Are we all under suspicion of being terrorists?

[Babaganoosh 192]

http://publicintelligence.net/do-you-like-online-privacy-you-may-be-a-terrorist/

 

A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities.

Logging into an account associated with a residential internet service provider (such as Comcast or AOL), an activity that could simply indicate that you are on a trip, is also considered a suspicious activity. Viewing any content related to “military tactics” including manuals or “revolutionary literature” is also considered a potential indicator of terrorist activity. This would mean that viewing a number of websites, including the one you are on right now, could be construed by a hapless employee as an highly suspicious activity potentially linking you to terrorism.

The “Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities” contained in the flyer are not to be construed alone as a sign of terrorist activity and the document notes that “just because someone’s speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different; it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.” However, many of the activities described in the document are basic practices of any individual concerned with security or privacy online. The use of PGP, VPNs, Tor or any of the many other technologies for anonymity and privacy online are directly targeted by the flyer, which is distributed to businesses in an effort to promote the reporting of these activities.

 

There is a picture of the flyer in in the article. So basically anyone who wants privacy is being suspicious? Viewing anything about military tactics means we are potential terrorists. I bet even viewing this website would mean we are suspicious. I wonder where we would be if 9-11 never happened?

[Anselmo 87]

The flyer is targeted to internet cafes. Places that people might go to in order to not use their home computer to access certain internet sites. If you're at home, *they* already know all about you.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

The flyer is targeted to internet cafes. Places that people might go to in order to not use their home computer to access certain internet sites. If you're at home, *they* already know all about you.

 

Please read all the other fliers, in particular the "home improvement" one.

 Shoplifting or purchasing

 Large quantity of ammunition or model aircraft fuel.

 Firearms and ammunition out of season.

 Large quantity of watches, electronic timers, or kitchen timers.

 A combination of unusual items (e.g., sponges, candles,

matches, bolt cutters).

 Unusual quantity of compressed fuels (e.g., propane).

 Night-vision equipment and camouflage apparel.

 Unusually large quantity of fertilizer type 34-0-0 or 32-2-0.

 Pipe (particularly in short lengths), end caps, and pipe nipples

in the same transaction, particularly when vague about their

use.

 

 

this is but only one of the 25 fliers... read them all. I am astonished at this, holy crap!

 

The internet cafe flyier touched on many things not associated with internet cafes. If you try and shield your IP, by means of a proxy server, you are under suspicion. Apparently the FBI believe you are not entitled to any type of privacy. and trying to increase your privacy by any means via the internet makes you a person of interest. Using proxy servers is a very good idea if you are active online from your home location, i can be difficult to trace, and they are located in countries the US cannot legally acquire information from. Many tin foil hat people use them because they fear their opinion will be looked at as terroristic, as clearly indicated in these fliers they are correct.

 

 

If you use cash for large transactions you are under suspicion.

 

Please read all of these, you will be quite shocked.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

 

 Firearms and ammunition out of season.

 

There's a season???

[SpacemanFry 51]

It's the job of police organizations to believe these things. As long as they follow the laws and rules (ie need warrants, judge approvals etc) and there is oversight.

 

It's our jobs to ensure that's the case and to fight them on it.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

Military surplus flyer

 

 Make bulk purchases of items to include:

 Weatherproofed ammunition or match containers

 Meals Ready to Eat

 Night Vision Devices; night flashlights; gas masks

 High capacity magazines

 Bi-pods or tri-pods for rifles

[Kaiser7 33]

It seems like they're more going after preppers. I understand the need to monitor fertilizer, short pipes, and things like that, but MREs Gas Masks, matches? I don't see why they would go after preppers. I mean, if you're that convinced that the world is going to end, then it should be your right to buy what you want. The Weatherproofed ammo bothers me, I mean 8mm ammo that's cheap is usually surplus, which is usually weatherproofed. I don't like that they do that.

 

I guess the idea is that if crap does go down, they'll likely take any ammo you have off of you, and try and give any stockpiled food to other people. I wouldn't be surprised if they did that under a martial law scenario.

[Kaiser7 33]

 

 Firearms and ammunition out of season.

 

 

Because once winter rolls around, or hunting season ends, we all just get rid of all the guns and ammo we have, until the next shooting season starts.

[bbk 188]

They're going after this era's version of domestic terrorists, to include militias that have the intention of inflicting harm on government entities (people and infrastructure).

I think people have to put this into context, and realize this is another "NJ-and-the-rest-of-the-country" moments... and by NJ, I mean the tri-state area (for the most part). Seeing how we're NJ residents, though not to discount NY/PA/CT residents, we are a bit more sensitive to terrorism and everything that comes with it. This is not necessarily the same for those from other states who might have very strong feelings about terroristic attacks (I won't argue that), but do not necessarily have our more intimate understanding of terrorism. I recently talked to some folk from Colorado and California, and they were shocked when I described the overt, heightened presence in major landmarks in NYC and in our airports at times-- while this is relatively commonplace for us.

So, in locations that do not necessarily see terrorism the way we might, these are in fact strong indicators in many cases.

 

With that said, I don't like it either. The militarization of the civilian populace under the guise of fear does nothing to actually promote any type of social change that the current President had promised. Include the recent rhetoric by the Army general who was discussing the shift in mentality due to the budget cuts to the military, and how he envisioned an Army (in this case) that operated far more like the special operations community, in terms of mobility and application, then it's current ground-force mentality. This is relevant because the shift in mentality is often vertical, in that the mentality trickles down to other aspects of the military, and then to law enforcement. Maybe it is because I was classicly trained, but I think there should not be a militarization of the law enforcement community... it is the easy fix, but I think that blurring of the lines has become detrimental, and will continue to worsen.

[Anselmo 87]

Typical government efficiency. Reminds me of the idotic posters about what to do in case of nuclear attack.

 

On the other hand, if someone comes in to a store and buys 20 pounds of nails, 20 2-ft length of black pipe, end caps, fertizliizer and whatever else is listed in the Anarchist's Cookbook, then someone should alert the authorities.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

Because once winter rolls around, or hunting season ends, we all just get rid of all the guns and ammo we have, until the next shooting season starts.

To be fair it's the purchase of out of season ammo and firearms... but regardless, to claim there is a "purchasing" season is just as ridiculous of a notion.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

Typical government efficiency. Reminds me of the idotic posters about what to do in case of nuclear attack.

 

On the other hand, if someone comes in to a store and buys 20 pounds of nails, 20 2-ft length of black pipe, end caps, fertizliizer and whatever else is listed in the Anarchist's Cookbook, then someone should alert the authorities.

You'd have to be the dumbest terrorist on earth to that. And i DO agree with some of what they have listed... but the other good half of these fliers is pure government paranoia of it's citizens.

[Soju 153]

This isn't new. I'm not surprised. They have been doing this for some time now. It does a few things. It instills fear in people when they see people doing these things. It starts to criminalize legal activities, you know, like exercising your rights. It doesn't have anything to do with actually preventing terrorism, at least not real terrorism. Don't believe me? Call one of the numbers it tells you to where you report suspicious activity. If any of them work let me know.

 

 

but the other good half of these fliers is pure government paranoia of it's citizens.

No it is not. It is about both perception and control. The only thing they are "paranoid" about is people seeing the truth.

[Dan 177]

For years the govt has been recording and rendering to text nearly all voice communications that passes through the US. I'm sure by now they have internet traffic analysis going on as such a vast level it is difficult to believe. Think of it this way... a record of you, the inet connected devices you use, all your search terms, sites you visit, how long you are there, blogs, forums, social media, shopping, internet purchases, IM's, emails, etc etc. it is rediculously easy to capture this information when you have control over strategic routing points of internet traffic.

 

The more data you can collect, the more analyisis you can apply and begin to start drawing correlations to your activity to those of known bad guys. If your activities mimmic those of a large group of bad guys, there is a good probability you are a bad guy, or it could just be chance. What they get out if it is instead of looking for the needle in the haystack, they are looking for a pitchfork in the haystack.

 

Last year, China used exploited internet routing protocols in order to route 1/3 of all US internet traffic to flow through their systems for a few hours. They claim it was human error , and appologized. We were afraid of how easily they did it, and how performance-wise, we barley noticed it happening. During that time, they could have been doing anything they wanted with that traffic, and I'm sure they had a good reason for doing it.

[mcbethr 42]

I seem to recall that

For years the govt has been recording and rendering to text nearly all voice communications that passes through the US. I'm sure by now they have internet traffic analysis going on as such a vast level it is difficult to believe. Think of it this way... a record of you, the inet connected devices you use, all your search terms, sites you visit, how long you are there, blogs, forums, social media, shopping, internet purchases, IM's, emails, etc etc. it is rediculously easy to capture this information when you have control over strategic routing points of internet traffic.

 

That's a tough one. I could see logging the FROM and TO of every phone call - that is done automatically by the phone companies for billing. I also know that phone companies keep a record of every text message for at least a few days. But the problem is that a system that kept this information in some soft of government database would be incredibly large.

 

I'm going to have to break out Excel here and light another cigar.

 

Let's just look at text messages. About 2.5 Billion text messages are sent per day in the US. Let's assume every message has an average of 80 characters. That works out to storing roughly 71 gigabytes of information per year. Okay, that could comfortably fit on a single hard drive.

 

But 900 billion cell phone calls are made every year. The average person makes 8 cell phone calls per day. I don't have any data on the number of words said in an average phone call, but storage is cheap like I've proved above. It's the real time rendering and of that much information that makes the scenario of the government using text to speech for every phone call impossible. Plus, add in the fact that you are really playing fast and loose with the Fourth Amendment.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the government had analysis that look over some internet forums, that's just common sense. But if the government was really watching every move you made online at the level you describe, online gambling and certain types of horrendous pornography would be a thing of the past - they would be able to find and shut down those sites and users immediately.

 

But back to the fliers. I suppose the fliers serve a purpose. Don't forget that the Fort Dix Six were ultimately found and stopped by a clerk at Circuit City who was making copies of their training videos and thought that the FBI may be interested. Another gun store clerk stopped a recent Army deserter from buying black powder. So there is some benefit to individual vigilance, although I don't need a flyer to tell me that..

[PeteF 1,044]

 

 

There's a season???

yes. For me it runs Jan 1 to Dec 30

[BlueLineFish 615]

Hope they don't look at my NICS profile because I may have a visit soon

[SpecialK 193]

I am on at least 3 lists that I know of. I am just to the point where I am trying to get on all of them. Been thowing "Death to the TSA" out there online and in txts randomly after I read this story. http://laist.com/2012/01/30/international_twitter_fail_british_tourists_arrested.php

 

The gubberment is out of control.

[Babaganoosh 192]

I am on at least 3 lists that I know of. I am just to the point where I am trying to get on all of them. Been thowing "Death to the TSA" out there online and in txts randomly after I read this story. http://laist.com/2012/01/30/international_twitter_fail_british_tourists_arrested.php

 

The gubberment is out of control.

 

I hope one day we arent all saying, "has anyone seen special k?" Meanwhile you are in a jail cell somewhere booked under the name john doe so nobody can find you. Yeah thats what will happen since that bill was recently signed. Indefinite detention somewhere with no official charges, no trial, no phonecall, no right to a speedy trial.

[SpecialK 193]

I hope one day we arent all saying, "has anyone seen special k?" Meanwhile you are in a jail cell somewhere booked under the name john doe so nobody can find you. Yeah thats what will happen since that bill was recently signed. Indefinite detention somewhere with no official charges, no trial, no phonecall, no right to a speedy trial.

 

Isn't that sweet of you. There are a few on here that would be happy to say that

[Babaganoosh 192]

 

 

Isn't that sweet of you. There are a few on here that would be happy to say that

 

It happens, theres a lot of people who wouldn't mind if I was stuck in a cell forever but hey, haters gonna hate.

[SpecialK 193]

Besides I am a big fan of NH's state motto, I doubt I would ever make it to the cell.

[Dan 177]

I seem to recall that

 

That's a tough one. I could see logging the FROM and TO of every phone call - that is done automatically by the phone companies for billing. I also know that phone companies keep a record of every text message for at least a few days. But the problem is that a system that kept this information in some soft of government database would be incredibly large.

 

I'm going to have to break out Excel here and light another cigar.

 

Let's just look at text messages. About 2.5 Billion text messages are sent per day in the US. Let's assume every message has an average of 80 characters. That works out to storing roughly 71 gigabytes of information per year. Okay, that could comfortably fit on a single hard drive.

 

But 900 billion cell phone calls are made every year. The average person makes 8 cell phone calls per day. I don't have any data on the number of words said in an average phone call, but storage is cheap like I've proved above. It's the real time rendering and of that much information that makes the scenario of the government using text to speech for every phone call impossible. Plus, add in the fact that you are really playing fast and loose with the Fourth Amendment.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the government had analysis that look over some internet forums, that's just common sense. But if the government was really watching every move you made online at the level you describe, online gambling and certain types of horrendous pornography would be a thing of the past - they would be able to find and shut down those sites and users immediately.

 

But back to the fliers. I suppose the fliers serve a purpose. Don't forget that the Fort Dix Six were ultimately found and stopped by a clerk at Circuit City who was making copies of their training videos and thought that the FBI may be interested. Another gun store clerk stopped a recent Army deserter from buying black powder. So there is some benefit to individual vigilance, although I don't need a flyer to tell me that..

 

Remember, this information is used for national security type intelligence. The eveidence may not usable in court because it walks the gray line of balancing national security, privacy, and civil rights. Unless they had a warrant or they were military targets. They will not be scanning for porno or gambling sites, and don't give a crap if someone won $300 on illegal wagering. Local PD's do not have access to this data, nor would they provide it.

 

All voice communications are already digitized by the phone companies, they route through specific points throughout the country. It would be super easy to buffer this data in storage during peak periods while their analysis systems convert speech to text for content scanning. The systems only stores content that has been flagged based on automated analysis. Stuff like saying "bomb", "pentagon", "fertilizer", more than 2 time in 5minutes could trigger a notification. The rest of the data would be simply purged to make room for the next day's calls. Also, they would not be recording all internet traffic, just the metadata of activities.

 

Even if they couldnt keep up with the volume, say around the holidays when volume goes way up, they could easily impliment a sampling system, where 3 out of 10 calls are processed.

 

The bottom line is that the technology is here today, even available as commercial solutions. It is simply a matter of scaling it out.

 

The data is used by the three letter agencies in looking for leads for their investigations. Commonly referred to as "chatter"....

[SpacemanFry 51]

I am on at least 3 lists that I know of. I am just to the point where I am trying to get on all of them. Been thowing "Death to the TSA" out there online and in txts randomly after I read this story. http://laist.com/201...ts_arrested.php

 

The gubberment is out of control.

 

Wow, that is so utterly ridiculous I'm speechless.... I really hope there are some lawsuits in the works.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

yes. For me it runs Jan 1 to Dec 30

 

So off season is Dec 31st, I'll make a note of that. Thanks..

[SpecialK 193]

Wow, that is so utterly ridiculous I'm speechless.... I really hope there are some lawsuits in the works.

 

It's my new go to story when my friends and family call me parinoid

[TCinJ 7]

Here's a good one.

 

I am at a hospital using their free WiFi access on a cheap android tablet I bought at CVS. I was on MSN, popular mechanics and other sites with no problem. I visit the nj gun forums web site and within 5 pages my internet connection disconnects and it would not let me back on again! I'm thinking that the word "gun" and other "key words" tripped some sort of filter and it terminated the connection automatically.

 

I wonder if it'll reset by the next time I'm there or if my device is banned permanently........

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Here's a good one.

 

I am at a hospital using their free WiFi access on a cheap android tablet I bought at CVS. I was on MSN, popular mechanics and other sites with no problem. I visit the nj gun forums web site and within 5 pages my internet connection disconnects and it would not let me back on again! I'm thinking that the word "gun" and other "key words" tripped some sort of filter and it terminated the connection automatically.

 

I wonder if it'll reset by the next time I'm there or if my device is banned permanently........

 

Probably not, I couldn't even get on the sight when I was in the hospital back in September for the weekend, boy did I give them a piece of my mind.

[Midwest 28]

Military surplus flyer

 

 Make bulk purchases of items to include:

 

 Meals Ready to Eat

 

 

 

I wonder if Mormons are now targeted as well. Most of them have large stockpiles of food. I guess the Amish are as well since a lot of them have root cellars and store food as well. Or maybe hikers and campers who buy MRE's to eat while out in the woods.

[SpacemanFry 51]

I wonder if Mormons are now targeted as well. Most of them have large stockpiles of food. I guess the Amish are as well since a lot of them have root cellars and store food as well. Or maybe hikers and campers who buy MRE's to eat while out in the woods.

 

Luckily for the Amish they are off the grid