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Googling for CIA Agents

Posted by Zonk on from the tomorrow-today dept.

yali writes "As the heat turns up on the investigation into how an undercover CIA officer's identity was leaked to the press a technology columnist at the SF Chronicle, David Lazarus, shows how easy it is to identify individuals via the Internet. Even with little information, using widely available tools like Google and LexisNexis, it is possible to turn up startlingly relevant details." From the article: "I then went back to Google and got a map of Plame's neighborhood and directions to her home. Google also allowed me to study a high-resolution satellite photo of Plame's house. I could see that the property appears to be in a quiet residential community and looks approachable from all sides. It also offers ready access by car to major thoroughfares."

2 of 494 comments (clear)

  1. Psst.. Read the article.. by Arbin · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Don't know how you got modded as insightful since you obviously didn't read the article. Note the comment in the article where it states: "And I now possess all this information simply because I know (from Karl Rove, via Matt Cooper) that Joseph Wilson's wife "apparently works at the agency on WMD issues.""

  2. Re:easy to blow the entire CIA front firm too by theodicey · · Score: 1, Redundant
    Excellent, the Republican talking points troll.
    1. Who cares? Rove passed the information on to (at least) Matthew Cooper, which is stupid, irresponsible and possibly illegal. Anyway, this is just the excuse du jour from Rove's lawyer.
    2. If she wasn't undercover, then why did the CIA ask for a grand jury investigation? Anwyay, what he he said was that the day Bob Novak outed his wife she ceased to be an undercover operative once she was outed.
    3. Completely wrong
    4. If it was so well known, why was it necessary for the White House to spread the story? (Note that Mitchell was one of the people they spread it to, and is the only person to make this claim.)
    5. You don't know much about covers, do you? So was she supposed to be making widgets in a CIA-owned factory?

    and finally:

    OMFG!!! THE CIA IS TRYING TO BRING DOWN OUR GREAT LEADER W IN A SECRET CONSPIRACY!!!