Terror cops swoop on couple who Googled 'backpacks' and 'pressure cooker'

Land of the free, home of the brave

Why do they need a shadowy secret police like some sort of communist cold war state?

More ex-employer

No one has a right to act like a moron. If the maroon at (possibly) Speco Technologies had a valid reason to think something was up, well, OK. Otherwise, we just wasted a bunch of time and money on nonsense. And silly stuff at that. ;-)

Surprising these things only happen to Freelance writers.

Sorry but this is just a load of BS made up this so called writer to get her name spread about.

.

The brute force approach

Visit 100 people a week and ask them "Are you the enemy?". If they say yes, shoot them.

Now, if only they could increase the number of "Are you the enemy?" checks a week, then this would be an excellent methodology.

Here???

I read to the end of the fine article in the belief that it must have happened in the USA. (The use of the term "SUV" rather than "Chelsea tractor" may have influenced me). Then suddenly the word "Suffolk" leaped out at me. Wha...??? Is that Suffolk Virginia, Suffolk Maine, or one of the many Suffolks in California?

We have it from many reliable sources, from the ancient Greeks to Jorge Luis Borges and Bertrand Russell, that police states are rendered tolerable only by the extreme inefficiency of the police. Gestapo meets the Keystone Cops, sort of. But now it seems that technology has enabled the secret police (for what else are we to call those casually-clad chaps in the SUVs?) to harrass wholesale.

Last but far from least, how the hell did they satisfy themselves that the Catalanos were not, in fact, cooking up a bomb? According to the article, they just hung out and chatted for a while. Not very rigorous. Proper security entails responding only to real - or plausible - threats, and investigating them thoroughly. Whereas these people appear to be doing the exact opposite: responding to thousands of false alarms, and getting into the habit of finding there is nothing to them.

It's as good a way as any of keeping the otherwise unemployed in paying work. But on the whole I would prefer John Maynard Keynes' idea of having them dig holes in the ground and then fill them in again.

You should check the Gawker article on this story. It is not as clear-cut as you suggest.

Have you ever looked up how to make a pressure cooker bomb?

Hi there, of course I did, why?

...

are we sure they were not rehearsing for the Simpsons? Or maybe, some new (?) creative way to get free publicity for the company allegedly behind the disclosure?

That must have been a scary situation.

How long before they turn up and excuse people of looking at suspected subversive websites?

99 of those visits turn out to be nothing

I wonder what that 1 remaining visit turns out to be. Maybe, like, if 1% of visits produce terrorists, drug plantations, sweat shops (nah, scrap that, that's legal), etc, then maybe this is the key - and they should carry out those random searches on regular basis. And, you know, random searches in shopping malls... airports... oh, sorry, they already do that. These fine measures used to go by the popular name of "round ups" (yes, I know we're still looking for evil terrorists, not those with missing IDs). In fact, if the ratio is so low (1/100), why not streamline it and, like, lock down the whole street and search every house, and every person. I'm sure they'll uncover "something"

1/2 off topic: as the technical terms is "roundup", I tried to see what it was in German, just to see what no-name they would come up. Shockingly, this term is totally unknown in German. I looked up wikipedia, and other reliable sources, like... wikipedia. Nothing. Nichts. Null....

Suffolk

Jesus Christ, I didn't realize they even have a Police Department, let alone black SUVs... my my, what has that terror done to us...

The Employer

Just a quick question, can we name and shame the employer? I sure as hell know where I wouldn't want to work. Best case the boss is irrationally paranoid and/or brutally vindictive.

How to avoid being caught...

"Of course I'm not building a bomb, officer!! Have a nice day, bye!"

Well, duh! Like they'd admit to searching online for how to build a bomb. I'm guessing the 1/100 it does turn out to be "something" is when the poor sod who's door-step they've turned up on happens to be of Middle Eastern appearance so automatically gets the rubber hose treatment.

Your employer's equipment

Using his employer's computer for personal google searches was a bad idea. Employers can, will, and do monitor your internet browsing history and e-mail. Knowing that, I personally do not use my employer's computer equipment to do any personal Google searches. Since I work in Tech Support, I only occasionally visit relevant technology sites (like this one), for which, I cannot be sanctioned. I also do not send personal e-mails from my employer's computers. I use my smart phone for personal use, for e-mail, web browsing, and internet searches, which my employer cannot monitor nor tamper with. Had her husband used his smart phone for such searches instead of his employer's computer, this episode would not have happened.

who in the hell

has to look up the internet to find out how to make a "pressure cooker bomb"? Surely it can't be any more complicated than (a) make a big bomb, (b) put it in the pressure cooker with some bits of metal, and (c) close the pressure cooker.

Admittedly, I've never done this or looked it up, but I fail to see how it's any different (mutatis mutandis) from a pipe bomb. Isn't the name totally suggestive of the recipe for making it to anyone with two brain cells to rub together? That being so, does knowing the name of the device then constitute an offence for "possessing knowledge likely to be of use to a terrorist"? (Yes, that's actually a real crime where I live!)

Closing Sentence

Spot on.

Heartening story

I'm pleased to read this. It shows that the authorities are, in fact, taking things seriously, as they should. The guys boss is also to be congratulated for his vigilance. OK, these two were innocent, and all they got was an interview by the Men in Black. The regular American way, if we are to believe the press, is to drag them to Guantanamo and then interrogate them for 25 years without trial with the waterboard, or ship them to Saudi and get their friendly cops to get a confession under torture. It's good to know their budget doesn't run to that for everyone.

Lost in translation?

It looks like the lads in Blighty are a little cornfused on this story. There was no "swooping on this family".

The FACTS are that the guy's former employer found unusual searchs on the guy's work computer for back packs and pressure cookers. After the Boston bombing where pressure cookers were used to build bombs and then left in back packs on the street to kill and injure people, it was very wise of the guy's former employer to alert authorities. The authorities conducted an interview at the guys residence and concluded he was not a threat. I'd say this was excellent work by the guy's former employer and authorities. They may have prevented more deaths and destruction by investigating these abnormal computer searches. that's all there is to the story despite the sensationalism by The Rag.

This means that the NSA actually did examine their emails.. So they do snoop on all Americans!

Wait! Wait! They denied that, and it's probably illegal anyway!

Wait! Wait! They paid the UK to look at the data stream. It isn't illegal for UK to examine foreign data. Then the UK fed back "a suspicious email trail" to the NSA, where using "foreign gained intelligence" on US nationals isn't illegal.

That's what the $100M is for!

Of course, we could make a good number of FBI agents redundant and save some cash, and maybe do the same at NSA. It appears that they can do these raids in the 100's, so clearly they have way too much time on their hands.

Based on a true life story. . .

Well, not really.*

(But, it would be so cool if this actually did happen; it would validate my massive purchase of tin foil in the last few years.)

*Really did not happen.

Frequently bought together.

Other shoppers who have bought "Large Pressure Cooker" also purchased "Unobtrusive Rucksack"

5% discount if bought together.

Free Delivery

Interesting....

Anyone that has read the article and defends the actions of the authorities is getting down voted.

It is absolutely ridiculous. The Fire Dept gets calls to House Fires that are Bonfires, Police get called to disturbances that are just loud movies and the FBI get called called to potential terrorists that were just a couple doing some personal shopping on work time.

Unfortunately these things happen and when a lot of your leads come from public information there will be more false leads with Anti Terrorist information.

The Agents themselves most likely thought this is going to be dead end but they have to follow up, just as the fireman heading off to a prank call would.

This is not an "Enemy of the State" or "V for Vendetta" paranoid government action, but reasonable suspicion followed up by a non violent visit and conversation.

I'm not saying there isn't an erosion of civil liberties or too much surveillance on law abiding citizens, because there is. But this was a simple case of something looking like something it wasn't.

Just realised who really doing the down voting

Lizard agents of the shadow government are influencing this board.

They don't want people thinking Agents are going about their jobs with out needless threats and violence, they want people to be in fear of every nature of the Government and Law enforcement.

Any notion of Anti terrorism units calmly talking to people, respecting peoples property and quietly leaving must be quashed. People must be made to fear their government its only through fear can they have control.

Backpack? Pressure cooker? I own both!

Should I turn myself in?