Happy to assist you. The first thing to realize is that much of what you recite is tactics. The ultimate strategic goal for Bin Laden and his followers is a world of Muslims living under Sharia law. It is a long term goal to be sure. But getting the US out of Saudia Arabia and all the rest is just short term goals. Ultimately they want to see the US converted to Islam, and living under Sharia law. The language is somewhat stylized, in accordance with their religious nature, but fairly clear if you will see. The demand for conversion is pretty straightforward, and the call for Sharia only slightly diffused but you can see it - and it follows naturally from the conversion demand.
(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?
(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.
(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all.....
(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?
If you read in the area of the section I quote you will see many things that they hate that are generally allowed by our freedoms.
"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Yep. Osama bin Laden, for all that he's dead, basically won. And his biggest ally was the US security industry.
Are you a Muslim? Has the US replaced the Constitution with Sharia law? If the answer is No and No, then Bin Laden didn't win, or anything thing close to it. His demand was the US convert to Islam and implement Sharia law.
Confusion on this point is potentially dangerous, and frankly stupid.
And I think your post neatly encapsulates the unseriousness of the views of many people on Slashdot. North Korea, the Empire of Japan, and al Qaida share a number of attributes. They have all managed to kill tens of thousands of people. They have all controlled territory as part of a governing authority. They have all deployed crew served weapons and other heavy armaments. They have all either experimented or used chemical and biological weapons. They all have controlled or had access to resources worth at least many millions of dollars. They are all willing to use violence to further their ends. They all have more than 100 members. The "Militia of Montana," probably not so much for any of that. Al Qaida poses a continuing risk to national governments to varying degrees around the world, including Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria, and others. They are destabilizing many others.
Many people here are cynical about fighting al Qaida due to stunted perspectives and fringe ideas on many related topics. The fact that you use scare quotes around war on al Qaida and compare it to the "war on drugs" just shows you lack perspective.
They don't have to be soldiers of a country since their legal position is essentially similar to that of pirates. But as it happens they consider themselves to be jihadists of the Islamic Caliphate. Are you willing to be an envoy to them? They can be rough, even on their supporters. Given that they behead many of their prisoners, there may not be much to negotiate. I'm willing to see you try though. Keep in mind that they don't fight according to the Geneva Conventions, but rather according to the rules of Jihad in Sharia law. That can lead to some debates that will sound strange to modern Western ears, such as the call by various influential Muslims that the old Muslim practice of taking sex slaves in war be revived.
It is the same to the extent that both attacks caused large loss of life on American soil, and were not the only attacks conducted. Al Qaida's ultimate goal is actually more ambitious in the long term than that of the Empire of Japan. Al Qaida is also working in more countries than Japan was even if it has been less successful in gaining full control of them. Also, both the Empire of Japan and al Qaida experimented with biological and chemical weapons for possible use in future attacks. There are more than a billion Muslims of which a meaningful percentage support the goals of al Qaida and its affiliates. One meaningful difference is that Japan was more easily defeated than al Qaida will be. This conflict will not go away soon.
I love the fact that after more than 10 years some people continue to be unable to assimilate the fact the POWs require neither charges nor trials to be held under the law of war. The rest of your post is likewise specious.
More people died in car crashes in 1941 than died in the Japanese attack that devastated the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. That was about the same number of people that died on 9/11. The US went to war against Japan, the US went to war against al Qaida after largely ignoring its attacks for many years.
It doesn't take many truck bombs at public events to produce spikes in the signal.
No, there are other conclusions that can be reached as I mentioned above. One of them being that the militants fight outside the country, which is true in many cases. Perhaps they don't want to foul their own nest... yet.
It is unlikely that this problem will be going away any time soon, so we'll be able to continue to examine it at our leisure.
Likewise the fact that ignore the many arrests and convictions just goes to prove my point. And note that I didn't even make an effort to include the many reports of extremists leaving the US and Europe to go to areas with hot conflicts where they can fight. That is one of the major concerns of the various security services - that nationals will go to Syria or other areas, train and fight, and return to prepare for future mischief.
The fact that things at home are relatively peaceful today does not mean that there isn't a store of future trouble filling up against the day of action.
So where does that leave us? If most teenagers who really set their mind to it could come up with a way to blow shit up, why is it shit isn't blowing up for the most part? Why do we not have bedlam?
There really is only that one answer.
Exactly! Where are all those attacks that should be happening? Is there a conspiracy of silence?
Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization
Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces on a charge of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based designated foreign terrorist organization.
Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center
U.S. citizen Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, pled guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland.
Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings
Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, Virginia, pled guilty to damaging property and to firearms violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in northern Virginia between October and November 2010, and to attempting to damage veterans’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery.
1.Tampa: Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa
A 25-year-old resident of Pinellas Park, Florida was charged in connection with an alleged plot to attack locations in Tampa with a vehicle bomb, assault rifle, and other explosives.
2.Baltimore: Former Army Solider Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab
A man who secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army was charged with attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, and was arrested upon his return to Maryland after traveling to Africa.
The potential is there. Isn't it one of the complains against the security agencies that they show a "failure of imagination" in dealing with potential terrorist threats, resulting in spectacular attacks like 9/11? Are you suggesting perpetuating that? Should the terrorists "out think" the security agencies?
While the makers of Second Life (Linden Labs) pursue an admirable utopian ideal these metaverse systems can potentially also be used by those seeking to pursue a radical agenda. Many of the overwhelmingly positive features of Second Life can be adapted for negative Real Life means. The rapid and potent way in which communication takes place would seem to be an ideal platform for recruitment into radical groups, especially given the age range of those engaged in the world, which is typically 18-34. The teaching capabilities of the world can clearly be adapted for use by terrorists.
Streaming video can be uploaded into Second Life and a scenario can easily be constructed whereby an experienced terrorist bomb-maker could demonstrate how to assemble bombs using his avatar to answer questions as he plays the video. Using the decentralized organization effect, already successfully used by SL companies, the bomb-maker and his pupils can be spread around the globe and using instant language translation tools (available in the world) could be speaking a variety of languages. Just as Real Life companies such as Toyota test their products in Second Life so could terrorists construct virtual representations of targets they wish to attack in order to examine the potential targets vulnerabilities and reaction to attack. But possibly by far the most useful tool currently available to radical groups is the ability to transfer in-world money between avatars that can be translated into real currency. The Second Life currency of Lindens (approximately $270L to $1US) can be bought using a credit card in one country and credited to one avatar (account) and can be given to a co-conspirator avatar in another country. The person controlling this second avatar can then convert these lindens to the real-world currency wherever they are based using a local credit card or paypal equivalent. Clearly the ability to transfer money in this fashion is a very useful function. While Linden Labs sets a limit on the amount of currency an avatar can buy or sell (typically $5000US) this is likely to change and $5000 gets you a long way in many parts of the world.
In recent years there has been much debate about the risks posed by virtual environments. Concern is growing about the ease in which virtual worlds and virtual reality role-playing games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft can be used for economic crimes such as financially motivated cybercrime, money laundering and terrorism financing. Currently, virtual environments are not subject to the strict financial controls and reporting requirements of the real world, therefore, they offer an excellent opportunity for criminals and terrorism financers to carry out their illegal activities unhindered and with impunity. This paper demonstrates the need for suitable approaches, tools and techniques which can be used to detect money laundering and terrorism financing in virtual environments and introduces a research project which aims to establish a comprehensive set of behaviour maps, rule bases and models to help in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.
Technology is neutral - it can be put to purposes both good or evil. The surgeon's knife can heal or mutilate. When you integrate virtual worlds with the real world in some way, there is
Games could serve multiple purposes: out of band communications (i.e. not phone, email, or mail), rehearsals, and recreation. Since the Caliphate is going to be a while in coming they have some time to kill.
I don't think there is any surprise that WoW or similar games would have broad appeal, even among terrorists. After all, the Harry Potter books have been among the most popular reading for inmates at Guantanamo Bay.
... Harry Potter. He may not come riding in on the back of a hippogriff to free his favorite captives from their own version of Azkaban, but he shows up once a week on a cart of books from the prison library, offering an escape of the imagination treasured by many. Indeed, the Harry Potter series has been one the most popular titles among the 18,000 books, magazines, DVDs and newspapers on offer from the prison library at Guantánamo.
Other offerings in the library started in 2003 include the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Twilight series and a self-help book called Don't Be Sad. Prisoners don't browse the shelves of this particular library; instead, they wait for a weekly visit by a cart of books prison officers think they might be interested in. There are mysteries and books of poems, copies of National Geographic magazine (a favorite), dictionaries and science textbooks. If the prisoners see something they like they are allowed to check it out for 30 days.
The library's offerings now span some 18 languages including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, Russian, French and English. Officers scan newspapers to stay up on the latest titles and try to meet requests from prisoners — though finding books in their native languages can sometimes be a challenge. "I tell ya, Dan Brown's been beating me up lately," says Navy Lt. Robert Collett, who as the officer-in-charge of detainee programs, is known as 'Dean of Gitmo U'. "All his books are very popular, but we don't have all of them in Arabic." When the military has trouble finding a title in a certain language, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sometimes steps in. Martin De Boer, ICRC's deputy head of the regional delegation in D.C., says his group sometimes sends its representatives in far-flung places to local stores in order to answer requests for novels in Uzbek or magazines in Bahasa (the language of Indonesia). "Access to books and news from the outside is very important to the prisoners mental state," says De Boer.
That is a fine description for much of the insane BS I see posted here, little of which has anything to do with me other than in replies to me.
I expect that you should have noted that I often provide links to back up what I'm posting about - not always, but on the balance more often than most that post here I think. I've lightened up a bit in that regard since so many people have explicitly noted in posts to me that they don't actually care about evidence, they will believe whatever nonsense they choose regardless of evidence. I have made a great many completely factual posts fully supported by links to mainstream sources that have been modded to oblivion over the years for that very reason - they didn't fit the political prejudices of the posters here. The truth often doesn't matter to them.
The true simpletons will believe the false claims or name calling used by some to compensate for the combination of their bad arguments and/or lack of imagination in expecting that everybody that posts here must hold the same uninformed position they do, or be of the same flavor of the political fringe as they are. (And many posters on Slashdot do have fringe politics as measured in some countries.) In short: "Oh my stars! That post isn't from the leftist (or other) anti-(Western|American|Semite|...) perspective I have! It must be a conspiracy since nobody I know holds that view! " The fact that you can do calculus or set up routing tables in a big switch doesn't mean you aren't a nitwit in some other matters.
Just a couple of problems with that - an average of 1 person per year has been caught spying on the significant other. They were then disciplined or fired. If it was found that they had tried what you suggest then I think it is safe to assume that they are looking at much stiffer penalties.
If you think the parties are only "slightly accountable" I suggest to talk to some people that remember the races after Watergate, or after some other scandal.
Nobody has to be in the NSA to try what you suggest. Being in the NSA and trying it only really ups the danger level to themselves. I suggest you try peddling that with someone else that is more gullible.
And if you believe this agency is above tipping the party that promises them the most, about the activities of the others, you are sadly mistaken.
So how does that work? NSA has opposition and supporters in both parties. Can you imagine the political fallout if that were to come to light? That would be far more explosive than what Snowden has revealed. Think Watergate 5x. The party involved would almost certainly face a massive backlash, and the agency personnel involved would go to jail - just like Nixon's men.
Emails with opposition talking points mysteriously appearing in inboxes? That would Never happen, right?
That sort of thing happens now, but the source is political party operatives, not NSA or CIA. The parties aren't that shy about their talking points - they basically give them away as soon as they open their mouths.
Suggesting that the intelligence agencies both can and must be involved in domestic politics is a quick route to +5 insightful because everybody just "knows" it happens, indeed it must be happening right now! To get there you have to look past all the laws, regulations, background checks, norms, and other controls to prevent such a thing from occurring, the minimal payoff if it occurs, and the substantial consequences if caught, and the lack of evidence that it is happening. What I find interesting is that this same power of "just knowing" on the part of most people here both indicates that the intelligence agencies interfere with domestic politics while denying that Snowden could be a bad actor. There seems to be some sort of calibration problem there.
The Stasi was known as the "sword and shield of the party," that would be the Communist Party of East Germany. Its mission was to keep the Communist party in power. It did that by engaging in repression of political opposition, religious groups, and any other possible group, movement, or organization that could threaten Communist rule in East Germany. The Stasi routinely sent people to prison, had them tossed out of jobs, kept them from living near border areas, and even shot dead people trying to leave the country without permission. If you are paying attention you will note that the NSA does not engage in that sort of oppression, at all.
You need more than that. You need research to find the strings - which will take resources and leave traces, you need people willing to pull the strings and a command structure to coordinate it, you need to pull enough strings at the right time for long enough, and you need to not get caught, now or in the future, by the leadership, executive branch, Congress, the Judiciary, journalists, the people on the other end of the strings, or be exposed by a whistleblower. Complicating matters is the fact that elections are run separately in each of the fifty states and checked for totals by local precincts that use many different technologies and methods for running elections. The NSA isn't structured or resourced to operate in the US to do something like that, nor is the CIA. I think you are trivializing the difficulties of doing it,
The political parties themselves try to influence elections by all sorts of means and spend enormous amounts of money and time and find it difficult to accomplish. They are also always looking for dirty tricks. What happens in an election has to pass post election scrutiny and legal challenges. As I say, I think you are trivializing the difficulties, and that is assuming that they would even want to try.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope for your sake that isn't first hand experience talking.
Happy to assist you. The first thing to realize is that much of what you recite is tactics. The ultimate strategic goal for Bin Laden and his followers is a world of Muslims living under Sharia law. It is a long term goal to be sure. But getting the US out of Saudia Arabia and all the rest is just short term goals. Ultimately they want to see the US converted to Islam, and living under Sharia law. The language is somewhat stylized, in accordance with their religious nature, but fairly clear if you will see. The demand for conversion is pretty straightforward, and the call for Sharia only slightly diffused but you can see it - and it follows naturally from the conversion demand.
Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'
(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?
(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.
(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all. ....
(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?
If you read in the area of the section I quote you will see many things that they hate that are generally allowed by our freedoms.
The quote is from the preface, not the text. Another irony on your part?
Many Satanists believe in Satan, but claim he is a different being than the Satan or devil of the Bible.
"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Yep. Osama bin Laden, for all that he's dead, basically won. And his biggest ally was the US security industry.
Are you a Muslim? Has the US replaced the Constitution with Sharia law? If the answer is No and No, then Bin Laden didn't win, or anything thing close to it. His demand was the US convert to Islam and implement Sharia law.
Confusion on this point is potentially dangerous, and frankly stupid.
And I think your post neatly encapsulates the unseriousness of the views of many people on Slashdot. North Korea, the Empire of Japan, and al Qaida share a number of attributes. They have all managed to kill tens of thousands of people. They have all controlled territory as part of a governing authority. They have all deployed crew served weapons and other heavy armaments. They have all either experimented or used chemical and biological weapons. They all have controlled or had access to resources worth at least many millions of dollars. They are all willing to use violence to further their ends. They all have more than 100 members. The "Militia of Montana," probably not so much for any of that. Al Qaida poses a continuing risk to national governments to varying degrees around the world, including Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria, and others. They are destabilizing many others.
Many people here are cynical about fighting al Qaida due to stunted perspectives and fringe ideas on many related topics. The fact that you use scare quotes around war on al Qaida and compare it to the "war on drugs" just shows you lack perspective.
They don't have to be soldiers of a country since their legal position is essentially similar to that of pirates. But as it happens they consider themselves to be jihadists of the Islamic Caliphate. Are you willing to be an envoy to them? They can be rough, even on their supporters. Given that they behead many of their prisoners, there may not be much to negotiate. I'm willing to see you try though. Keep in mind that they don't fight according to the Geneva Conventions, but rather according to the rules of Jihad in Sharia law. That can lead to some debates that will sound strange to modern Western ears, such as the call by various influential Muslims that the old Muslim practice of taking sex slaves in war be revived.
It is the same to the extent that both attacks caused large loss of life on American soil, and were not the only attacks conducted. Al Qaida's ultimate goal is actually more ambitious in the long term than that of the Empire of Japan. Al Qaida is also working in more countries than Japan was even if it has been less successful in gaining full control of them. Also, both the Empire of Japan and al Qaida experimented with biological and chemical weapons for possible use in future attacks. There are more than a billion Muslims of which a meaningful percentage support the goals of al Qaida and its affiliates. One meaningful difference is that Japan was more easily defeated than al Qaida will be. This conflict will not go away soon.
I love the fact that after more than 10 years some people continue to be unable to assimilate the fact the POWs require neither charges nor trials to be held under the law of war. The rest of your post is likewise specious.
More people died in car crashes in 1941 than died in the Japanese attack that devastated the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. That was about the same number of people that died on 9/11. The US went to war against Japan, the US went to war against al Qaida after largely ignoring its attacks for many years.
It doesn't take many truck bombs at public events to produce spikes in the signal.
No, there are other conclusions that can be reached as I mentioned above. One of them being that the militants fight outside the country, which is true in many cases. Perhaps they don't want to foul their own nest ... yet.
It is unlikely that this problem will be going away any time soon, so we'll be able to continue to examine it at our leisure.
Likewise the fact that ignore the many arrests and convictions just goes to prove my point. And note that I didn't even make an effort to include the many reports of extremists leaving the US and Europe to go to areas with hot conflicts where they can fight. That is one of the major concerns of the various security services - that nationals will go to Syria or other areas, train and fight, and return to prepare for future mischief.
The fact that things at home are relatively peaceful today does not mean that there isn't a store of future trouble filling up against the day of action.
So where does that leave us? If most teenagers who really set their mind to it could come up with a way to blow shit up, why is it shit isn't blowing up for the most part? Why do we not have bedlam?
There really is only that one answer.
Exactly! Where are all those attacks that should be happening? Is there a conspiracy of silence?
Mass shootings in America: A history, 1999 through 2013
Why do we never hear about them on Slashdot!?
27 Reported Killed In Connecticut Elementary School Shooting
12 Dead, 50 Injured at The Dark Knight Rises Showing In Colorado
I agree, there really is only one answer. That is that people conveniently "forget" or ignore facts contrary to their argument.
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012
Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization
Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces on a charge of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based designated foreign terrorist organization.
Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center
U.S. citizen Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, pled guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland.
Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings
Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, Virginia, pled guilty to damaging property and to firearms violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in northern Virginia between October and November 2010, and to attempting to damage veterans’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery.
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 13, 2012
1.Tampa: Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa
A 25-year-old resident of Pinellas Park, Florida was charged in connection with an alleged plot to attack locations in Tampa with a vehicle bomb, assault rifle, and other explosives.
2.Baltimore: Former Army Solider Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab
A man who secretly converted to Islam days before he separated from the Army was charged with attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab, a foreign terrorist organization, and was arrested upon his return to Maryland after traveling to Africa.
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 9, 2011
Seattle: Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack Military Processing Center
A former Los Angeles man pled guilty in connection with the June 2011 plot to attack a military installation in Seattle.
More here.
NSA Guy 3: "Dammit Leroy!"
The potential is there. Isn't it one of the complains against the security agencies that they show a "failure of imagination" in dealing with potential terrorist threats, resulting in spectacular attacks like 9/11? Are you suggesting perpetuating that? Should the terrorists "out think" the security agencies?
MetaTerror: The Potential Use of MMORPGs by Terrorists By Andrew Cochran - 2007
While the makers of Second Life (Linden Labs) pursue an admirable utopian ideal these metaverse systems can potentially also be used by those seeking to pursue a radical agenda. Many of the overwhelmingly positive features of Second Life can be adapted for negative Real Life means. The rapid and potent way in which communication takes place would seem to be an ideal platform for recruitment into radical groups, especially given the age range of those engaged in the world, which is typically 18-34. The teaching capabilities of the world can clearly be adapted for use by terrorists.
Streaming video can be uploaded into Second Life and a scenario can easily be constructed whereby an experienced terrorist bomb-maker could demonstrate how to assemble bombs using his avatar to answer questions as he plays the video. Using the decentralized organization effect, already successfully used by SL companies, the bomb-maker and his pupils can be spread around the globe and using instant language translation tools (available in the world) could be speaking a variety of languages. Just as Real Life companies such as Toyota test their products in Second Life so could terrorists construct virtual representations of targets they wish to attack in order to examine the potential targets vulnerabilities and reaction to attack. But possibly by far the most useful tool currently available to radical groups is the ability to transfer in-world money between avatars that can be translated into real currency. The Second Life currency of Lindens (approximately $270L to $1US) can be bought using a credit card in one country and credited to one avatar (account) and can be given to a co-conspirator avatar in another country. The person controlling this second avatar can then convert these lindens to the real-world currency wherever they are based using a local credit card or paypal equivalent. Clearly the ability to transfer money in this fashion is a very useful function. While Linden Labs sets a limit on the amount of currency an avatar can buy or sell (typically $5000US) this is likely to change and $5000 gets you a long way in many parts of the world.
DETECTING MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FINANCING ACTIVITY IN SECOND LIFE AND WORLD OF WARCRAFT - 2010
In recent years there has been much debate about the risks posed by virtual environments. Concern is growing about the ease in which virtual worlds and virtual reality role-playing games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft can be used for economic crimes such as financially motivated cybercrime, money laundering and terrorism financing. Currently, virtual environments are not subject to the strict financial controls and reporting requirements of the real world, therefore, they offer an excellent opportunity for criminals and terrorism financers to carry out their illegal activities unhindered and with impunity. This paper demonstrates the need for suitable approaches, tools and techniques which can be used to detect money laundering and terrorism financing in virtual environments and introduces a research project which aims to establish a comprehensive set of behaviour maps, rule bases and models to help in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.
Technology is neutral - it can be put to purposes both good or evil. The surgeon's knife can heal or mutilate. When you integrate virtual worlds with the real world in some way, there is
Games could serve multiple purposes: out of band communications (i.e. not phone, email, or mail), rehearsals, and recreation. Since the Caliphate is going to be a while in coming they have some time to kill.
I don't think there is any surprise that WoW or similar games would have broad appeal, even among terrorists. After all, the Harry Potter books have been among the most popular reading for inmates at Guantanamo Bay.
What Prisoners Are Reading at Gitmo
... Harry Potter. He may not come riding in on the back of a hippogriff to free his favorite captives from their own version of Azkaban, but he shows up once a week on a cart of books from the prison library, offering an escape of the imagination treasured by many. Indeed, the Harry Potter series has been one the most popular titles among the 18,000 books, magazines, DVDs and newspapers on offer from the prison library at Guantánamo.
Other offerings in the library started in 2003 include the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Twilight series and a self-help book called Don't Be Sad. Prisoners don't browse the shelves of this particular library; instead, they wait for a weekly visit by a cart of books prison officers think they might be interested in. There are mysteries and books of poems, copies of National Geographic magazine (a favorite), dictionaries and science textbooks. If the prisoners see something they like they are allowed to check it out for 30 days.
The library's offerings now span some 18 languages including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, Russian, French and English. Officers scan newspapers to stay up on the latest titles and try to meet requests from prisoners — though finding books in their native languages can sometimes be a challenge. "I tell ya, Dan Brown's been beating me up lately," says Navy Lt. Robert Collett, who as the officer-in-charge of detainee programs, is known as 'Dean of Gitmo U'. "All his books are very popular, but we don't have all of them in Arabic." When the military has trouble finding a title in a certain language, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sometimes steps in. Martin De Boer, ICRC's deputy head of the regional delegation in D.C., says his group sometimes sends its representatives in far-flung places to local stores in order to answer requests for novels in Uzbek or magazines in Bahasa (the language of Indonesia). "Access to books and news from the outside is very important to the prisoners mental state," says De Boer.
That is a fine description for much of the insane BS I see posted here, little of which has anything to do with me other than in replies to me.
I expect that you should have noted that I often provide links to back up what I'm posting about - not always, but on the balance more often than most that post here I think. I've lightened up a bit in that regard since so many people have explicitly noted in posts to me that they don't actually care about evidence, they will believe whatever nonsense they choose regardless of evidence. I have made a great many completely factual posts fully supported by links to mainstream sources that have been modded to oblivion over the years for that very reason - they didn't fit the political prejudices of the posters here. The truth often doesn't matter to them.
The true simpletons will believe the false claims or name calling used by some to compensate for the combination of their bad arguments and/or lack of imagination in expecting that everybody that posts here must hold the same uninformed position they do, or be of the same flavor of the political fringe as they are. (And many posters on Slashdot do have fringe politics as measured in some countries.) In short: "Oh my stars! That post isn't from the leftist (or other) anti-(Western|American|Semite|...) perspective I have! It must be a conspiracy since nobody I know holds that view! " The fact that you can do calculus or set up routing tables in a big switch doesn't mean you aren't a nitwit in some other matters.
Just a couple of problems with that - an average of 1 person per year has been caught spying on the significant other. They were then disciplined or fired. If it was found that they had tried what you suggest then I think it is safe to assume that they are looking at much stiffer penalties.
If you think the parties are only "slightly accountable" I suggest to talk to some people that remember the races after Watergate, or after some other scandal.
Nobody has to be in the NSA to try what you suggest. Being in the NSA and trying it only really ups the danger level to themselves. I suggest you try peddling that with someone else that is more gullible.
Never thought Microsoft Support would be uplifting.
Depends if you're wireless or not.
stuff a raspberry pi into it
Stuffing pie is what it is trying to prevent. That would be self-negating.
shut up you stupid app ... I'm hungry!
What's wrong? You hungry bra?
And if you believe this agency is above tipping the party that promises them the most, about the activities of the others, you are sadly mistaken.
So how does that work? NSA has opposition and supporters in both parties. Can you imagine the political fallout if that were to come to light? That would be far more explosive than what Snowden has revealed. Think Watergate 5x. The party involved would almost certainly face a massive backlash, and the agency personnel involved would go to jail - just like Nixon's men.
Emails with opposition talking points mysteriously appearing in inboxes? That would Never happen, right?
That sort of thing happens now, but the source is political party operatives, not NSA or CIA. The parties aren't that shy about their talking points - they basically give them away as soon as they open their mouths.
Suggesting that the intelligence agencies both can and must be involved in domestic politics is a quick route to +5 insightful because everybody just "knows" it happens, indeed it must be happening right now! To get there you have to look past all the laws, regulations, background checks, norms, and other controls to prevent such a thing from occurring, the minimal payoff if it occurs, and the substantial consequences if caught, and the lack of evidence that it is happening. What I find interesting is that this same power of "just knowing" on the part of most people here both indicates that the intelligence agencies interfere with domestic politics while denying that Snowden could be a bad actor. There seems to be some sort of calibration problem there.
The Stasi was known as the "sword and shield of the party," that would be the Communist Party of East Germany. Its mission was to keep the Communist party in power. It did that by engaging in repression of political opposition, religious groups, and any other possible group, movement, or organization that could threaten Communist rule in East Germany. The Stasi routinely sent people to prison, had them tossed out of jobs, kept them from living near border areas, and even shot dead people trying to leave the country without permission. If you are paying attention you will note that the NSA does not engage in that sort of oppression, at all.
You have no lack of cheek, but you do lack insight in this case. I stand by my post.
You need more than that. You need research to find the strings - which will take resources and leave traces, you need people willing to pull the strings and a command structure to coordinate it, you need to pull enough strings at the right time for long enough, and you need to not get caught, now or in the future, by the leadership, executive branch, Congress, the Judiciary, journalists, the people on the other end of the strings, or be exposed by a whistleblower. Complicating matters is the fact that elections are run separately in each of the fifty states and checked for totals by local precincts that use many different technologies and methods for running elections. The NSA isn't structured or resourced to operate in the US to do something like that, nor is the CIA. I think you are trivializing the difficulties of doing it,
The political parties themselves try to influence elections by all sorts of means and spend enormous amounts of money and time and find it difficult to accomplish. They are also always looking for dirty tricks. What happens in an election has to pass post election scrutiny and legal challenges. As I say, I think you are trivializing the difficulties, and that is assuming that they would even want to try.