Monday, July 8, 2013

Social Media As An Intelligence Gathering Tool

SM

Social media is a double-edged sword.

On one hand, we’re able spread our message of Liberty and resistance to tyranny.  On the other hand, what we say, when we say it, and where we say it tells more about us that most realize.  The federal regime is able to take all this information and build what’s called a “pattern of life” around it.

Let’s take Iraq for instance.  Had the entirety, even half, of Iraqi resistance group members – JAM/AAH/AQI/ISI/ISCI-BADR/KH/Naqshabandi/the list goes on – been on Facebook and Twitter posting photos and talking about what they were doing to or thinking about US/CF, we would have made short work of all of them.  Their networks would have been mapped overnight, we’d be targeting the leadership, the most vocal and the most widely followed, and we would have a novel of IP address that point to physical addresses where we can find these people.

It’s no secret that by surfing the FreeFor blogosphere, belonging to resistance/liberty groups on Facebook, and posting III% messages and news articles singles you out for your beliefs.  In fact, if DHS really is cataloging the prominent voices of the FreeFor/III% movement and their followers, they’re logging IP addresses and locations and the times of access; devices on which these sites are accessed; names, faces, and other photos; and network diagrams (the gist of which is displayed on this post’s picture).  (Fourth Amendment be damned, obviously.)  I wouldn’t for a second bet that it hasn’t happened to some of us.  Either way, the NSA is still likely collecting the external data of all our communications and web browsing for later consumption and analysis.  (See a previous post: On Persistent Surveillance written before the NSA leaks.)

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