Slashdot Mirror
New GCHQ Chief Says Social Media Aids Terrorists
An anonymous reader sends this report from Sky News:
The new head of GCHQ has accused social media websites of helping terror groups and called for closer ties with intelligence agencies. "'However much they [tech companies] may dislike it, they have become the command and control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us." ... Mr. Hannigan said that smartphone and other mobile technologies increased the opportunities for terrorist activity to be concealed in the wake of the exposing of secret cables and documents collected by US and UK authorities by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Mr. Hannigan said that smartphone and other mobile technologies increased the opportunities for terrorist activity to be concealed in the wake of the exposing of secret cables and documents collected by US and UK authorities by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
If we start screaming, crying, and arresting people as soon as they express a view we don't like we have not defeated the Muslims. We have become like the Muslims.
In other news:
Cars help terrorists: they use them as a means of transport. We should add kill switches and gps units to all cars so the goverment can track every individual car and stop it if needed.
Subway helps terrorists: They use it as a means of transport. We should force every person using it to identify and keep all this data on a database.
Houses help terrorists: They use them to hide and to stay warm and to plan new attacks. We should have a camera on every house connected to a government agency so we can track who is in the house and what is he doing.
Books help terrorists: They read them and get funny ideas. We should create a system where people would identify themselves before reading a book.
Also, this not only applies to terrorists. It also applies to child molesters, please think of the children.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
Slashdot IS social media, which is why NSA and GCHQ created a fake Slashdot to hack into a Belgian Telecom company.
You dirty terrorists, you! Bad Slashdot! BAD!
Seriously, though, this is beyond belief and beyond the pale. Where do they get these morons? Most of these people are guilty of perjury (at best) and outright conflict of interests and gross violations of basic human rights at worst.
When is this going to stop and when are we going to get rid of these idiots? Where is Senator Franck Church when we need him?
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
Electricity, roads, mechanized farming, and every other technology that makes up our modern way of life.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
...get a search warrant. Or, to be a bit more accurate: stop whining about how difficult your job is now and just do what you should have been doing all along. If you are having trouble identifying "persons of interest", that is not my problem. If encryption is too hard for you to break covertly, that is not my problem. If you can't do your job without every single person holding the door open for you to have a look around inside, that is not my problem. See a theme here, Hannigan? You are paid a handsome salary to detect nefarious arseholes who would do damage to the UK and its interests; perhaps you should earn that salary instead of moaning about the IT industry making the life of your staff difficult. If a dragnet is the answer, you are asking the wrong questions.
Drinking water allows terrorists to remain hydrated, even in dry environments! Social media aid those who use them.
Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
The largest means of support for terrorist groups is the U.S. Dollar. Perhaps we should get rid of that, too.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
This just in!
Also aiding Terrorists:
1. Air
2. Food
3. Water
4. Pillows
5. Gravity
6. The sun
Did Mr. Hannigan say "that smartphone and other mobile technologies increased the opportunities for terrorist activity to be concealed in the wake of the exposing of secret cables and documents collected by US and UK authorities by whistleblower Edward Snowden"?
I'm still not sure yet.
"The hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs" - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Paper helps terrorists make plans, maps help them find their way, cars help them get there, air helps them breath, food helps them grow, playing cars stave off their boredom, blah blah blah.
I would say that supporting tinpot dictators in these countries has probably been the #1 factor in creating these guys, with any #2 being such a distant second that it hardly counts. Yet it is these very same "security" agencies that have been patting themselves on the back as they trained and supported the secret police in all these countries. Using terms like "Realpolitik" to justify their actions.
Well sorry, you don't let the serial killer go just because he also runs an after-school program for the kids. Or even if he happens to own an oil well or two.
Plus it wouldn't be social media that the top terrorist dogs use. Those guys would be using couriers running around on motorcycles with cryptic notes. The only people that are using social media that these KGB types are scared of are new peaceful political movements that might organized to create a society that doesn't give them the free hand that they enjoy today and hope for tomorrow. Including movements in countries where they enjoy tight relationships with the corrupt evil regimes that have their boots on the throats of their people now.
Think about how much effort the American security services have spent going after Occupy NY whereas how little effort they have spent going after any police who violated the civil rights of those same protesters. That is the social media they seek to control.
so we install cameras in every bedroom to see if they're fucking with condoms or not?
I mean, that's basically what it goes to. Government agencies having agents who have access to information about who fucks who and how they fuck, with no oversight. It's better than having cameras in the bedrooms since this way they'll get even people who aren't fucking at home but at love hotels etc.
and why they would be interested in that is that information gives power over many people, especially if they at the same time run propaganda for a conservative 'no sex or naughty stuff' fashion.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Sandwiches Aid Terrorists
Toothpaste Aid Terrorists
HD TVs Aid Terrorists
Sleep Aids Terrorists
Coffee Aids Terrorists
Money Aids Terrorists
...Another fact we all now know: Robert Hannigan is a fuckwit... and you can probably find a reason that he in some way also aids terrorists.
"In my opinion, this is not discriminating or oppressive."
That's because you're discriminating and oppressive so your opinion is based on an abnormal starting point. Assad, Gaddafi, Putin, Stalin, and the Kim Jong dynasty probably don't think anything they do is oppressive either, but it doesn't change the fact that it is.
"It would be discriminating and oppressive if they had competing "Hetero Pride" and "Gay Pride" parades, or "Hetero Lifestyle" and "Gay Lifestyle" public debates and only one side received talk time. Neither receive talk time, which seems to be a fair policy."
Yeah or like if two straight Russians kiss in the street and it's all good but if two gay ones do so then they get beaten up and then arrested for their crime of "promoting gay rights".
Tell me again how that's not discriminatory and not an anti-gay law given that you're not allowed to do something if you're gay in Russia that straight people do all the time?
Why not just say what you really mean - that you hate gays and agree with their oppression in Russia and cut the bullshit in the middle? You'd save yourself so much more typing and you'd be putting the exact same message across. Far more efficient.
The UK has already banned any information which might be useful to a terrorist. Literally, thats what the law says.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Dispite the sensationalistic headline, he's actually spot on:
"'However much they [tech companies] may dislike it, they have become the command and control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us."
True. He's not saying social media is aiding terrorists. He says that terrorists use the same tools that normal people use, too.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
so let's get rid of it.