Tracking the Terrorists Online
Anti-Globalism points out a story at the German magazine Spiegel profiling two small US companies that monitor terrorist networks online — IntelCenter and SITE Intelgroup. "[Founders of the two companies] Venzke and Devon are two of the most prominent 'terror trackers' worldwide. In the United States, and increasingly in other countries, the term refers to a community of people who spend their days analyzing traces that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations leave behind, especially on the Internet. The two Americans are essentially digital trackers in the age of globalized terrorism. IntelCenter and SITE Intelgroup are the companies that Venzke and Devon, respectively, have founded. They enjoy a strong reputation within the relatively small community of terrorism experts. Beyond that, though, they are virtually unknown ..."
" they are virtually unknown..."
Exactly as it should be.
Imagine a large, popular website that listed people who did some little thing that might fit a "terrorist profile".
Can you say "pandemonium and vigilantism"? Sure. I knew you could.
If these people are able to track down terrorists, should they feel obligated to share their techniques with the government, and try to unite their resources to track and apprehend the terrorists, faster and sooner?
Anything and Everything about the Net
when the definition of terrorist expands every day.
These organizations have not contributed to the prevention of single terrorist act and exist mainly to monitor people on an arbitrary basis. Who pays for this crap?
... a profitable business, and one that all capitalists really should be looking into
Some government sponsored agency perhaps
Unand your paramilitary (Police, COPS, attornies) off my open-carry fire arm and I'll bear the burden of my own real-time counter-terrorism activities while I fix a window in the local shopping mall or grocery store. It reminds me of a story about Police asserting they are short-stocked with officers or utilities to enforce their reality on everyone; summed in an actual joke adapted to a matter that I will not disclose directly...
True story:
a man was quietly concealed in his house, watching three men with crowbars and similar large tools capable of multi-purpose, in the act of stealing his property. He calls the local sh*tbags (police) of the situation, yet the whench (operator) says they don't have enough cars to send an officer out to "investigate" the matter. So, he apologises and says he'll look for an alternate means. In 5 minutes he calls back to the same COP-OnThePhone service, getting the same whench (operator) and says he got his gun and fixed the problem with the 3 men in the front-yard stealing his shit. The bitch sends 3-f*cking armed guards to his yard, break down his front door, and arrest scale his yard. He is arrested for alleged use of a gun. He says the thieves left 5 minutes prior, and those police assert that he has a gun and ask where its at. He says someone must have been lieing, because he didn't ever own a gun and the police said they didn't have any cars and officers to send to his house.
B1tch Operator From Hell is schlapped!
The problem is, what counts as a terrorist? Sure, we all think it means the people who put anthrax in the mail, blow up buildings and plant bombs. But it seems that lately (as in after 9/11) we count anything that doesn't agree with current US politics as terrorist. Not to mention on how we limit our constitutional rights to go after these "terrorists".
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
They enjoy a strong reputation within the relatively small community of terrorism experts
Would those be the experts that have many failures, few successes, and been largely reactionary?
Please help metamoderate.
They've been terrorizing my Internet experience for months now.
They're using their grammar skills there.
Is it true that sometimes there is Too Much Information?
First and foremost, is how can these gentlemen do what they do and be legal? are they law enforcement agents?
Shouldn't they be "unknown"? I mean, if they are to be known, doesn't it make them targets? and/or their jobs that much harder?
Still, I have to admit, I envy them, I wish I could do such a job :)
Obviously, all you need to do to track terrorists on the web is to datamine their Wikipedia pages.
Right here!
you had me at #!
This is how you terrorise innocent people. (Today in Minneapolis, not in some remote police state that you can ignore.)
you had me at #!
make the people afraid of something so they'll do whatever you want them to,
you had me at #!
Arrest him! Now!
Your government monitors all your communications on an arbitrary basis
you had me at #!
May you choke on your beloved waterboarding, spying, illegally kidnapping, profiteering, lying administration.
you had me at #!
Not against the interests of a "country" (which makes no sense); against the interests of the incumbent ruler or their backers! That might be as simple as financial interest, as we have seen time and time again.
The definition already includes activists, dissenters, academics, and so on.
In the end, the birth of an aggressive totalitarian state is, more than any other factor could possibly match, against the interests of America and its citizens. Fix that, will ya?
you had me at #!
These guys are just getting the amateurs as they play spy games. But a dollar is a dollar if someone wants to pay you.
I'm so sick of hearing of terrorists by now. For every single day the last 7 years, all this constant, mindless fear mongering. I would gladly let the terrorists blow up a couple mid-sized cities, if I only got ONE day when everyone just forgot about terrorism.
If the "terrorists" such sneaky internet geniuses, wouldn't they have their own fake honey pots set up to alert them when someone starts getting too diligent in their research?
8==8 Bones 8==8
according to dictionary.com:
terÂrorÂism
1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.
So... in the world today that leaves us with Al Qaeda and the United States of America.
So having two people found two companies to do this seems pretty logical.
Is there a real story here or were you just trying to fill up some white space.
Hope is the currency of fools
...cannot be disclosed." But the names, photographs and ages of their founders can! Great work, Spiegel Online!
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
it was terrorists. fear is unprecedented evile's primary weapon. that, along with deception & coercion, helps most of us remain (unwittingly?) dependent on its' greed/fear/ego based hired goons' agenda. Most of yOUR dwindling resources are being squandered on the 'war', & continuation of the billionerrors stock markup FraUD/pyramid scheme. nobody ever mentions the real long term costs of those debacles in both life & the notion of prosperity, not to mention the abuse of the consciences of those of us who still have one. see you on the other side of it. the lights are coming up all over now. conspiracy theorists are being vindicated. some might choose a tin umbrella to go with their hats. the fairytail is winding down now. let your conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.
http://news.google.com/?ncl=1216734813&hl=en&topic=n
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/world/29amnesty.html?hp
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/02/nasa.global.warming.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/05/severe.weather.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/02/honore.preparedness/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01dowd.html?em&ex=1212638400&en=744b7cebc86723e5&ei=5087%0A
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/05/senate.iraq/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/washington/17contractor.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/world/middleeast/03kurdistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080708/cheney_climate.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080805/pl_politico/12308;_ylt=A0wNcxTPdJhILAYAVQms0NUE
is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=weather+manipulation&btnG=Search
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying
dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html
the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is i
Of that I know
The government actually
Really told me so
But there are some others
Who say the rumors are true
I may have blown up
A Lego or two
So now I can't fly
On your fancy jet liners
I just have to walk
To the greasy spoon diners
And wait for that Greyhound
To South Carolina.
What?
I went to the www.intelcenter.com and found that you can buy dvd's like Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) Videos Vol. 1 DVD: Our Blessed Jihad in Yunan and al-Qaeda Videos Vol. 135 DVD: Holocaust of the Americans in the Land of Khorasan, The Islamic Emirate: Shelling of the Crusaders' and Apostates' Base in Paktika for the low low price of $40.
Whether they provide a real service to govt agencies or not, I find peddling terrorist propaganda under the guise of tracking terrorists online as a service to be quite distasteful. If they are doing as much business for govt agencies as the article suggests at the prices in their catalog, do you really think they'd resort to selling what really amounts to $40 fansubs of terrorist group videos? Translation services for news and govt agencies I could understand, but what they're doing is useless and distasteful.
By the way, they have a special offer going on. " Buy any 3 DVDs, Get 1 DVD Free"
Find the webmasters and kill them and you'll remove a lot of AQ's ability to recruit, organize, and direct.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
"... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." -- Hermann Goering
Precisely my point. There are bound to be lots of "false positives", as there always are whenever someone tries to "profile" people.
And that is just not acceptable.
Libel and slander suits can be bypassed because truth is an absolute defense. But one can publish truthful things that still constitute "false positives" for terrorist activity, according to some "profile". So it is not reasonable to rely on libel and slander laws to protect against this kind of atrocity.
here.
Reading this account it seems that a house was surrounded by heavily armed police, and a resident handcuffed, before a warrant was obtained or shown.
The other accounts describe excessive intimidation.
This kind of thing makes me very glad I don't live in your "free" society.
you had me at #!
That's easy just go to http://www.whitehouse.gov and you'll find the uber-terrorists.
"online" investigators and trackers - the most any of them ever do is type the name of their target into myspace or facebook.
News reporters typically talk about computer technology like it's some sort of mystifying science that makes all things scary come to life and chase your children.
bluHatter
Gratias tibi ago!
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The US goverment defines terrorism as "a group who has the goal to inculcate fear in to a group or groups of people". How do you deal with these people: 1)Hunt them. 2)Find them. 3)KILL THEM. 4)repeat... Have we all forgotten the actions taken agianst innocent men woman and children? 9/11? World tradecenters in 93? Oklahoma City? TWA in 1985? Archillo Lauuro??? The war agianst America,by terrorists, was started in 1983 in Beruit. The US goverment just refused to allow us to fight back. We got a reminder when they toutured and executed Robert Stethem in 1985 on TWA 847. And once agian we were not allowed to fight back. The attack on the USS COLE...agian we had virtually no response...we refuse to take the gloves off because we have a goverment that feels it must always "wear the white hat." You dont cuddle or coddle these people. The choices are clear...you give up ALL your freedoms and adopt the feelings and beliefs they hold. Or.. You fight for, and defend your freedoms agianst them. "Agianst all enemies, Foreign and DOMESTIC".
Joe Investor
Hey guys, moveon.org has their own web site; this is /.
Then again...
B.
-- Knocking over more protesters with watercannons by 9 a.m. than most people do all day. --
Say, Witchfinder Pursuivant.
Get your teeth into a small slice: the cake of liberty
Imho there's no terrorists online. They are out there off-line.It's very convenient to sit before a computer doing nothing though, I understand.
'The US goverment defines terrorism as "a group who has the goal to inculcate fear in to a group or groups of people'
That sounds like Fox TV and the US Government. As if once the government defines it it makes it so! How childish! The US government's actions in Iraq are clearly terrorism by that definitions.
How could the attacks on military targets like the marine baracks in Lebanon or the USS Cole be considered terrorism? Those are military targets.
The Government should plant gps tracking devices on the vehicles of suspected terrorists. This could lead them to the guys running the show.
Work smarter, not harder, with gps tracking