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Accused Teen Bomber Finds FBI Surveillance Team's Wireless Network
roccomaglio writes "The suspect who is accused of planning to bomb his high school in Tampa updated his Facebook status with the following: 'The weirdest thing happened today...when my homie Nic Peezy was trying to connect to a wireless network the connections list came up and one of them was called: FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN,' The FBI might want to revisit their wireless network naming conventions."
Teen bomber online? We really do need better names for things.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Let me guess - he looked out the window and saw a van marked Flowers By Irene or Charlie's Independent Analysis....
...I'm renaming my network to mess with the tinfoil hats.
anyone can make up an ssid. come on, slashdot.
Does that count as impersonating an officer of the law? Barring some over zealous district attorney...
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
I don't believe that one bit. First off, we can assume that the FBI has more than one surveillance van, in which they can't all have the same SSID. They would include some sort of vehicle ID, etc. Second, this kid was living in some delusional word trying to make himself out to be a lot more than he was. I think he was hinting to his friends on FB and trying to sound like a badass of some sort. He was obviously running his mouth about his plans, which is how he was caught - someone turned him in. Perhaps that was his way of reaching out for help before he actually acted. Regardless, just because he posted it on FB doesn't mean that his friend really saw that wireless SSID.
Better known as 318230.
Correction: Teen posts some BS about finding a FBI wifi network.
Really? Do we believe everything some jerkoff posts on Facebook now?
The article itself is pretty amazing: it's mostly a report of the kids social media posts. WTF is that? Journalism?
I usually name my wifi "_SURVEILLANCE" just to mess with my neighbors
I actually set that same ssid as a joke and still use it; this post belongs on facebook
this joke made its way around my circles a few months ago. you're supposed to change the name of your home wireless network to "fbi surveillance van" (those exact words, too) to freak out people who are hanging around your house stealing bandwidth. this isn't the stupidest article that's been posted, but it's close.
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
My roommate and myself had that as our SSID for years.
Gone!
Or maybe, al_qaeda_local_549
.
Totally changing my network name to this.
Nothing to see here folks, just a white van with men in suits and ties inside.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
something like LocalPD_NarcoticsSquad!
"I_got_pussy_for_installation" was one ssid I saw once(well, thrice). it wasn't exactly that string though, as it was in finnish. funny anyways.
anyhow, if some neighbor of his(this guy) knew of the fbi raid or surveillance, they might have just put it up to spite. the ssid i saw might've been intentional by some tongue in cheek chick - or not.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I have to assume the [fail] tag is because they actually posted the story here... WTF... I've been reading ./ for a while now. Hardly ever log in (had to hunt down my password)... but srsly... this is ... There are no words in entish, elvish or the tongues of man to describe how much of a fail it is for this to get posted, as a serious article.
My SSID is "SHOCKING PORN" and when my sister-in-law got wifi, I made sure she understood there was a password and we set the SSID to "Fuck Off, Freeloaders!"
My general experience is that most of the time the immediate neighbors on both sides wifi bleeds in/out at about 1 "bar" of strength, so its not like anybody even sees the SSIDs unless they are in my house or outside.
Hmmm.. and you know this because you've been hacking them yourself right?
As much as I'd be forced to agree with the majority of points in this discussion (it's not the Feds, duh!), I have to point out that if the FBI was sniffing my (or your) trafffic, they'd have to use the same 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz gear, otherwise they couldn't sniff a thing!
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
There is a difference between being legal to own and being legal to buy (or sell). For instance, it is not legal to sell 23-channel CB radios.
The reason our law enforcement is as good as it is, the ones who can't get into the police academy become criminals.
That's my network. I named it that as a joke.
Look, I title my WiFi networks weird things all the time, just because I know strangers will see it and be confused. Some are great wordplay, some are simply bizarre non-sequitors, some of them are downright disgusting, and some are deliberately misleading.
My hunch is that this network is NOT that of an actual FBI surveillance van, but the product of a fun-loving person setting up their router.
That said, it would be pretty simple to use wifi sniffing tools to pinpoint the source of the signal and actually, you know, VERIFY this absurd claim.
I mean, the feds are stupid, but I don't think they're THAT stupid.
Even now, as I write this.
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
Better yet: Hoover_Vacuum_Cleaner_Sales
Have gnu, will travel.
Wouldn't it be hilarious if they actually did get data out of that somehow?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
My cell phone is "Flowers By Irene" whenever I enable wifi tethering.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Their sniffer would not be broadcasting anything, surely...
No, not really. All they need to sniff your packets is a client that can connect to your network (e.g. a laptop or phone). Doesn't stop them from using a completely separate system for their internal communications.
I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
Nah why broadcast SSID at all to sniff?
They can use off the shelf wifi NICs for that.
Well lets be honest, FBI? Their contractor buys off the shelf NICs, repackages them and sells them for 1000X the price.
Stll not broadcasting an SSID though.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Think I'll plug it in and set it up to broadcast "CIA_DEA_FBI_SURVEILLANCE" but not connect it to anything. I wonder how long it will be before it shows up in a story here...
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
Seriously, there are 2-3 wireless networks around my apartment that are named something similar to this, probably by some people who still think this is surprising to others and/or funny.
That's only half of their SSID, the full string is "PARTY_VAN_FREE_CANDY".
I'm "FBI Van #617", been using that SSID for years to fuck with the locals.
Nothing to see here folks, just a white van with men in suits and ties inside.
and Guy Fawkes masks...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Check your wireless networks and you will likely find the TSA showing up on your computer. They don't show up all of the time but they obviously don't care that you know.
If this counts as evidence of FBI involvement, then what does it mean that I saw nearly the same thing about 90 miles north of the 49th? (I.E. the Canada/US border)
to rename my wifi network so I can freak out the neighbors.
Roughly 10 years ago, I was war-driving and one of the hotspots came up: 'CIA SAFE HOUSE'. The sad part was, I wasn't sure if it was a joke or if someone was actually that daft. It was a posh area of town, so I'm still undecided to this day.
And after reading this story, the FBI circulated a memo instructing that the SSID should be changed to TOTALLY_NOT_FBI_SURVEILLANCE from now on.
The statement "it's not legal to buy" is correct, even if innacurate. It implies that the buyer commits some offense. However, it is illegal to buy in that to buy, someone must sell it to you, and that sale is illegal. So it is not legal to buy it because somone at the transaction is breaking the law.
Learn to love Alaska
But I'm totally changing my sprint mobile SSID to that and leaving the roaming wlan on from now on...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
So many news articles I read these days are based around a facebook status or someone's tweets. Infact, about a week ago the front page of the newspaper I buy was about something some celebrity wrote on twitter. There so called journalists need to get a fucking grip, do their job right and and start reporting proper news that people actually care about from decent sources.
Sure if you see a random Wifi spot with a spooky name, I would agree with you. But you're missing part of the story. Just before the kid got busted is when the Wifi spot showed up. It wasn't there before. Suddenly the spooky Wifi spot shows up and right after that the kid gets busted.
So if it is a coincidence that a neighbor named his Wifi spot something spooky to keep the kids out, then it's one heck of a coincidence.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
A story of my own. I set my SSID to "flancrest enterprises" and a few days later I noticed one of my neighbors had changed theirs to "CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet". True story.
This has to be the dumbest fucking story I have ever read on this site. I can't tell if this article is serious or meant for a laugh. Sadly I think it is serious.
As I write this, there is a nearby access point named "CIA Surveillance Van". You think that is the fucking CIA? Should submit a story about that?
Jesus fucking christ. This is a new low for this site.
I wonder how many people the FBI hire to spread the meme that it is funny to name your SSID "FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN"?
I suppose that FBI agents are so technically inept that they commonly carry wifi routers in their vans (which would be completely unnecessary) and name their networks this obviously? I've seen "FBI" networks at least a couple of times, when not wardriving, so I doubt I it is easy to just stumble upon such stupidly named but authentic networks. Why didn't the person who submitted this article, or the one who approved it, realize that the moron of interest is not really smart enough to uncover an FBI investigation of him? Come one, seriously, what a waste of space, Slashdot.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
I know your post is complete bullshit but I'd report that van as suspicious and then mention some young Arab men who come to check on it. Sit back and enjoy the show.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Bullshit meter... in the red.
Why do I M2 everything negatively?
Indeed.
The most hilarious I've seen are "Turn down the music asshole", "I can hear you f*cking" and "Guess the password now prick"
I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
One time I saw across the street a mysterious green van with red flowers and lettering on it. I didn't think much about it until I checked my network and saw one connection labeled "THOSE_MEDDLING_KIDS"
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
...and proud of it :D
there's a couple of other ssids in my neighbourhood that use boring names like "edupass43256" and "bigpond". these people obviously have no life :P
Their normal ID is two_guys_from_quantico_pizza .
Hehehe. Mine is called "crack.exe.jpg"
Oh, the beautiful gloss of greality!
This joke has been around for at least two years, folks...
This has been a test. If this had been an actual Sig, you would have been amused.
Makes me want to name mine Playtronics_Internal or Playtronics_Cray_YMP just to make people google it.
Atlas Shrugged : Thematic Story
A real FBI surveillance van would broadcast a much more common SSID.
Like 'linksys'
or maybe
'attwifi'
No man is an island, But if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie them together, they make a pretty good raft.
I've used Skynet for a while too, but ultimately decided on Event Horizon. Partly because of the encryption (people don't know what lies behind the router) and partly because of the movie with the same name.
# touch universe # chmod +rwx universe #
FBI_SURVEILLANCE_VAN is an incredibly popular SSID that comes up on every list of clever network names I've ever seen. A friend of mine even uses it, though hers has some numbers attached to make it look better.