FBI brands internet privacy as terrorism.

[Dogstile]

Using another users handy quotes!

Are overly concerned about privacy, attempts to shield the screen from view of
others
 Always pay cash or use credit card(s) in different name(s)
 Apparently use tradecraft: lookout, blocker or someone to distract employees
 Act nervous or suspicious behavior inconsistent with activities
 Are observed switching SIM cards in cell phone or use of multiple cell phones
 Travel illogical distance to use Internet Café

I always use cash and I use family phones, not just my own. This also screws anyone who has a separate work and personal phone! Woo!

 Evidence of a residential based internet provider (signs on to Comcast, AOL,
etc.)
 Use of anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address
 Suspicious or coded writings, use of code word sheets, cryptic ledgers, etc.
 Encryption or use of software to hide encrypted data in digital photos, etc.
 Suspicious communications using VOIP or communicating through a PC game

Well, shielding IP address's is something I did for fun this year (computing student).
Code sheets are a little hobby of mine with friends, so i'm assuming that's quite suspocious
Encryption i'll be messing with next year, so three! This is going well.

 Download content of extreme/radical nature with violent themes
 Gather information about vulnerable infrastructure or obtain photos, maps or
diagrams of transportation, sporting venues, or populated locations
 Purchase chemicals, acids, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, fertilizer, etc.
 Download or transfer files with ?how-to? content such as:
- Content of extreme/radical nature with violent themes
- Anarchist Cookbook, explosives or weapons information
- Military tactics, equipment manuals, chemical or biological information
- Terrorist/revolutionary literature
- Preoccupation with press coverage of terrorist attacks
- Defensive tactics, police or government information
- Information about timers, electronics, or remote transmitters / receivers

This should be a fun one.

Download content of extreme/radical nature with violent content? Lets hope the SAW films and the human centipede don't come under this one

Gather information about areas? Google maps is another thing me and my friends use. We've actually found ourselves a few times. Was pretty cool.

Military tactics, equipment manuals? I eat that shit up. I love reading up on current military affairs, doesn't bode well for me. This also comes under defensive tactics. I also studied up on SWAT after watching a SWAT 4 lets play (<3 spoony) so thats me suspicious.

Electronics? Oh dear, computing course...

That was actually quite fun, I imagine i'd be quite the fun individual to watch if I was in the FBI. Glad i'm in the UK. Most of it is, as has been said, common sense, but some of these are pretty "WTF".

 

[Tiger Sora]

I'm a terrorist now. I feel so included and necessary. Boy does it feel good to have a billion other like minded people supporting what I do. >.>

Anyways holy flaming muffins America really is a complete police state now, well I knew that already. They're just more so now. Every word they say is hypocrisy. What are we gona do with you America.

Also, I think this site may now be labeled as a terrorist website, along with every other site on the web. So since everything is terrorist affiliated now, including America.... does that mean America has lost the war on terror?

 

[JonnWood]

The fact that these are compiled from actual terrorist actions, and the fact the flyer specifically says the actions have to be judged in context by LEOs just flew right over everyone's heads, eh?

This isn't invasion of privacy. This is plain sight discovery, in a public place, by members of the public. Most importantly, the employees are under no legal compulsion to call the FBI if they see people doing any of this. These are merely suggestions, not the first step on the road to a police state.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

By far throughout the entirety of the article I find this statement the most, uhhhh, endearing. Viewing any content related to ?military tactics? including manuals or ?revolutionary literature? is also considered a potential indicator of terrorist activity. Next thing you know they just might start burning books to keep ideas out of peoples heads.

Now I absolutely must ask... Does Warhammer 40K count as "Military Tactics" or "Revolutionary Material" or could it possibly be construed as such? If so, I'm definitely screwed. Or any tabletop war game, for that matter.

OT: This is utter bullshit. What constitutional right will be taken away next? We already can't freely assemble, without first getting permission ahead of time and even then it can be dispersed by police if they don't like something. The people can still vote for whoever they want in power, but we've seen how enough whining and talk of technicalities can overrule actual votes to get someone into office who didn't really deserve it. And now we're steadily losing the right to keeping our affairs private because someone, somewhere, MAY be up to no good.

Why must I be too poor to move out of this place?

 

[Richard Keohane]

I would like to point out that this is not what you do on your private computer. This is what you do on someone else's computer at an internet cafe, and this list is reasonable. Consider that there are good reasons for doing all of these on your own computer, but far, far fewer reasons to do them on a computer not associated with you unless you're doing something illegal and don't want to leave a trail.

 

[Zen Toombs]

I would like to point out that this is not what you do on your private computer. This is what you do on someone else's computer at an internet cafe, and this list is reasonable. Consider that there are good reasons for doing all of these on your own computer, but far, far fewer reasons to do them on a computer not associated with you unless you're doing something illegal and don't want to leave a trail.

But as an American citizen one doesn't (and shouldn't) need to a reason to want privacy. And the government should not infringe upon our privacy without a strong reason.

[small]Protip: I just don't like the look of him is not a strong reason.[/small]

 

[FalloutJack]

Oh, fucking hell. Not THIS SHIT again...

I thought we woke up from our herp-a-la-derpy-derp 'War On Terror' head-trip already. It wasn't bad enough that terrorism becomes the new Red Scare with them looking under everyone's bed for little men in turbins, but now we just outright accuse anyone at all (including, you know, American citizens) of terrorism? How shall I put this?

You KNOW what I mean.

The FBI, as a whole, can go to hell. As much as SOPA or any of its similar miscreants are bad ideas, this is about as stupid and wrong. The IQ of the entire DC area just dropped by playing the terrorism card. No, you idiots! People that actually do DAMAGE to things are terrorists. People who sadistically carry out schemes to make life horrible are terrorists. People who look for freebies on the internet are hunting for truffles by comparison.

Oh, why am I bothering? They don't know how to handle terrorism either. They think they can hunt down and crush an ideal like it's a person. And now, they want to point fingers at everyone like shooting into a crowd with an assault rifle. Yeah, that's gonna work out FINE for them. There's going to be blood if they keep this up. I can taste it.

 

[Lunar Templar]

-.- .....

yeah ....

i feel REAL safe with these guys on the job if they don't even know what a terrorist is anymore

 

[WeAreStevo]

It all makes sense now! I can see how by illegally downloading Metallica, several internet "pirates" have found equal footing to those who car bomb a mosque or who invade two countries as a reactionary tactic based on the actions of a handful of those countries nationals...

Oh FBI, you so funny!

 

[waj9876]

I love how everyone is ignoring common sense, and the few people that have actually read the damn thing, and are just jumping right onto the "UNITED STATES BAD! WE HATE YOU FOR THINGS THAT DON'T AFFECT US!" bandwagon. Seriously, at least with SOPA there was good reason to be angry. Our government was trying to reach more than they should be able to. But with this...

This is our own mess that affects only us. It's not a law, rule, or even an agreement like so many people seem to think. It's just a suggestion for internet cafe owners and the like based on what actual terrorists have done. They aren't even obligated to report anything. Just if it seems suspicious to them. Not to the FBI, to the everyday people.

Why don't any of you guys realize WE FUCKING HATE OUR GOVERNMENT TOO!? Seriously, all this "America does things that don't affect us so we hate them!" stuff is getting old. Also, why you gotta hate on Canada? Oh, and Mexico? Sure they've got a bit of a drug cartel problem...But they make TACOS! Who could stay mad at that? (Is referring to the fact that America isn't just the United States. There is a North America and South America. The United States is located entirely in the continent of North America.)

 

[Matt Dellar]

-snipped for length-

Or a writer.

Ian Rankin was once trying to write a book including a kidnapping/murder case and was called in for questioning by police because a child had actually been kidnapped close to the area, which Rankin wasn't aware of. Tom Clancy was actually sent information and parts bordering on classified while writing books about nuclear warfare and submarines.

Writers look up a whole lot of weird stuff, especially if they're writing horror/crime/war books. Currenly one of my browser tabs is open as I investigate the rate of decomposition in a thirteen year old girl if she spent thirty years in a duck pond in southern England. I'm researching it because I'm writing a ghost story featuring a thirteen year old who was drowned in a duck pond in southern england thirty years ago, but if someone was just to glance at my browser history they'd probably wonder why the list also includes 'missing persons cases in [my area]' and 'how much damage would a .45 revolver do to a human head?'

According to the Feebies my searches make me a terrorist, according to reality they make me a writer. Thankfully, I'm also British, so the American govervnment can suck it.

As an American writer, I can vouch for that. Writing a psychological thriller about a conflicted anti-hero who wanted to murder a young girl for his own pleasure, I've been looking up the following things:
-How much blood actually comes from a slit throat?
-Can you decapitate a human with a switchblade?
-How long can a person live with a slit throat?
-How long does a body stay warm after death?
-How long does it take a body to decompose in a 72 degree home?
-What goes through a person's mind as they kill someone?

The protagonist ends up not killing the girl, but so much research goes into his planning stage that anyone browsing my Internet history would probably pin me as a serial killer. I don't even visit very many writing sites. I find them extremely distracting until I need some free editing done.

 

[BushMonstar]

The more times stuff like this happens the more I consider moving.

 

[Legiondude]

Mid 20th Century: COMMUNISM!

Early 21st Century: TERRORISM!

 

[Arakasi]

You guys seriously have to wonder what the Patriot Act did to your freedom.

 

[LordFisheh]

Honestly, if you read the leaflet, it's not that bad. Most of the advice is completely sane and points towards actual terrorists, not just Anon. The only dodgy bit as far as I see is the 'use of anonymising programs and proxies', which as the leaflet explains, should be taken in context with everything else the guy is doing.

It even has 'remember these things don't make someone a terrorist be reasonable' printed along the bottom. They know that looking up weapons doesn't make you a terrorist and they even say that in the damn leaflet. Just that if you're looking up weapons, and bomb making materials, while behind a proxy and hiding your screen at an internet cafe 100 miles from home then maybe something might be up.

I know it's nice to feel righteous indignation over an issue; I do it all the time. But all I'm seeing here in knee jerk stick-it-to-the-Man reactions that take the leaflet totally out of context. Here are two parts of the leaflet I'm betting half this thread skimmed over or are quietly ignoring.

"It is important to remember that just because someone?s speech,
actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different; it does not
mean that he or she is suspicious."

"Some of the activities, taken individually,
could be innocent and must be examined by
law enforcement professionals in a larger
context to determine whether there is a basis
to investigate. The activities outlined on this
handout are by no means
all-inclusive but have been compiled from a
review of terrorist events over several years."

I have no love for the FBI but here it seems people just want to hate US authorities in the wake of ACTA on any basis they can find, even if that means taking it totally out of context and twisting its meaning backwards Fox News style.

 

[Wintermoot]

I think I saw this one on 4chan,s tech board today.
this is just plain sad per definition everybody that uses the internet is a terrorist.

 

[Yokai]

I read it as "FBI brands internet piracy as terrorism". So on one hand, this is a horrible example of fearmongering and inducing paranoia, because apparently arresting a thousand people who might be guilty is better than figuring out who the actual criminal is, but on the other, it's not nearly as bad as I thought.

 

[Volkov]

"Civilian citizens, please spy on other citizens!" is just about verbatim 1930s USSR. It's extremely unsurprising, seeing how just about everything domestic related to war on terror that US government agencies do are straight copies of certain 1930s USSR activities that war on "counter-revolution" (or counter-espionage, even closer) agencies did.

Nothing surprising, really. Why wouldn't they do that? Any meaningful measure of the potential harm that terrorism itself can cause (in terms of human lives and property/infrastructure damage) clearly shows that it's not a serious problem, so OF COURSE any agency whose funding relies on war on terror needs the public to be scared of white noise, otherwise their own funding is in trouble.

Thing is, USSR fell apart for purely economic internal reasons, not because of civil unrest. US has far too much money (i.e. liquid capital) in it for that to happen. So I don't think this will ever end, or at least in the next 20-30 years. Too bad, really... But hey, there are still some free nations left out there, so it's not like the idea of liberty is dead yet. Just dying.

Congratulations to terrorists, by the way. They clearly won.

 

[Akimoto]

Just wait, they'll start to finger proxy-providers for aiding and abetting. It won't go 1984 or Brave New World, but life is going to get a lot more uncomfortable.

The FBI wants to be in your ceiling to watch you masturbate.

Great. Now I can't sleep at night.