A bet a lot of folks here frequent survivalblog.com. James Rawles posted an interesting entry today:

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It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog's US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers. (Note that this happened several months before we moved our primary server to Sweden.) Furthermore, we discovered that the FBI attached a long-lived cookie that allowed them to track the sites that readers subsequently visited. I suspect that the FBI has done the same to hundreds of other web sites. I find this situation totally abhorrent, and contrary to the letter of 4th Amendment as well as the intent of our Founding Fathers.

I recognize that I am making this announcement at the risk of losing some readers. So be it. But I felt compelled to tell my readers immediately, because it was the honorable and forthright course of action.

http://survivalblog.com/2012/03/importan....

Karl, I would be surprised if the FBI hadn't done something similar with TF. Is there anyway you know of to detect this? Not having researched it much, I suspect this is basically a standard man-in-the-middle attack.

By the way, have you showed up on a Southern Poverty Law center list yet? It's quite an honor, I understand...

Karl, regarding his suggestion to start using paid VPN services for standard browsing (as a matter of personal liberty): do you allow non-US IPs to TF? Is using a VPN to access TF verboten or not? I know you have coded a lot of anti-spammer/anti-spoofing techniques into TF...

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FBI attached a long-lived cookie that allowed them to track the sites that readers subsequently visited

Unless there is something which I am unaware of (anything is possible), this is the same as Google and Facebook tracking that came to light this past year. It is done by Google and Facebook having an include on millions of websites that uses a unique identifier stored in the cookie to track you across every website that that uses the include, even if you don't have a Facebook or Google account. However, you must accept cookies from that domain and usually allow scripting in your browser.

So this claim cannot be true unless the FBI is using someone else's includes and cookies (like Google's) to track you. As far as I know, the FBI does not have multi-site cookies and includes. The claim that a persistent cookie was tracking you on many other sites where the FBI has no presence (no include) is not possible, unless there is something crazy I'm not aware of.

I disable all cookies except the ones I specifically allow to exist and I clear ALL cookies, no matter what, every time I close the browser. I also have scripting disabled except for sites that I allow. I also block all content, requests/responses, cookies and scripts from known ****head domains, like facebook.com, etc.

After the Hal Turner-was-an-FBI-informant/agitator incident, I quit going to any sites like that. I figured many of them were Feds, just trolling for the weak minded.

I'm sure most of the internet savvy folks here know it's extremely easy to track folks on TF the same way. It's very obvious when it's done, but Karl allows you to insert content into the threads here. I've never abused it and don't have any reason to so, but it's possible.

It's not all that difficult for the FBI to pull this off.

In the late 1990s I caught an undocumented "feature" when the data counts disagreed between my circuit equipment and routers. That's rather not possible unless the counters in the routers were being tampered with to hide flows.

Assuming that survivalblog is telling the truth this is very difficult to detect unless the entity doing it gets greedy. If his story is correct they got greedy and started tampering with the data stream instead of just intercepting it. THAT can be detected if you're paying attention.

I am not particularly surprised by this, and as I've repeatedly noted you should assume that anything you do here is being "picked off." This isn't specific to Tickerforum, it's true everywhere. As I've also repeatedly noted I've detected "spooks" here from pretty much all the three-letter agencies; they don't even bother trying to hide their presence.

In general I don't disclose exactly what I know about who's doing what around here, if indeed anyone is.

Assuming you could figure out all the hops and their sources...tracert should be able to show if you're being redirected through something 'interesting'...

Mpilar: They'd have to be quite stupid to redirect trace route packets.

Traceroute will not find it if they're smart.

The problem with most of these guys is that they're not smart.

Do you guys typically use VPNs when you are doing normal browsing? Any special additional security measure you take other than turning off cookies/js/etc. in your fav browser? Or do you not much worry about it?

What do you all use for you day-to-day workstation/laptop OS?

Also, this reminds me of how insecure smart phones are. Not only is there no OS-level file system encryption (yet, that I'm aware of), but unless you have a rooted Android, making them use VPNs is not possible.

This is cool stuff though; I love thinking about encryption, security, etc.

I presume that anything I do on the Internet can be seen by the spooks. I take a number of steps to secure against random *******s but in terms of securing against the spooks the diligence required to do so is well-beyond what your discipline level will likely be able to maintain and if you're not going to maintain that level of discipline (and spending required to back it up) then you may as well accept that they can see it all.

I do catch them from time-to-time playing around, which simply continues to validate my beliefs, expectations and experience -- they're not all that smart. When they become "invisible" to me I will assume they finally managed to get people who know what they're doing to work for them.

The good news is that the bad guys, in general, are dumber than they are.

Yeh KD, right up until you become the bad guys in the eyes of some muckity muck...

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1. Do you guys typically use VPNs when you are doing normal browsing?
2. Any special additional security measure you take other than turning off cookies/js/etc. in your fav browser?
3. Or do you not much worry about it?
4. What do you all use for you day-to-day workstation/laptop OS?
5. Also, this reminds me of how insecure smart phones are.

1. No, but I keep a short list at the ready and should be able to have one set up in a few hours or less. If you want to put your tinfoil hat on, how many of those are compromised too?
2. I just always use 'least sufficient permissions' and make everything logable/traceable.
3. I used to live in a VW van so I don't worry too terribly much about stuff.
4. Mostly Windows 7 with everything set to manual. I use almost all OS's though.
5. Smartphones and tablets are horrendously insecure. Not only is the FBI logging all your keypresses (admitted by them last year), but many apps are logging your location, taking your picture, reading your call list, and selling that info. Just read the terms of service that you approve.

Well, like I said, I've caught them all snooping around going back to the 1990s. I occasionally send them a love note so they know I know too -- the last one around here was a year or so back.

The 1990s incident was especially amusing; I never did see any PUBLIC discussion contemporary with the event itself. We had a little private conversation with a few people though and I made quite clear that I was very aware of it. One of the pleasures of running your own stuff is that you own the code, including the source, and there are no "surprises" in it you're unaware of (like, for instance, back door entry points that not only don't log anything when used but tamper with counts so as to hide the effects too.)

I suspect most of the ISPs out there would have been rather annoyed (at minimum) to learn of this, since most lines were then (and are now, at that level) metered in some fashion. In other words the ISPs were (and probably are) paying for the spooks' "work." Had it impacted our costs I would have very publicly sued the everloving ****ing hell out of the government for theft by conversion but it didn't and as such I had no cause of action.

I would also assume that in order to avoid this little problem (which could turn into a really big scandal really fast) the goobermint simply buys circuits into all the major carriers and is rather quiet about why -- wink-wink-nod-nod.

PS: Yes, I know what a "national security letter" is, and a Customs Administrative Subpoena. The latter is a favored tool, incidentally and unlike the former you can acknowledge and talk about the fact that you've actually gotten one (or more) of them.

I would love it if they were wasting their time on me. Waste away boyz.

If one looks at history the government usually concerns itself more with 'dangerous radicals' aka communists, socialists, environmentalists, anarchists rather than 'survivalists'. Particularly those that try to bring people together seem to become targets since they are a potential threat to government. I don't see survivalists as a potential threat to government IMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

For example...One point of my life I once belonged to a union. It was a regular union nothing radical about it. I also voluntarily joined a more radical union..the IWW (with its large contingent of anarchists). Anyone can join the IWW at any time. When I filed a freedom of information request on government files for the regular union with tens of thousands of employees it came up with around only 100 files. The IWW with only a handful of active members came up with something like 1080 files.

Not saying that the feds would not be interested in people here (or on survivalist sites)...just that they are probably way more concerned with those on the OWS websites at the moment. Thats the threat to government at the moment...a potential revolution.

Look at IWW member Judi Bari for example. She was trying to bring loggers and environmentalists together. She was an environmentalist and IWW union member. Someone (FBI? Logging company men?) placed a bomb under her car which exploded as she started driving but she survived. They then said she was carrying the bomb in her car and charged her with terrorism. The picture clearly shows the bomb was placed under her car seat with the intent to kill her.

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"Investigators were lying so much it was insulting. The FBI and Oakland (police) sat up there and lied about their investigation," said juror Mary Nunn of Oakley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judi_Bari

Dear FBI



Now please go engage in some s00per operator tier one masturbation and throw some lead downrange - at each other. I'd lol

I don't worry about it too much. It's basically random data to keep some make-work paper pushers busy collating and "synergizing" **** to give the illusion of national security.

Well, it must be comforting for the bankers to know the FBI's priorities.

I assumed this was commonly known for some time,maybe some of you recall the lady that was speaking with her sister or aunt cannot recall on the phone and during the half hour chit chat "Clinton" and "Bomb" were in it,they were not strung together nor was there a sinister plot by these middle age woman but that didnt stop the FBI with kicking in her door.

That was the first time i recall the government admitting that they screen all phone calls in the US with a program and then can listen in,in person after certain words are said.

Websistes well,even more so lol,not to mention they most likely have national and international sites they check on frequently for variuos reasons.

It's called the Echelon program, i believe.

outlined in the movie "enemy of the state".

I think it's probably more like the TV show "Rubicon" than Enemy of the State.

Bunch of math geeks attempting to sort through **** tons of mostly irrelevant data, generating a bunch of reports that will never get read.

Really it won't stop until millions of Americans begin to hatch totally baseless and fictional plots about terror or drug deals on their e mail, overwhelming any government ability to sort through the mess.

Fat chance, with their intense distractions of drugs, alcohol, TeeVee, themselves, etc.

Gollum "Really it won't stop until millions of Americans begin to hatch totally baseless and fictional plots about terror or drug deals on their e mail, overwhelming any government ability to sort through the mess."


That was done for a few months,i know i did it and i know thousands if not a few hundred thousand did it.


I have nothing to fear from the FBI however,they have visited me before and we had coffee in my dining room and asked me to take pictures for money and then left money just for the visit,crazy guys i tell yah.

Funny thing is,when we met,they called themselves Deoderant salesmen,lol.


FYI they have people that memorize everything,they are trained for that.

Here is the ACLU of NY's guide to getting information requests from the government. I'm sure it can be altered slightly for other cities. See link below...

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Don't Spy On Me! The NYCLU's Spy Files Campaign
http://www.nyclu.org/spyfiles

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The NYPD is watching us. Here is your chance to watch them. Find out if you are under government surveillance for your political or religious activities. File a Freedom of Information request today.

According to recent reports by the Associated Press, state law enforcement agencies are using expanded powers after 9/11 to target peaceful religious and political protest groups for infiltration and surveillance. Muslim student organizations, community groups and even small businesses have been targeted for police surveillance based solely on the religious beliefs of the communities they serve and without any suspicion that anyone has engaged in unlawful conduct.

New York has a long, proud history of robust political dissent. The NYCLU has often used Freedom of Information requests to shine a light on the government practice of surveillance. Since the days of the Red Squads when police intelligence units used to infiltrate political groups solely because they were critical of the government, the NYCLU has defended the right to dissent by making public the practices used and the files held by the police. Today, these requests should once again force the FBI, NYPD and other local law enforcement agencies to turn over their records on New Yorkers.

The federal Freedom of Information Act and the New York Freedom of Information Law are powerful legal tools to compel the government to disclose information. If you are a person or organization engaged in political protest or dissent, you can file your own request to find out if the government is spying on you.

This summary does not constitute legal advice. It is intended to provide general guidance only. If you have specific legal questions, consult a lawyer.