Twitter: Hey. Remember us? Hello, yes. Govts want to spy on us too! Twitter has seen government requests for user information climb nearly 50 per cent over the last six months. The company said in its semi-annual transparency report that over the first half of 2014, governments from 54 countries made requests for account information. Eight of those countries were requesting data for the first …
Those numbers quoted are only from the "legal" snooping. I wonder what the real total is from all the slurping in transit is?
OTOH, why would they need to make a legal request (I'm thinking China and few other places)? Everything gets slurped at the Great Firewall and I'd be willing to bet, that with some hits on keywords, much is analyzed and recorded for future use.
Why would anyone say yes anyway?
So many of the anti social sites are like the website feedback spaces of news papers. The appear to be a prime location for weird one to show they lack a grip on reality. Oh and for the even more stupid to show their unintelligent failure to understand humour, sarcasm or any other form of critical comment so they try to get roles in law enforcement.
I would be curious to know what *exactly* these law enforcement agencies think they're getting, when they start monitoring Twitter.
I know the average terrorist, or criminal is - almost by definition - not the sharpest tool in the box, but the idea that they would use a public messaging forum to organise or coordinate anything is fanciful. And that's putting it mildly.
I suspect they are doing in cyberspace *exactly* what they used to do in meatspace. And that's profile people who have "subversive" views, based on their contacts. I also suspect (I am not a USAian, but the UK is a close analogue) that the House Committee for UnAmerican Activites (HUAC IIRC?) never disbanded, but simply changed it's name.
Now if *I* were a bad'un, and wanted to have a secure - and reliable - method of communication, I would investigate using usenet. Anyone who has subscribed to a newsgroup for any length of time will know that some regular posters may as well be writing in code anyway (I certainly can't make out a word of the drivel that gets posted). This also has the critical advantage that - unlike email - it breaks the link between poster and reader, since a smart cookie will cycle through their news servers (with a nod to Googles usenet abortion) meaning the spooks can't tell who a message was intended for, and whether it was read, nor where the reply was posted. And of course you could simply post a random PAR file to a binary newsgroup, which may - or may not - be an encrypted message.
Maybe, just maybe, because there aren't that many to start with ?
Just like the press try to convince us there's a paedo lurking in every bush, the government (who, by the way, are the ones who define terrorism) would have us believe there's a sleeper cell in every street.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
