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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
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?
I know what you mean. Especially when the real terrorists are those in the government.
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.
seeing as how the most popular method of government control has always been to make the people afraid of something so they'll do whatever you want them to, I'd say calling the government the terrorists is extremely insightful. They're the ones inciting and magnifying the terror.
That being said, there'd be a lot less terror if we could take back control of the government. Now if only the sheep would realize this...
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
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.
What we really need is a congress, court system and president that follows the constitution. You know, it wouldn't really matter if they were right wing or left wing so long as they followed it, but it seems that the right wing is always pushing for warrantless arrests for "terrorists" and the left wing is always pushing for the abolishment of the second and parts of the first amendment. And we all know that at this time no third party candidate stands a chance.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I take great offense to that.
Everyone knows that the real terrorists are, in fact, insurance salespeople.
Don't worry, when the name looses its appeal, they will make up a new [Devil|Witch|Jew|Nazi|Jap|Commie]. Gotta' have some way to strike up fear and justify war.
"Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
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.
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.
To help make your rhetoric effective, right english good: YOU MEANT LOSE!
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
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!
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."
Your a terrorist, you post as AC.
What are you hiding from?
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
Agreed, I wish everyone would stop supporting them.
I don't give a crap about 9/11 but the United States still won't come out from cowering under the table. Victory to the terrorists!
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
"... 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.
Yes, because doing things like blowing yourself in a crowded market place full of civilians is not terrorism at all. It's freedom fighting.
Oh what, because you think they terrorise people for political gain? The real terrorist were the people hijacking the planes in 9/11. They were the ones who shocked and frightened the nation in the first place. The government, while benefiting politically from this, was also responding to the fear already out there in the public. They would be lousy politicians and lousy leaders if they didn't do something about that fear.
Without knowing exactly what went on inside the heads of the politicians, all I can say is this: everything they have done has been in the name of alleviating that fear. It's more been the press's position to use and intensify fear to sell their media, and consequently politicians have had their work cut out for them.
In other words, I think you have reversed causation, and you are targeting politicians simply because they are the easiest target.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
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 #!
"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
Google for Blackwater then tell me that the Bush & friends were fighting terrorism... also Goggle for Erik Prince
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.
OK I'll bite. What does a controversial private security firm contracted by the government have to tell us about the government's intentions?
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
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