FBI Building App To Scrape Social Media

So. It begins. by willaien · 2012-01-27 08:11 · Score: 5, Insightful

You can already assume that your 'public' posts are being seen by people you wouldn't want to see it, but now you know that it is automatic. Depending on data sharing agreements these companies come up with with the FBI, they might even get access to private information.

Hopefully, the latter isn't an issue and they're just scraping public information, but even then, any hopes of not being carefully monitored are dashed. Assume that everything public (and most things private) will be read by people other than the intended recipients. Privacy? What privacy?

Re:So. It begins. by kiwimate · 2012-01-27 08:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

So what?
Yes, I sound cavalier, but I see so many people on /. blithely affirming that people should just know that what they put on the internet stays there forever, and should just know that their SSID is being broadcast and it's a good thing that it can be tracked and stored, and should be fine with people capturing anything whatsoever that's done outside the house, or in the house with the curtains open...
So I can't see that anyone on Slashdot has anything to complain about here. Or is it different because it's not Google doing it?
Re:So. It begins. by cpu6502 · 2012-01-27 08:42 · Score: 2, Interesting

Google doesn't have the power to arrest me and send me to Gitmo without trial (NDAA). That's why I hate corporations but don't fear them. I only fear the government.
As for permanence, I can find my posts going all the way back to 1988. Who knew in 1988 that posts would be archived forever??? Anyway I don't use my real name anymore, and try to rotate my fake name every 1-2 years.
For the FBI:
terrorist
Ron Paul
militia
Constitution
gun
Liberty
airplane
MIAC REPORT
Yeah that sound catch their attention. ;-)

--
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Re:So. It begins. by MitchDev · 2012-01-27 08:45 · Score: 1

Everyone flood their social media with "trigger" words and overload the system.
Re:So. It begins. by Jeng · 2012-01-27 08:54 · Score: 3, Informative

List of supposed trigger words as of @ 2005
http://www.rense.com/general66/scgh.htm

--
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Re:So. It begins. by cpu6502 · 2012-01-27 09:07 · Score: 1

6-28-5
Is tthis June 28, 2005 or May 28, 2006? Or perhaps even June 5, 1928? ;-) I wonder where that list came from? For all I know it was an invention of some Tim McVey-type character. A work of fiction.

--
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Re:So. It begins. by Jeng · 2012-01-27 09:11 · Score: 1

It most probably is a copy of the list that used to be on attrition.org , was unable to find attrition's original list, didn't look all that hard though.

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Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Re:So. It begins. by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-01-27 10:36 · Score: 1

I've been using this signature since 1998, so welcome.

--

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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
Re:So. It begins. by Sulphur · 2012-01-27 14:10 · Score: 1

List of supposed trigger words as of @ 2005
http://www.rense.com/general66/scgh.htm
Was it the wrong turn at Albuquerque that got Bugs Bunny on the list?
Re:So. It begins. by VortexCortex · 2012-01-27 14:59 · Score: 3, Funny

List of supposed trigger words as of @ 2005
http://www.rense.com/general66/scgh.htm
Well then, let me just target myself by creating a story from choice words on that list... bolded for your convenience.
--------
"MITM won't work, they have firewalls", the portly nerd stated flatly, "Only way in is SSH over SSL, but brute forcing the RSA key may take eons."
"Let me try," said Skully as she sat at the terminal displaying the remote supercomputer's login prompt.
Despite entering many spook words, the correct phrase remained an enigma; They had all been incorrect passwords and the secure shell remained so.
The Infowar program's conspiracy theories blabbed over the radio. Posters on the wall proved the basement dwelling nerd who summoned her clearly had a fetish for redheads and Skully became uncomfortably aware of him now staring at her rack.
"Do we have to listen to this crap, Bubba?" said Skully in an effort to divert the nerd's attention from her.
The radio clicked off, and Bubba adjusted an old TV's UHF dial, past Bugs Bunny and paused momentarily on a news broadcast:

Police say the hacker group Anonymous ran into a speedbump of sorts after targeting a Unix Security Firm--
"Lame," remarked Bubba as he resumed his search, "Pseudonyms should be cool or at least ironic... like Verisign ."
Bubba chortled gelatinously as he arrived at his favorite show and said, "Firefly is great, ever seen it? Used to be on another Chan..."
Skully wasn't listening, she was intently staring at the debugging output on one of the various screens. Surrounded by miscellaneous glyphs and hexadecimal numbers was a single coherent word, "sardine".
Skully attempted the password, and immediately gained access. "That executive's fish breath wasn't exactly top secret."
--------
I hope the spooks find it an entertaining read.
Re:So. It begins. by zakaryah · 2012-01-28 05:36 · Score: 1

Since this is the FBI, we can assume there will never be ANY oversight or transparency regarding what they do. For now, they support the program by citing terrorism and national security, claimed goals which were OBVIOUSLY never used to restrict our freedoms... But what's worse, access to this type of data (everyone's private data, for all time), combined with the government's authority, can very quickly lead to a fascist state. Just add to that list of trigger words "intellectual", "liberal", "rebel", not to mention religion and ethnicity. Of course individually these data are easy to gather, but consider the methods of inference which are possible from this type of data - for example, the MIT project "Gaydar". It's only a matter of time before someone tries to use this type of inference in court, to prove ties to terrorism or tendencies of pedophilia. At that point, the government will be able to decide legally all kinds of categories to put you in from just a crawl.

Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Beelzebud · 2012-01-27 08:11 · Score: 4, Interesting

I recently inactivated my account, but I know they still have all of that data. I looked, but found no obvious place to request that your data be deleted. Anyone have any first hand experience with getting them to actually erase your data?

Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by NIN1385 · 2012-01-27 08:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

If you are referring to Facebook, I don't think there is a damn thing you can do to get them to erase or not retain that data. I never started a Facebook account which would be the best advice I could give.

Wiki-leaks releases tons of information on the government and banks and they get punished for it, Mark Zuckerberg does the same thing to people and he gets praised.

On another note, my spell-check that Firefox uses wants to change "Zuckerberg" to "Rubbernecker". Interesting...

--

If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by M4n · 2012-01-27 08:21 · Score: 2

You can with this www.zdnet.com/photos/how-to-delete-every-facebook-wall-post-wipe-your-timeline/6335458

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In space no-one can hear your vuvuzela.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by mr1911 · 2012-01-27 08:22 · Score: 4, Informative

It isn't your data. It is their data about you. Read the TOS you agreed to when you made the account.

Scream about it all you want, but you accepted the terms.

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Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by kiwimate · 2012-01-27 08:43 · Score: 2

Wiki-leaks releases tons of information on the government and banks and they get punished for it, Mark Zuckerberg does the same thing to people and he gets praised.
REALLY? You're comparing a group that publishes illegally obtained secret documents that discuss high level sensitive international operations with a group that has information that people willingly give to them, signing an agreement that explicitly allows this, and that information consisting most of the time of innocuous Farmville status updates.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 08:47 · Score: 2, Insightful

Well, you know, not everyone lives in the States where you can put any kind of garbage on paper. In other countries the data still remains under your control as this is a very basic and fundamental *right* and if you want to be removed, companies need to comply no matter what is written in a contract.
Now, you may start saying that this is a US company after all. Then again, since US arrogates itself the right to enforce US laws in other countries, I hope EU will have enough balls to do the same and black-out Facebook until they start complying with EU privacy laws . It's not that Facebook will be happy to loose such a huge number of users.
As a side note, and back on topic, I'd like to point out that the main problem is not the FBI snooping around. The real problem is that, in the long term, they will start pretending to be able to model social behavior; following a very long and prolific populist tradition of treating correlation as if it was causation. Then, after a period brain-washing the sheeple, they may simply start using such models to go after the populace.
What do you expect from a country that actively uses Polygraphs?
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Beelzebud · 2012-01-27 08:52 · Score: 1

I don't recall screaming about it, or even complaining about it. I just asked a question. I'm well aware that I willingly gave them the info, I never even mentioned that aspect of it...
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by mythandros · 2012-01-27 08:53 · Score: 1

Unless you live in the EU where companies are subject to sane data privacy laws.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by cavreader · 2012-01-27 09:08 · Score: 1

Polygraphs are not admissable in court. If you get arrested you can refuse the test outright and you have nothing to lose since just passing a polygraph won't prove your innocence. People who willing post their life stories on the internet should not complain when that information is seen by others.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Beelzebud · 2012-01-27 09:12 · Score: 1, Informative

By the way, I did a little research, and you can request your info be deleted.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Beelzebud · 2012-01-27 09:21 · Score: 1, Insightful

You can request your info deleted here in the states too. I just did it. No thanks to the people who responded by saying "read the EULA and STFU". Those are probably the same people that think a corporation is a person.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Synerg1y · 2012-01-27 09:27 · Score: 1

google???
http://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=how+do+i+delete+my+account

If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added. If you would like your account permanently deleted with no option for recovery, log in to your account and then submit your request here.

Whether they truly delete it or not is beyond me, but it's not the same as deactivation.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 09:38 · Score: 1

It doesn't change a single thing if it's not admissible in court. Just the fact that it's regularly by police, and in general to do screenings, tells me a lot about the common culture and what to which extent the Sheeple is prepared to be abused.
Then again, you don't even have to look at polygraphs, there are plenty of other abuses TSA, Habeas Corpus, DMCA and the list goes on and on and on. Funny it's still considered the land of the free by a lot of regular people. It's like everyone has been hypnotized for more that half a century. Oh wait...
And just to be picky: posting life stories in a walled garden it's not the same as generically posting something public on the Internet. Besides, there is this other fundamental right called right to oblivion that for all practical purposes can be enforced without many problems (barred things posted to distributed system without central authorities like usenet, p2p, freenet et al, which are clearly very different from Facebook).
It is as simple as that: we are in 2012, not in the Wild West where you can do what you want.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by mr1911 · 2012-01-27 09:46 · Score: 1

A few points:

First, I realize my post seemed targeted toward you specifically. It is a general rant, no offense intended.

Second, requesting your info be deleted != your info actually being deleted.

The overall point is that is ridiculous for people to believe the crap they put on social media can simply be deleted. It is like shouting your personal details to a room full of people and then asking them to forget what they just heard. The genie cannot be put back into the bottle.

Even worse, there is no good way to keep all of your personal information from being broadcast. Even if you don't post anything on some social media site it doesn't mean your friends will not post something about you.

I am not defending Facebook in any way. The point is "privacy" is different today than it was yesterday, and it will be something else tomorrow. I don't like it, but pretending it is a containable problem won't make it better.

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Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
Re:Can you get Facebook to delete your info? by cavreader · 2012-01-27 13:02 · Score: 1

Facebook is a "walled garden"? What planet are you living on. Facebook is used to interact and share information with other users. As soon as 1 individual gets access to your data it can be distributed anywhere. People share information on Facebook for the specific purpose of making sure as many people as possible will see their information. The user can use privacy settings to manage access to their data but the majority crave the largest audience possible.

Made For TV? by Frosty+Piss · 2012-01-27 08:12 · Score: 2

Believe me, I understand why we should all be nervous about projects like this being carried out by the Three Letter folks.

But thinking about another aspect, this sort of thing is always outsourced to some defense contractor who in turn lakes way too long to soak the taxpayer for software that ultimately either fails or does itâ(TM)s job poorly.

Why donâ(TM)t agencies like the FBI recruit âoeSpecial Agentsâ to work in âoehacker labsâ to turn this stuff out in-house? I mean, such a job description is âoemade for TVâ, totally sexy! A bunch of hot young geeks in the latest styles sitting around with holstered Glocks, in a hacker lab with the latest toys?

Who WOULDNâ(TM)T want that job?

--
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.

Re:Made For TV? by nschubach · 2012-01-27 08:16 · Score: 1

I have to ask what you use to post with because all your quotation marks show as "â(TM)" and "â".

--
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Re:Made For TV? by _0xd0ad · 2012-01-27 08:29 · Score: 1

It's what happens when you use the old (D1) posting form and type or paste characters that Slashdot doesn't like. Either he copied-and-pasted that from somewhere, or he composed it in Word and pasted it into the posting form, or he used the Alt-codes not realizing that Slashdot would scramble them.
The new (D2) posting form automatically replaces a subset of special characters with their HTML character entities, such as the decorative quotes (“ and ”). Of course, using the HTML character entities will work no matter which discussion style you're using, as long as that character is allowed.
Re:Made For TV? by HomelessInLaJolla · 2012-01-27 09:21 · Score: 2, Interesting

The copy and paste buffer, even if you believe it to be plain text, contains bits per byte which are part of the overlying OS. Some people know where those bits are and manipulate them.
For example, when editing in MS-Word, open a plain text document--a real one (such as is generated by notepad). If you allow autospell to correct something, even if you save the document again as plain text, there will be an artefact of the autospell replacing text and some of it may be marked as UTF-8 (or other standard encoding in your OS). You think it's plain text but, until you really sanitize it with notepad or a true plain text buffer, those little tags will be preserved even if MS-Word tells you that the file is being saved plain text. The copy and paste buffer and HTML form buffers are susceptible to that sort of thing.
Networks are exploited in a similar manner. Every packet and frame transmitted has bits wrapped around at the beginning and end--those bits are electronic pulse timings which fill the hardware as the electronic signal goes from wire to chips. A router is a bank of repeaters with bitmasks used to control which packets go where. If you, for example, use a BASIC interpreter to operate on a TCP/IP stack (such as the uIP stack inside of Contiki-OS), you will be able to manipulate those bit timings (eg. peruse uip.c for "add arch timings") which you are unable to see using standard TCP/IP libraries on your modern day OS. Careful manipulation of PEEK, POKE, and READ (and using BASIC's open hole of deliberately mixing string and numeric variables) will allow you to generate packets which, when POKE'd back into the overlying OS network stack, will hit a router and have a priority to activate the repeater circuit because a priority higher than the network bitmask was used.
Precise knowledge of the packet generating process and the nature of the hardware to be targeted will allow the attacker to practically load an entire OS (such as the tiny ones listed on the wikipedia page for Contiki) onto the target hardware and, because it's all about nothing more than pulse timings, the "rootkit" will run concomittant to the code running in that hardware; concomittant meaning that it may or may not even be able to access the processes running in the cycles on the other side of the pulse timings.

--
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
Re:Made For TV? by mjwalshe · 2012-01-27 10:44 · Score: 1

Somehow I doubt that its like the Grid in Spooks (MI5 as its called in the US) Just like working at Cheyenne Mountain is nothing like Stargate
Re:Made For TV? by shiftless · 2012-01-27 19:28 · Score: 1

Wow, either you are a masterful troll who just trolled some mods hard, or I'm a complete fucking idiot.
Are you really saying that by using PEEK and POKE statements in BASIC one can "alter bit timings" and thus load a complete alternate OS via TCP/IP onto an unsuspecting network machine, and that the instructions you load into the machine will basically be running 180* out of phase with the normal OS, so the two will simultaneously run but aren't "aware" of each other?
LOLOLOLOLOL
Well played....
(moderations undone, including the initial -1 Troll which will probably be misinterpreted by some moronic meta mod)

"Scrape" by Crudely_Indecent · 2012-01-27 08:13 · Score: 1

As in, the bottom of the barrel.

They will know all of your dirty secrets because even if you don't spill, your friends will.

--

"Lame" - Galaxar

Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by HockeyPuck · 2012-01-27 08:13 · Score: 5, Funny

Do we really think that terrorists are going to be coordinating things via FB?

It's like that old joke, what was Bin Laden's last FB entry?

"BRB, someone's at the door"

*Seal Team 6 likes this

Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by willaien · 2012-01-27 08:15 · Score: 4, Insightful

Terrorist or Freedom Fighter?
Egypt and Libya's uprisings were greatly facilitated by twitter and other social networking sites.
Not to say that we should overthrow the government, but, what about them using it to keep tabs on, say, the Occupiers and then using threatening, but legal, actions to undermine them?
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by tatman · 2012-01-27 08:17 · Score: 5, Interesting

I read a few articles during and after the mayhem in London the police where having trouble coordinating their efforts because the rioters were using social media to communicate their plans. If I remember correctly, someone in British government structure has proposed a law to allow them to shut down social media sites in "emergencies". So I would assume the FBI motivation is more on these lines as the likelihood of social media sites can get legally shutdown. (btw I am in no way advocating shutting down social media or validating gov attempts to monitor it--just offering my thought as to motivations behind the FBI project)

--
I've always said English was my second language. Had Romeo and Juliet been written in C, I might have understood it.
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by goldaryn · 2012-01-27 08:22 · Score: 1

Do we really think that terrorists are going to be coordinating things via FB?
It's like that old joke, what was Bin Laden's last FB entry?
"BRB, someone's at the door"
No, it was "Osama needs credits for farmville :("
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2012-01-27 08:24 · Score: 1

Depends on how broad your definition of "terrorist" stretches...

The real pros, highly unlikely. The unpleasant-but-pathetic wannabes who end up getting sucked into FBI stings where the FBI has to do all the work because the perp is kind of a loser, quite possibly.

Assorted domestic political groups that the FBI wishes to harass or disrupt*cough* COINTELPRO*cough*, Yup, you betcha...

Given their sordid history, I strongly suspect that the FBI is interested in a definition of 'terrorist' that goes well beyond Mr. Ibn Muhumad Jihad al Anthrax and includes a fair number of much more prosaic domestic groups, who are probably twitbooking and facester-ing just as much as everybody else.
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by jesseck · 2012-01-27 08:46 · Score: 1

So I would assume the FBI motivation is more on these lines as the likelihood of social media sites can get legally shutdown.

I recall that as well. Maybe the FBI doesn't want to shut it down, though- by passively monitoring, they can determine where the next gathering point will be. If they were to shut it down, another method of communication (not as readily intercepted) would be used rather quickly. It would probably take protestors time to learn which services (or accounts) were compromised and, by selectively targeting demonstrations, they (the FBI) could further obfuscate the data source.
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 09:18 · Score: 2, Insightful

This isn't about terrorists. This is about Occupy Wall Street and the FBI being able to feed real-time intel to local police departments.
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by Onymous+Coward · 2012-01-27 09:35 · Score: 1

Do we really think that terrorists are going to be coordinating things via FB?
Depends on how you define "terrorist". Since lots of agencies are quick to try to label you as one...
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by tlhIngan · 2012-01-27 10:21 · Score: 2

Maybe the FBI doesn't want to shut it down, though- by passively monitoring, they can determine where the next gathering point will be. If they were to shut it down, another method of communication (not as readily intercepted) would be used rather quickly.
Exactly.
Reframe it this way - did people stop pirating music once the RIAA sued Napster? No, they moved onwards to Gnutella, Bittorrent and other P2P mechanisms. In fact, killing Napster make the alternatives more popular and even harder to stop. Taking down Bittorrent trackers just made more private ones spring up.
So only idiots shut down stuff that they can easily monitor. If people are rioting, don't shut down Facebook, instead glean intel from it. Shut down facebook and that intel would get posted elsewhere, Don't shut it down and people will post it right in front of you.
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by FriendlyLurker · 2012-01-27 13:15 · Score: 1

Give this AC a mod point!
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by Thing+1 · 2012-01-27 13:27 · Score: 1

Given their sordid history, I strongly suspect that the FBI is interested in a definition of 'terrorist' that goes well beyond Mr. Ibn Muhumad Jihad al Anthrax and includes a fair number of much more prosaic domestic groups, who are probably twitbooking and facester-ing just as much as everybody else.
The part that bothers me about all this? I have deliberately blocked Facebook and its collection sites in my /etc/hosts file. Perhaps, just perhaps, I will be seen as a subversive (either for using Linux; or, one) who is "hiding my identity" in order to do wrong (no: I'm hiding it in order to not be a [victim/advertising metric]). Thus my concern at "the definition of 'terrorist'" you posted.

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I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Re:Terrorists putting their plots on FB? by ErikInterlude · 2012-01-27 17:49 · Score: 1

You're a long way off from being interesting to them. Actions like these are mostly about low hanging fruit. They know the smart and dangerous types are using other channels. This tool will be mostly used to monitor trends, map out where people will gather en mass, and somewhat occasionally track specific individuals. There's just too many people to watch all at once, even with today's technology. You have to do something to pop up on their radar. Until then, your lack of social network visibility will sufficiently mask your presence.
Well, I hope so, anyway.

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--Erik

Not news? by betterunixthanunix · 2012-01-27 08:15 · Score: 2

I thought we already knew that law enforcement agencies were watching social networking websites? They have caught people because of pictures posted online in the past:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/14/mexico-fugitive-facebook-arrest

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Palm trees and 8

Re:Not news? by Dr.+Tom · 2012-01-27 08:20 · Score: 1

yeah, like, derp, everyone can read twitter, or that slashdot site or whatever it's called people who suddenly want to delete their shit because OH NOES THE GOVT CAN SEE IT: I got news for you, they already can We know what their keywords will be: @YourAnonNews #NSA #FBI #CIA #ENCRYPTION #BOMB
Re:Not news? by Onymous+Coward · 2012-01-27 09:42 · Score: 1

FBI's Soliciation For Web Scraping Software Fools Public Into Thinking They Don't Have Such A Thing Already
Or maybe they don't, and they're tired of the CIA not sharing.
Haven't we all watched the video that shows the links between Facebook and the CIA?

Re:Really? by MikeyC01 · 2012-01-27 08:15 · Score: 1

If you believe the whack jobs out there, Google is run by the NSA so you would think they would just share what they have :)

Duplication of efforts? by Jeng · 2012-01-27 08:18 · Score: 1

The FBI and other three letter acronyms have been using programs for years that monitor the internet.

Echelon, carnivore, et all. Why do they need a whole new system just to include social networking sites?

--
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.

Re:Duplication of efforts? by betterunixthanunix · 2012-01-27 08:30 · Score: 2
1. The FBI cannot use NSA resources like Echelon.
2. Carnivore is very limited in what it can do
3. New communication systems can be exploited in different ways, and so new technologies need to be developed. The value of Facebook is not just in what people are typing, but in what their friends, friends of friends, etc. are typing as well.
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Palm trees and 8
Re:Duplication of efforts? by jesseck · 2012-01-27 08:51 · Score: 1

Why do they need a whole new system just to include social networking sites?
Maybe so people think they don't have that capability?
Re:Duplication of efforts? by TheRealMindChild · 2012-01-27 10:24 · Score: 1

The FBI cannot use NSA resources like Echelon.
Carnivore is very limited in what it can do
New communication systems can be exploited in different ways, and so new technologies need to be developed.
The value of Facebook is not just in what people are typing, but in what their friends, friends of friends, etc. are typing as well.
Burma Shave.

--

"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson

Prediction.. by goldaryn · 2012-01-27 08:19 · Score: 1, Funny

Now trending: #FBIbastards

Re:Prediction.. by jduhls · 2012-01-27 08:57 · Score: 1

Trending...but only in certain countries. Twitter plays for Big Brother, now: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/2012/0127/Twitter-censorship-Posts-now-yanked-country-by-country

Breaking news!! by WaffleMonster · 2012-01-27 08:22 · Score: 1

Al-Zaida Terror1sts develop tricobalt salted antimatter bomb. Antardic ice sheet vaporized. Millions of penguins now homeless.

(Correction) Re:Terrorists putting ... by tatman · 2012-01-27 08:22 · Score: 1

should read: .... likelihood of social media sites can NOT get legally shutdown ....sorry about that

--
I've always said English was my second language. Had Romeo and Juliet been written in C, I might have understood it.

Privacy? by liquidhokie · 2012-01-27 08:24 · Score: 5, Interesting

Who thinks Facebook is private? The whole point is to *not* be private, right? Otherwise... what is the point of Facebook?

If the FBI was going to start monitoring encrypted email, VPNs, and other things where you are *trying* to be private, I would be concerned (yes, I know-- whole 'nuther can o' worms). But Facebook? You are giving the info away as a user, that is the purpose of having a Facebook account.

Re:Privacy? by webheaded · 2012-01-27 08:51 · Score: 3, Funny

I'm not giving away all my information on Facebook to the public. I keep things contained to people I actually know for a reason. Of course even then, I barely post much of anything because there are too many people on there. The fact of the matter though is that I didn't add the FBI to my friends list so they'd damn well better not be viewing my private information. It's not for them to have. I've specifically taken the steps MULTIPLE TIMES (thanks for constantly changing that Facebook, you assholes) to keep the information private. There's nothing particularly sensitive there but that really isn't the point. I said it was private and it had damn well better stay that way. I don't give a shit if it's out on the internet...it was understood that any random person should not be able to see my information when I marked all my profile fields and posts as FRIENDS ONLY.

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"Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - BenF
Re:Privacy? by willaien · 2012-01-27 09:10 · Score: 2

I'm saying: don't assume it stops at 'public' stuff. That's stuff you could already assume would be consumed by people outside of your obscure circle.
After the whole NSA AT&T traffic sniffing stuff, I assume that anything that goes over the wire that isn't encrypted (and even some that is) can be seen by the government.
Re:Privacy? by tlhIngan · 2012-01-27 10:18 · Score: 2

I'm not giving away all my information on Facebook to the public. I keep things contained to people I actually know for a reason. Of course even then, I barely post much of anything because there are too many people on there. The fact of the matter though is that I didn't add the FBI to my friends list so they'd damn well better not be viewing my private information. It's not for them to have. I've specifically taken the steps MULTIPLE TIMES (thanks for constantly changing that Facebook, you assholes) to keep the information private.

The problem is, you posted the information. An old adage from the early days goes "never put online what you don't want the world to know".
You fell for the "privacy" settings. There is no such thing, because honestly everyone else can get easy access to that information.
Think about it - who benefits from people posting information on their website? Facebook/Google/etc. all benefit because it's useful for mining and marketing. How do you get the public to post their whole lives online? You implement "privacy" settings, giving them privacy theatre - because once it's online, it can't be taken off.
Hell, I'm sure Facebook, Google, etc. would hand over lots of information if the FBI posed as advertisers and bought a few ads.
And as long as someone else can see it, they can post it. Expecting Facebook to keep stuff private from reposts/retweets is just as good as emails that can only be read by one person.
There is only one "privacy" setting. And it's "everything you post is public". If you mark your post as "Only Me" - why bother putting it online? If it's "Only friends" then you're counting on them to not broadcast it to THEIR friends and so on (i.e., it's public).
Re:Privacy? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 13:24 · Score: 1

Its never put anything online that you don't want somebody else's lawyer holding up in court.

Backdoor Cisco Router Scrape! YOU WERE WARNED! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 08:27 · Score: 1

Spook BackDoors In Cisco Routers
- Older news, but still relevant!!
Please save this story and repost it everywhere
Especially in Security Discussion Forum Sites
- You should use OpenBSD or a hardened Linux distro
For a router, NOT these blackboxes offered with
proprietary hardware & firmware!

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/03/hackers-networking-equipment-technology-security-cisco.html

"Special Report
Cisco's Backdoor For Hackers
Andy Greenberg, 02.03.10, 01:45 PM EST
The methods networking companies use to let the Feds watch suspects also expose the rest of us.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Activists have long grumbled about the privacy implications of the legal "backdoors" that networking companies like Cisco build into their equipment--functions that let law enforcement quietly track the Internet activities of criminal suspects. Now an IBM researcher has revealed a more serious problem with those backdoors: They don't have particularly strong locks, and consumers are at risk.

In a presentation at the Black Hat security conference Wednesday, IBM ( IBM - news - people ) Internet Security Systems researcher Tom Cross unveiled research on how easily the "lawful intercept" function in Cisco's ( CSCO - news - people ) IOS operating system can be exploited by cybercriminals or cyberspies to pull data out of the routers belonging to an Internet service provider (ISP) and watch innocent victims' online behavior.

But the result, Cross says, is that any credentialed employee can implement the intercept to watch users, and the ISP has no method of tracking those privacy violations. "An insider who knows the password can use it without an audit trail and send the data to anywhere on the Internet," Cross says.

Cross told Cisco about his findings in December 2008, but with the exception of the patch Cisco released following the revelation of its router bug in 2008, the security flaws he discussed haven't been fixed. In an interview following Cross' talk, Cisco spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson said that the company is "confident in its framework." "We recognize that security is complicated," she said. "We're looking at [Cross'] findings and we'll take them into account."

Cisco isn't actually the primary target of Cross' critique. He points out that all networking companies are legally required to build lawful intercepts into their equipment.

Special Report
Cisco's Backdoor For Hackers
Andy Greenberg, 02.03.10, 01:45 PM EST
The methods networking companies use to let the Feds watch suspects also expose the rest of us.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Cisco, in fact, is the only networking company that follows the recommendations of the Internet Engineering Task Force standards body and makes its lawful intercept architecture public, exposing it to peer review and security scrutiny. The other companies keep theirs in the dark, and they likely suffer from the same security flaws or worse. "Cisco did the right thing by publishing this," says Cross. "Although I found some weaknesses, at least we know what they are and how to mitigate them."

The exploitation of lawful intercept is more than theoretical. Security and privacy guru Bruce Schneier wrote last month that the Google ( GOOG - news - people ) hackings in China were enabled by Google's procedures for sharing information with U.S. law enforcement officials. And in 2004 and 2005, a group of hackers used intercept vulnerabilities in Ericsson ( ERIC - news - people ) network switches to spy on a wide range of political targets including the cellphone of Greece's prime minister.

All of that, argues IBM's Cross, means that Internet-related companies need to be more transparent about their lawful intercept procedures or risk exposing all of their users. "There are a lot of other technology companies out there that haven't published their architecture

Re:Really? by jellomizer · 2012-01-27 08:31 · Score: 1

I thought Google is ran by the LiBeRaL mEdIa!!!

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If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.

I'd like to optout unless I'm suspected of a crime by mykos · 2012-01-27 08:33 · Score: 1

Or is this the FBI saying everyone is a suspect in their books?

Re:Really? by superwiz · 2012-01-27 08:38 · Score: 1

In that results returned by Google are at Google's discretion. Should Google change their policy or cease to exist, or be brought down by a foreign cyber attack, FBI probably would like to keep operating.

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Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.

Wake Up Mr. President! by tgeek · 2012-01-27 08:41 · Score: 3, Funny

We have have highly credible reports that Farmville is planning a sneak attack on Washington. Air Force One is fueled and ready.

Here's what it'll be: by Arancaytar · 2012-01-27 08:44 · Score: 1

It'll be a hundred million dollar application that searches Twitter for the "#bomb" hashtag.

Re:Really? by Jeng · 2012-01-27 08:45 · Score: 1

I know right, all they hire are elite intellectuals.

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Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.

Ok everybody,,, by 3seas · 2012-01-27 08:47 · Score: 1

...make sure all threats are using social networks......

Re:Ok everybody,,, by 3seas · 2012-01-27 09:03 · Score: 1

When you realize the foolishness of what is claimed you will then realize, if you are thinking for yourself, that this is just like the telecom spying on Americans years ago (post 9/11) with the claim they were looking for terrorist. (and the GOV let the telecoms off in a lawsuit against them)
But the much more believable probability, then looking for coded common language (language/vocabulary use is only relevant to the agreed upon meaning by those using it - meaning whatever those using it want it to mean.).... the more believable probability is to spy in the public's attitudes and perception which is extremely useful when you control the media (and we all know MSM in the US is completely controlled after the anthrax attacks on it post 9/11)
By knowing what the public is thinking you can used the media to manipulate the public as you see fit.
Guess what.. we have an election coming up.... and more war BS hype too... Like dudes... Deja Vu....

They weren't already doing this? by hawguy · 2012-01-27 08:48 · Score: 1

The only thing I'm surprised about is that they weren't already doing this. It's not like Facebook is new or anything.

As long as they are only scraping public posts, I don't see any problem with this. I'd even be fine with Facebook providing them with an API to make it easier to scrape public posts.

Damned /. Editors! by PPH · 2012-01-27 08:53 · Score: 1

Misspelled 'scrap' again.

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Have gnu, will travel.

Re:and here comes slashdot, late again by ColdWetDog · 2012-01-27 08:59 · Score: 3, Insightful

why does this site even exist anymore? reddit posts everything first, with less bias, and without all the self-loathing commentators screaming shill/troll/astroturf/mccarthyist label of the day.

We're here specifically to annoy you, AC. Looks like we're on top of our game again.

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!

It'll Be Good for Policing Organized Crime by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 09:00 · Score: 1

I keep getting Facebook notifications about people attempting to acquire more cell phones and baseball bats, as well as coordinating with other people who need help with fighting crime bosses.

I disabled my facebook acount by... by jerryjnormandin · 2012-01-27 09:09 · Score: 1

I deleted all pictures, I deleted all posts, I de-friended everyone, I changed the name, contact info, everything... after that I disabled the account. Why... let's just say some things should stay private. TMI. Less is More. I think everyone should just delete their fb account like I did. Trust me.

Well That Explains It... by JeanCroix · 2012-01-27 09:12 · Score: 2

The FBI keeps showing up in my "people you might know" list. Same with everyone else, I assume?

Re:Well That Explains It... by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-01-27 10:41 · Score: 1

Yeah, same here, and they keep tagging photos with me in it, showing the location as "just outside your house".

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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.

Track record by trolman · 2012-01-27 09:14 · Score: 2

If this 'app' goes the way of the other FBI IT projects then we have no worries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Case_File

2001 Projected started just after 911. ... 2009 The FBI is years behind and millions over budget
2010 The FBI is $100 million over budget on the ... only half of the project's four-phase development had been completed
2011 The FBI's upgrade of its computerized case file system has hit another snag

Anybody hear of Palantir? by undeadbill · 2012-01-27 09:19 · Score: 1

All it looks like to me is that the FBI is finally joining the other TLAs in putting out an RFP that specifically is tailored to the makers of Palantir getting a contract.

Re:Anybody hear of Palantir? by HomelessInLaJolla · 2012-01-27 09:27 · Score: 1

Palantir. Those were in the ark of the covenant that the Israelites carried across the desert. There was one in the temple of the Lord that Samuel heard talking to him. The ancient Egyptians had a tuneable cochlear mechanism built into some of the pyramid temples which allowed them to listen to the palantir sequentially in a life-sized checkerboard fashion. Dragon Orbs are palantir using sunlight for full-screen on the wall projection.
And when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled the apostles were gathered in the upper room for fear of the Jews because they must be mind readers--how did they know, on Easter, that he had broken fast? He past the walking test, he had the shroud and napkin test, he had the numbers test, he could beat the blowgun with "Smile for the camera!", he was able to cue Lazarus to the vocal keys he was missing to prove that b*tch was lying... how did they know?
Duh, stupid, they've got mini-diamond listening dragon orb palantir spaced as perfectly as pac-man pellets around the entire town.

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the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac

Well, thank goodness *someone's* scraping it... by gestalt_n_pepper · 2012-01-27 09:24 · Score: 1

It's gotten pretty darned crusty by this time, let me tell you!

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Please do not read this sig. Thank you.

too late by pbjones · 2012-01-27 09:35 · Score: 1

I would guess that commercial interests are already raping the internet for info now, just buy off-the-shelf software.

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There was an unknown error in the submission.

Expensive RSS feed by mindcandy · 2012-01-27 09:38 · Score: 1

Okay, so the FBI want's to drop major coin on what's really just expensive news aggregation.

Don't immediately assume that because the government is doing it, that it's bad .. as much as I hate Twitter, fast happening or highly localized events often are posted there tens of minutes before they make any sort of major media.

There's millions of people running around with smartphones that constantly yap .. this is basically like surveillance cameras, but with automatic (and free) interpretation.

And before anyone complains about the privacy "implications" .. don't put private shit on the Internet. Period.

Re:Expensive RSS feed by mjwalshe · 2012-01-27 10:48 · Score: 1

Yeh well doing sentiment analysis and very large scale data mining is a non trivial task its not just some hacked together in 5 mins python script that combines a few rss feeds.

in the early stages = v3 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-27 09:50 · Score: 1

Okay, so v1 and v2 were fairly quiet, but now were about to be higher profile with the results of our database scraping... so now we publicly state we're working on it.

I can configure my low end 'smart' switch to duplicate all traffic coming in on a port to another. If I can do this, then you know that it's trivial for them to. No longer a need for the 'secret' room at the telco. Now we can just duplicate and redirect all traffic to a huge server farm. Raptor or velociraptor, or my balls... whatever you want to call it... they can filter sift and re-filter. It's being done already.

This is just a pointless opinion push article.

Making the world safe for Corporatism! by RevSpaminator · 2012-01-27 10:06 · Score: 1

We need someone to make sure no one is engaging in un-American activities like free speech. Civil rights are the slippery slope to godless communism!

Re:Really? by ralphdaugherty · 2012-01-27 10:11 · Score: 1

I thought Google was ticked off that they couldn't get this, thus Google+.

As for govt monitoring and especially doing it by subcontracting to defense contractors, I have a long list of govt agencies and defense contractors that have spidered my little site through the years, and I mean a long list.

They might be tweaking to better assimilate random social site comments but they've been mining the web for years.

Facebook "privacy" by liquidhokie · 2012-01-27 10:29 · Score: 1

Don't make the mistake of confusing "the world I want" with "the world that is". Facebook is a private enterprise, it is free, and it is deeply flawed.

I wish I could park my fancy convertible outside the liquor store with the engine running... and it still be there when I get back. Alas, I must suffer through the world that is. And someone is going to steal my car if I make it too easy.

Re:and here comes slashdot, late again by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-01-27 10:39 · Score: 1

Yeah, I find I can't start my day without a goatse link.

I want to know where the cookie recipe guy went, I liked that troll.

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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.

You get what you deserve by kheldan · 2012-01-27 10:43 · Score: 1

All of you who scoffed at people like me about preserving and protecting your privacy? Who pointed and laughed at the "privacy freak"? Who said "If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide"? Who then proceeded to put their entire lives on Facebook? I'm pointing and laughing at you for being so utterly short-sighted and stupid. How do you like me now, hmm? Be sure to enjoy having government law enforcement pawing through all your personal posts, maybe deciding through profiling methods that you're a potential terrorist -- or just dropping by to arrest you and toss your house because you had harsh words to say about an elected official, or made an unfortunate joke. Also, enjoy your Police State -- because that's what we're living in now, morons, because you didn't give a fuck about it when it counted.

Better be sure your papers are in order, Comrade, or the Stassi will not be pleased.

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Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!

Unlike by Killer+Instinct · 2012-01-27 11:11 · Score: 1

We will know when the new scrape system has been implemented, the "Hate" button will be added right next to "Like"

-KI

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#include bier;

Re:Really? by cshark · 2012-01-27 12:25 · Score: 1

Right. And as we all recall, Facebook was initially funded by the NSA's venture capitol arm too. Same for twitter.

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This signature has Super Cow Powers

they already have this. by decora · 2012-01-27 12:54 · Score: 1

if you have read the Anonymous dump of the HBGary emails, they already have tools that will scrape facebook. Then you can internetwork that with Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies stuff to make your own "Team Themis".

They should ask NSA for the data. by master_p · 2012-01-27 21:33 · Score: 1

NSA most probably is doing this for a long time now.

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FBI Building App To Scrape Social Media

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