascist state, I hope you don't feel bad about it.
It's all just 8 hours a day, right guys?

[Princess]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pfish', 'D')o you feel safe in posting here?

[VinceG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pfish', 'I') was wondering if the government monitors this board for “strange behavior.” Do you feel safe in posting here?

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pfish', 'D')o you feel safe in posting here?

[NeoPeasant]

Are we considered more of a threat than The Quakers?

[elroy]

Doh! Quakers, not mormons.

[Leanan]

Awhile back, Matt Savinar said that he checked at the incoming IPs of his peak oil site, and the CIA, DIA, and other intelligence agencies visited almost daily.

Though maybe they're just interested in peak oil personally, and surfing on the web on the taxpayers' dime...

[arocoun]

It isn't monitoring you that's bad. Anyone who knows a good search engine can do that. It's the way they monitor you that you have to worry about. I imagine that they collect data about people from various sources to create a detailed analysis. A file would probably look something like:



Name: Smith, John

Terrorist threat level: High (continue close observation)

Details:

From peakoil.com; Username: PeakerJS
--Sympathizes with anti-globalization activists
--Strongly criticizes government, law
--Gives advice and has plans for self-defense, escaping emergencies

From livejournal.com; Username: forgreenearth
--Sympathizes with ELF and other eco-terrorists
--Friends list includes several radical environmentalists

From infoshop.org; Username: greenfox
--Wrote about security culture



And so, by simply observing the information John Smith placed on several sites, and linking that information to one name, it can be deduced that John Smith is potentially an "eco-terrorist." John never admitted to illegal environmentalism, and none of his user accounts--looked at seperately--would suggest he participates in it. And for all we know, he may not actually be interested in doing such things. But with new counter-terrorism proceedures, his opinions and facts about him are gathered up, assessed, and kept forever, out of his sight.

And now, if any act of terrorism happens within 100 miles of John, or if they decide that high risk citizens should be monitored IRL, or if the government decides to premptively-arrest high risk citizens, or if any number of such things happens, John's going to be targeted. Same for anyone else who expresses too many dissenting opinions. That includes anarchists, environmentalists, communists, conspiracy theorists, people who think the gov't has too much power, anti-war activists, and anyone who's less than patriotic.

I don't think this observation will be too bad for the average sheep, but it has potential the be Gestapo all over again for anyone with dissenting ideas.

[diceman99]

very well put arcocun.
I think you have put together a very accurate portrail of how information is gathered categorized.

[Daculling]

Is there any way the admins of this site can tell exactly how this site is being accessed? I.E. a CIA address just browsing or some kind of massive dump of posts? I think that would tell you a lot about why people at that address are accessing this or other sites. Mind you, if it is for information gathering against private citizen your not likely to track the IP back to any government agency to begin with.

[J-Rod]

A previous poster mentioned about not being able to trace that much information. Using the right equipment, it's all quite possible, and in light of King George's latest speeches, likely being done. Do a google on Carnivore, Altivore, and Echelon. Many ISPs had commented about how they wanted to give resistance to agencies wanting to tap major internet backbones to sniff data. Ones that did were greeted with thinly veiled threats and mentions of national security. I have no doubt that unencrypted transmissions are all being monitored and logged based on keywords, and this data is likely run through a filter to attempt to get it down to a manageable level.

Your best bet, if you are concerened about web surfing privacy, is to get yourself a decent web proxy server in a country that is not sympathetic to US snooping interests. They are slower, and of course with work can still be tracked back, but it's harder when the NSA can't just go knock on the door of the ISP to get more data. There is also a lot of good free encryption software. And trust me, US Customs wasn't happy about PGP. Zimmerman, the guy that released it for public use, was taken to court by the US for guess what? That's right, they basically called him a terrorist. The case was dropped after 3 years or so of fighting. Zimmerman

Personally, I don't bother with proxy surfing, or worrying about search terms in google. Sometimes in IRC I just spit out random strings of as many possible "keywords" as I can think of. I then go right back into some boring conversation about my mother in law or 3d modeling. Make those bastards work for my tax dollars.

There's also this ->Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove

[Aaron]

No special stuff needed.

Ever try googling your user name + peak oil?

lol

Last time I looked, our 3rd most frequent site visitors are...

Unresolved.

Draw what conclusions you will.

[spear]

They have a dossier on you all three inches thick.

[0mar]

osama bin laden
kansas city
nuclear warhead
jihad
big fish
9-11
the struggle
12-12-12
jordan
three point

i think that covers about everything. i hope i don't see black vans outside my place

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', 'L')ast time I looked, our 3rd most frequent site visitors are...

Unresolved.

Draw what conclusions you will.

[cynthia]

Well this is all fine and grand. Do I wait for the raccoons to get my chickens or the feds?

[Pops]

Don’t know nothing about computers or telephone networks but it seems pretty obvious to me the reason the FISA courts and process doesn’t work is the old fashion view that you need to show just cause to put a wiretap on a specific citizen.

They don’t want to listen in on the conversation of a specific someone because they have cause, they want to eavesdrop on everyone, and when they think they have cause they simply whisk you away to a convenient 3rd country where whatever other rights you may think you have can be ignored.

The explanation given is that technology has changed. The technology I think they are talking about isn’t the kind the citizen uses, but the kind available to the gov. – data mining is the Orwellian term I believe.

Basically we are all now suspects.

So I have to agree, since everyone is guilty until proven innocent – and the Attorney General has said the government can hold whomever they want indefinitely without trial, there is certainly no need for court orders – and for that matter no need for courts either.