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Secret Service Agents Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet
HughPickens.com writes: Josephine Wolff reports at The Atlantic that Secret Service Internet Threat Desk is a group of agents tasked with identifying and assessing online threats to the president and his family. The first part of this mission — finding threats — is in many ways made easier by the Internet: all you have to do is search! Pulling up every tweet which uses the words "Obama" and "assassinate" takes mere seconds, and the Secret Service has tried to make it easier for people to draw threats to its attention by setting up its own Twitter handle, @secretservice, for users to report threatening messages to. The difficulty is trying to figure out which ones should be taken seriously.
The Secret Service categorizes all threats, online and offline alike, into one of three categories. Class 3 threats are considered the most serious, and require agents to interview the individual who issued the threat and any acquaintances to determine whether that person really has the capability to carry out the threat. Class 2 threats are considered to be serious but issued by people incapable of actually follow up on their intentions, either because they are in jail or located at a great distance from the president. And Class 1 threats are those that may seem serious at first, but are determined not to be. The overall number of threats directed at the first family that require investigation has stayed relatively steady at about 10 per day — except for the period when Obama was first elected, when the Secret Service had to follow up on roughly 50 threats per day. "That includes threats on Twitter," says Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service. "It makes no difference to [the Secret Service] how a threat is communicated. They can't take that chance of assuming that because it's on Twitter it's less serious."
The Secret Service categorizes all threats, online and offline alike, into one of three categories. Class 3 threats are considered the most serious, and require agents to interview the individual who issued the threat and any acquaintances to determine whether that person really has the capability to carry out the threat. Class 2 threats are considered to be serious but issued by people incapable of actually follow up on their intentions, either because they are in jail or located at a great distance from the president. And Class 1 threats are those that may seem serious at first, but are determined not to be. The overall number of threats directed at the first family that require investigation has stayed relatively steady at about 10 per day — except for the period when Obama was first elected, when the Secret Service had to follow up on roughly 50 threats per day. "That includes threats on Twitter," says Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service. "It makes no difference to [the Secret Service] how a threat is communicated. They can't take that chance of assuming that because it's on Twitter it's less serious."
But I wasn't an assassin, I swear!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Pulling up every tweet which uses the words "Obama" and "assassinate" takes mere seconds (...) The difficulty is trying to figure out which ones should be taken seriously.
I'm going to hazard the guess that it's not the ones on Twitter.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Pfft. The Secret Service is antiquated for protecting the president. Maybe useful for protecting the family, but Presidents have known for awhile that the best way to not get assassinated is to have a total buffoon as the Vice President. I mean what crazy Liberal would shoot GWB knowing that Dick Cheney would take over? No one is going to shoot Obama and end up with crazy uncle Biden in the oval office! You can go back probably till Reagan and it holds true. And how many assassination attempts have been made on recent presidents? Zero.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
...is that people still make threats using a durable medium (ie, not simply mouthing-off without leaving a record) when they actually want to carry-out such threats. It also amazes me when people that have absolutely no idea how communications systems work use them for illegal activities where their lack of knowledge means that they don't have a clue how their communications could be intercepted.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
SS agents are also versed in the arts of:
Deflecting possible Colombian hooker attacks on the president.
Drunk driving and crashing cars into WH's barriers and then destroying video evidence.
Sexually harassing female staff.
Committing arm burglary with their state issued 357 caliber guns.
Being totally ineffective at stopping mentally disturbed individuals to fence jump into the WH's lawn.
Letting armed ex felons ride the same elevator with the POTUS.
But yeah, by all means, focus your efforts on Twitter.
No, they just reformatted the hard drives using "Quick Format"
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Secret Service: What's with all these cats? Oh gawd, ouch, my eyes! My eyes! Can't unsee...
>> Ugliest Corners of the Internet...online threats to the president and his family
How is this uglier than child prostitution, the rapid increase of murder in inner cities, or...?
I get that some level of executive security is probably a good thing, but does the Secret Service really need 1,500 people on staff?
Well, now you've done it. You've attracted attention from the Secretive Service by using the words "Obama" and "assassinate".
Wait, I used them . . . !
I don't think you should have done that.
I'd almost immediately consider anyone making a threat on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media site to be among the least credible threats. Anyone stupid enough to blab about those plans in public is too much of an idiot to get anywhere close to successfully accomplishing such a thing.
The more credible threats are the ones posted on message boards or in chat rooms or other small corners of the internet where like-minded folk gather. Most of what you find there will still be people bouncing words and ideas around their little echo chamber, but a few might be crazy enough to try. Even then, I'd be far more concerned with the people who makes threats about shooting up a mall or blowing up a school as that's a far more attainable goal on a much softer target.
Any threat worth devoting resources to stopping is likely to be using encryption or avoiding the internet as much as possible and trying not to draw attention to themselves.
A better system would be to look at the online history and behavior of any individuals who have committed acts of terrorism or engaged is mass shootings or other violence to see if you can identify future cases based on any common behavior. That would be a far better use of resources than keeping tabs on some Jimbo who's always spouting his mouth off about the gov'mint being evil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
>> Ugliest Corners of the Internet...online threats to the president and his family
How is this uglier than child prostitution, the rapid increase of murder in inner cities, or...?
I get that some level of executive security is probably a good thing, but does the Secret Service really need 1,500 people on staff?
It's not so much that it's *worse* than those things. It's certainly not worth than sex trafficking, for example, where you get these kids raped fifteen times a day. (Read "River of Innocents" to learn more, for example, or Kevin Bales' or Victor Malarek's books).
Fighting over what's "worst" or "ugliest" or so on is like fights over whose genocide is worse, or who has the most messed up family. At the end of the day it's pretty silly and it's usually a waste of time because you could be trying to deal with those problems rather than fighting about how to classify them. So let's accept "ugliest" as a rhetorical inaccuracy and move on.
Because a lot of it pretty goddamn ugly, and they should be able to say it. Reading a single white supremacist website and it's like eating this vile filth that makes you want the whole country to take a shower. It must suck to be the SS agent who *has* to read that shit for his job. I'm sure you professionally detach a bit while having to pretend to relate and are actually able to go after some of the fuckers, so it's not as terrible as it could be, but it's still pretty ugly.
by getting the low hanging fruit.
Anyone who is a serious threat wouldn't be talking about it online. He, she or they would be making preparations and keeping quiet.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
>> background checks are flagrantly and intentionally weak
Background checks really aren't much use. Remember how fast the Charleston Church Shooting story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting) vanished from the news last month when after was revealed that Roof (the shooter) had passed a federal (FBI) background check before purchasing his weapon.
>> US presidents limousine is almost comically armoured
The usual way to attack vehicles, buildings, and their occupants seems to be explosives, not firearms. Just ask anyone who's served in Iraq, Google the Oklahoma City incident, or look up how the mafia has been dispatching elected officials and judges in Italy. In any case you can't say that challenge is unique to America. (However, given how cheap armor is compared to other protection options, I don't think we're getting a bad deal here.)
What "rapid increase of murder"??
Murder has been on the decline for decades. Hell, it's half what it was when I was in high school...
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
So am I to understand from TFS that Twitter is one of the ugliest corners of the internet? I guess I would have to agree...
But they didn't include Slashdot.... Talk about a dark ugly corner...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
To the extent that people make torture, snuff (murder), and animal- and child- or other-abuse movies for entertainment or financial (vs. war/propaganda) purposes and distribute those on the Internet, then the topic of this article is far, far from the "ugliest corner of the Internet."
People who enjoy others' pain and can't or won't follow the laws regarding torture and abuse need serious mental and/or spiritual help. Those who go out of their way to profit from this kind of thing likely need spiritual help as well, independent of any criminal penalties.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
the secret service does a lot more than The Protection Detail.
In fact if over 10K in cash shows up during an investigation some subset will drop EVERYTHING and join in said investigation.
Their Original Job was Anti Counterfeiting.
so if say a hundred million in cash showed up somewhere they would stick the POTUS "In a closet" and sort out that.
The Hacker Crackdown is a very fun book to read (and is LEGAL to just download!!)
so if some "CandyFarm" had a bunch of cash stored it would be a very very very bad thing if a LEO found out.
True, although I should point out that to make a shot at about a mile away, you need to be very, very good at that anti-vehicle rifle. Of course, there are people who can, but they are very serious business types of former military snipers.
The SS does check angles to ensure that the President is not rolling up on somewhere that you could get a one mile shot on a target. And when they can't they make sure of that, they try to make sure that no one knows the exact drop off points well enough to plan to be in such a place ahead of time.
It's actually possible to buy a Bofors L/60, which makes the 50 cal look like a pea shooter. They are a bit more tightly regulated though. There's some nice YouTube videos of someone blowing stuff up with his very own anti aircraft auto cannon.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
>> What "rapid increase of murder"??
How's life in the country? Here's some 2015/2014 stats...it's becoming a major political issue for those of us in and around cities.
Chicago: 26 percent increase - http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
Milwaukee: hit 2014's total in July! - http://www.jsonline.com/news/c...
Baltimore: deadliest month in 40 years - http://www.baltimoresun.com/ne...
New York: Mayor under fire for murder jump - http://www.politifact.com/pund...
The Secret Service protects more than the President. Plus, they're responsible for enforcing counterfeiting laws, which probably keeps them kind of busy, because counterfeiting has to be one of the most tempting crimes of all.
The reason this story highlights Obama is because he's got that pesky problem with his skin color that makes him a target for domestic terrorists like this guy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Look, I can understand a few scattered crazies who would like to assassinate the president. But when thousands of people, groups, regions, countries, religions all over the world want to take him out, some serious self-contemplation is in order.
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
If I was a narcissist and had money to burn - which I don't - I might make a hobby of buying lots-of-paperwork-required guns just because I would be the only one on my block with such a collection.
For safety's sake - and to calm down the local police - I would put a gun-lock or some equivalent on them and I would take further steps so it would take hours rather than minutes to make the gun fire-able. I wouldn't keep more than a token amount of ammo on-site either.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Is that a political party in Finland?
Congratulations, you're on a watchlist now! You just said "assassination", and "Obama", in the same post.
Wait, crap, now I am too.
So they are paying really close attention to the lemonparty websites?
Suicide rates of Federal agents will start to climb drastically.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This is a fairly typical story on a right-wing pseudo-news site: http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/ban...
Now, let us sample some of the comments that could be interpreted as threatening:
"I dare you to come to Texas and tell Texans that you are going after their guns."
"We need to undo everything he put in place while in Office. he is a lying muslim and traitor. We also need to immediately remove ALL of his appointees on day one of the next time we return to a Presidency. This muslim theocracy he works under is illegal."
"Maybe while he's out of the country, we can talk our military into not letting AF One back INTO the country. Tell them to land somewhere else, not AMERICA. Keep him out, Maybe even the Secret Service will do their job of their oath of office to protect our nation from within (obama) and outside. Then he can stay in Kenya, without his protection and live it up! We'll send for AF 1 later, or even blow the damn thing up."
"I hope the military and the police departments do not follow his orders when POTUS decides to grab our guns. I do not want to have to shoot a fellow American, but I have that constitutional right."
"MOLON LABE! Send your storm troopers, you skunk, wannabe Adolf Hitler and you Communist wannabe Josef Stalin. See what happens when free people rise up and take back their country in a revolutionary war against tyranny. Oh did I forget also call you "King Barak the Only"?"
"One if the best reasons for our 2nd Amendment is that we will be able to defend ourselves when the Obama goons come after us!!!"
"omuzloid wont stop until the heart beat of america stops.....this sodomite muzloid is not fit for the office of the president and our elected servants in dc are cow towing to this loathsome peice of trash in the hopes of secureing the illegal power that he has grabbed the republicans are just as guilty as the demicrats.....we need to clean house senate and the presidency and we need to do this before omuzloid can create more havoc and strife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I look for Obama to go after our guns through his illegal abuse of executive authority. We are the only ones who will stop him and that might not be pretty."
"He wants a revolution, so he can martial law! I say lets give it to him! "
"I want to send my sincere condolences to the families of the officers sent to try and take my GUNS.When our brave first responders follow illegal orders against there oath of office , I know they know better. Someone has to stand up and be first , and if our police and military refuse I WILL STAND ALONE. OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS."
That's just one story on one site! It's an impossible task trying to monitor all the potential threats.
Alternatively there has been dumb people publishing their attempt on twitter or whatnot. Now , a lone snipper or gunman or bomb maker, which do not publish what they will do beforehand, that would be something else. Especially with drone which can hold enough weight to have a gun or a bomb. Also remember , some people landed and there were drone on the white house zone. Which leads me to think, the secret service might not be that incredible either, but enough to catch the most dumb and less likely to reach their goal.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Its called word play and sensationalism.
Looking in the "ugliest corners" doesn't necessarily mean you're looking for the ugliest acts -- just that you have to be in the same vicinity of them.
The Twitter reference is just to garner eyeballs. I mean I'm sure they ARE watching Twitter (while most grandstanders are too stupid to follow through with their threats, some may actually have the capability and decide to make the attempt so you can't just ignore them even if the S/N ratio is pretty low.)
Chances are any serious (non-grandstanding) plot involving multiple people (and thus requiring a communications channel) will be hiding in the worst areas of the net right beside the child pornographers and other nasties. So yes, they will have to dig into the "ugliest" parts of the net -- Twitter just isn't that particular part and the article writer is being intentionally vague in order to draw attention.
Similarly, they're probably not just Googling for "Obama AND assassination" and calling it a day. They'll be looking for code phrases and questionable purchase patterns and other indicators of a serious plot made by people who are intelligent enough to at least attempt evading detection.
No they should make gun owners the target. Their regarded. So stupid. They try to sce all problems with violence. Tar is the way if they're Republican kind.
Okay there track star, when the dollar folds, McDonalds and the grocery store doesn't work anymore;, us retarded gun owners will be laughing our asses off watching your dumbass chase your food with rocks and sticks. Then there is the other option of fighting over low hanging fruit in the trees with others like yourself.
However, given how cheap armor is compared to other protection options, I don't think we're getting a bad deal here.
Even if armor works perfectly and stops any shrapnel or superheated explosion-related gasses & fire, any really significant detonation will still turn occupants into pink goo from acceleration/deceleration forces.
If a heavily-armored limo gets tossed 500 feet through the air by an explosion, it's game over for the occupants even if the armor's integrity is not breached in any way.
It's sort of like shaking a raw egg inside a metal box. It's gonna be messy.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Just wondering, after the first 6 months, where will you get your ammunition?
If you can buy it, then why can people not buy guns?
Or do you perhaps use flintlocks?
Just wondering....
As such it will not be all that effective at its assigned task. Just as no other government bureaucracy is effective at ITS assigned task. And just because there's been no attempts on POTUS' life does not mean no one has been trying ...
Secondly, a truly serious individual or group attempting to kill the president will NOT be using the internet for communications in connection therewith. Amateur
individuals and groups will, of course, use whatever means is convenient, including the internet.
Any serious gun nut is going to have the equipment and supplies to do their own hand loading and can keep going until their supplies run out.
Add Reddit to that list, and make them all go away.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
What have threats to the POTUS to do with "Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet"?
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
"Secret Service Agents Stake Out the Ugliest Corners of the Internet"
Public servants all day long on FaceBook is news?
I have an embarrassing amount of ammunition. I am not really a gun nut though. At least not by ordinary definition.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."