Is the FBI Reading Your E-mail?

[Sword_Of_Truth]

from the second stupidest message board on the internet after the Loose Change forums, comes this little nugget:

Quote:

Tomorrow is the deadline for ISPs to have their networks wired up with G-Man-mandated surveillance equipment which will make it easier for the FBI to snoop, spy and wiretap the intertubes, per the FCC's expanded 2002 interpretation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. (Clearly an older law, since it does not make for a catchy acronym.)

The CALEA was originally written to make digital phone lines easier to wiretap. In the case of cell phones, where the tech has "100% penetration, it's credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going, " according to Threat Level.

For the low, low price of $164, you can check out the official specs ISPs will use to route over pretty much any "information sent or received through a user's broadband connection, including on-line banking activity" should the FBI be granted a court order to see what's flowing through their (or your) intertubes.

So happy surfing tomorrow! And be sure to use emoticons! FBI agents are people too, and I bet a smiling face would really brighten their day.

Does anyone know if this story is legit, or is it just more paranoid hysteria from people who spend far too much time away from the real world when they aren't investigoogling?

[Architect]

I don't know, but I am given to udnerstand that GCHQ in the UK does scan a significant proportion of all communications.

[ref]

I don't know about that one, but the Swedish Military is close to getting an authorization to word-scan all cross-border communications from Sweden and to Sweden, including internet, e-mail, telecommunications etc.

That is why Finland's biggest e-mail server moved it's servers from Sweden to Finland.

[gumboot]

Originally Posted by Architect

I don't know, but I am given to udnerstand that GCHQ in the UK does scan a significant proportion of all communications.

Officially ECHELON only monitors international communications.

-Gumboot

[Architect]

So if I were to go BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB DIRTY MANCHESTER it wouldn't be the case that some poor devil in Cheltenham (or wherever GCHQ actually is) will be reading it later today? Or is it just the "official" line?

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by gumboot

Officially ECHELON only monitors international communications.

-Gumboot

I heard that every communication passing Echelon is digitally
scanned for "Buzzwords" - but I don't know if it's true, even
if I tend to believe this is the case in digital messages since
it's too easy to set up such routines and equipment.

[gumboot]

Originally Posted by Architect

So if I were to go BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB DIRTY MANCHESTER it wouldn't be the case that some poor devil in Cheltenham (or wherever GCHQ actually is) will be reading it later today? Or is it just the "official" line?

As far as I understand, that's the official line. Whether reality reflects the official line or not, I don't know. I suppose it depends whether you think western governments are generally good and law abiding, or corrupt and bad.

-Gumboot

[JAStewart]

Why does it matter if they're scanning emails? I have nothing to hide, and it if can stop a terrorist ring, or a paedofile ring or any of that nasty ***** then it is probably a good thing.

What do the deniers have to hide?

[jhunter1163]

Try this: send your favorite Twoofer a nasty e-mail. If the eeeevil gubmint is reading it, you should ALREADY be in trouble, right? So there'd be no need for him or her to report it, right? But I bet they do anyway....

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by JAStewart

Why does it matter if they're scanning emails? I have nothing to hide, and it if can stop a terrorist ring, or a paedofile ring or any of that nasty ***** then it is probably a good thing.

What do the deniers have to hide?

I guess it's the pretty old fashioned idea that the government
shouldn't be allowed to open up your snail mail to see if you're
talking in a harmful way about them. So what's the difference
in an electronic message?

The conclusion skeptics and twoofers draw is, that the government
does NOT trust "you" - so why should you trust "your government"
in return. Viewing at it this way does not make the Twoofers look
paranoid.

[MG1962]

Will they check and correct my spelling for me?

[The_Fire]

I don't know if they are reading my emails. If they are, I hope they enjoy the rather risky risque stories I'm sending my better half when I'm away.......

[Oliver]

Originally Posted by The_Fire

I don't know if they are reading my emails. If they are, I hope they enjoy the rather risky stories I'm sending my better half when I'm away.......

[Earthborn]

If the FBI is monitoring all e-mail, I sure hope they've got a good spamfilter. And if they do, it becomes rather easy to avoid being monitored; sign all your e-mail with "penis enlargement".

[uk_dave]

I think it's fantastic that we have the technology to vacuum the entire electromagnetic spectrum and automatically intercept all these emails, telephone calls etc etc, except......

....except that at the end of the day it will be a human who has to wade through the piles of dross and make a judgement as to whether 'The_Fire's emails are risky or risque.

Personally I just hope that the 'truthers' believe this story for their own good. I think they ignore the obvious security flaws in their use of the internet, mobile phones, computers and snail mail at their own peril. They would be better off just staying at home, with all the doors locked, the curtains drawn and not speaking to anyone.

Oh and watching porn DVD's gives you wrist cancer.

In fact, watching any DVD's at all merely allows the all seeing eye of the NWO to utilise your tv/monitor as a camera so they can watch your every move.

Oh and the air is full of harmful chemtrails.
The water has harmful chemicals
Food is genetically modified and iradiated
All pharmacueticals are bad for you
Recreational drugs are produced by the CIA for MKULTRA programs
Sunlight will give you skin cancer (especially when reflected off the secret bases on the moon)
And there's an alligator living in your toilet.

That should just about do it.

[The_Fire]

Originally Posted by Oliver

http://209.85.48.11/html/emoticons/blink.gif

What?

[Liszt]

Originally Posted by jhunter1163

Try this: send your favorite Twoofer a nasty e-mail. If the eeeevil gubmint is reading it, you should ALREADY be in trouble, right? So there'd be no need for him or her to report it, right? But I bet they do anyway....

what does "gubmint" mean? It just doesn´t make any sense without the word "da" in front of it.

Is everyone here fluent in Idiot?

[ref]

Originally Posted by Earthborn

If the FBI is monitoring all e-mail, I sure hope they've got a good spamfilter. And if they do, it becomes rather easy to avoid being monitored; sign all your e-mail with "penis enlargement".

Are you Finnish? Your signature multatuli is quite amusing in Finnish.

[The_Fire]

Originally Posted by uk_dave

I think it's fantastic that we have the technology to vacuum the entire electromagnetic spectrum and automatically intercept all these emails, telephone calls etc etc, except......

....except that at the end of the day it will be a human who has to wade through the piles of dross and make a judgement as to whether 'The_Fire's emails are risky or risque.

And that's the crux of the problem: The fact that humans needs to wade through all this.
When the Danes discovered that there was something called Echelon, you should have heard the outrage.

What people tend to forget is the fact that even IF the computers only pass on emails or phone calls including words like "bomb", "terrorist" or "jihad", that would still mean hundreds or thousands of emails and phone conversations to be filtered by humans. IMO it's impossible and still get a reasonable response time.

Instead the most accurate way of using this, and cutting down on the manpower needed, would be to select a list of "persons of interest" and have the computers/personnel concentrate on THEIR communication. Which of cause leaves the question: "Who is a person of interest?"

I sincerely doubt though that a bunch of nutters like the 9/11 Toothmovement rank amongst "Persons of Interest".

[Architect]

I suspect that the selection criteria will be rather more sophisticated than simply looking for incidencences of (say) BOMB NUKE LONDON SECRET TOMORROW. One would anticipate an engine which looks at the incidence of associated words, cross-refers it back to previous e-mail from the same user, identifies any consistent patterns, and only then flags it up to a someone.

But I'm an architect. I really am only speculating!

[The_Fire]

Originally Posted by Architect

I suspect that the selection criteria will be rather more sophisticated than simply looking for incidencences of (say) BOMB NUKE LONDON SECRET TOMORROW. One would anticipate an engine which looks at the incidence of associated words, cross-refers it back to previous e-mail from the same user, identifies any consistent patterns, and only then flags it up to a someone.

But I'm an architect. I really am only speculating!

As the part of me which is a web-programmer, I can see how that can work. At least partially. The part I'm having problems with is still the amount of information if we are talking about a group of people the size of eg. the complete number of residents in the US.

The pattern recognition of specific sentences could work, but in order to cross reference it back to previously sent and possibly deleted email, one would have to have one hell of a data storage warehouse. We are talking about more than terrabytes of old data here.
One would basically have to backup EVERYTHING ever sent or published on the internet to prevent deletion of possible relevant data. Not to mention the fact that you would need backup facilities for those data. And that's before adding possible recorded phone calls to the mix.
Again: To make it plausible (read: practical) one would need to narrow it down to persons of interest.

[Earthborn]

Originally Posted by ref

Are you Finnish?

No.

Quote:

Your signature multatuli is quite amusing in Finnish.

Really? What does the penname of the great Dutch author mean in Finnish? Nothing naughty I hope.

[Davidjayjordan]

Dear naive anti-truthers, the FBI loves you and wants the best for you. They are there to protect you and serve you, and would never spy on you, never invade your privacy, and never lie to you ..... unless you were a mere citizen.

[JimBenArm]

Originally Posted by Davidjayjordan

Dear naive anti-truthers, the FBI loves you and wants the best for you. They are there to protect you and serve you, and would never spy on you, never invade your privacy, and never lie to you ..... unless you were a mere citizen.

Dear delusional internet poster:
The FBI is not interested in you, unless they want to test headache remedies.

[Mobyseven]

Originally Posted by Davidjayjordan

Dear naive anti-truthers, the FBI loves you and wants the best for you. They are there to protect you and serve you, and would never spy on you, never invade your privacy, and never lie to you ..... unless you were a mere citizen.

I doubt the FBI actually gives a s*** about me one way or the other, seeing as how I'm an Australian.

[Architect]

Originally Posted by Davidjayjordan

Dear naive anti-truthers, the FBI loves you and wants the best for you. They are there to protect you and serve you, and would never spy on you, never invade your privacy, and never lie to you ..... unless you were a mere citizen.

You're right. Your only option is to get offline, off the grid, and head for the hills. Go! Now! RUN!

[The_Fire]

Originally Posted by Architect

You're right. Your only option is to get offline, off the grid, and head for the hills. Go! Now! RUN!

I agree. The sooner, the better!

[ref]

Originally Posted by Earthborn

No.

Really? What does the penname of the great Dutch author mean in Finnish? Nothing naughty I hope.

It is kinda naughty actually

Multatuli directly translated to Finnish = I just had an orgasm / I just came. Although if you nitpick, it is written with a space, multa tuli

[The Doc]

The FBI doesn't have the time, nor the resources to scan everybody's emails.

They would simply use the powers to scan the emails of suspected terrorists if they were suspected of being involved in terrorism, and not your average citizen. It's illogical for them to do so, and they don't have the man power or system power to do so.

I couldn't care less if my emails were read by the FBI. I have nothing to hide, and I don't consider it giving up my civil liberties.

[Belz...]

Quote:

Is the FBI Reading Your E-mail?

Let 'em.

[Architect]

Originally Posted by Belz...

Let 'em.

Wan o' the 'hings whit ah wid want tae keen aboot unner sich circumstances wid be how they wid be able tae understan' screivins o ither leids, especially them whit arnae sae common - like this yin!

Agus ghaidhlig. Cymreg. Etc etc.

[gumboot]

One of the advantages of being an ECHELON member state is that it's my own government scanning anything I'm sending (even assuming they're scanning everything).

Our Government announced ECHELON existed, and what it did, two decades ago, so there's nothing overly secret about it.

I agree with others however. The system may have the capability to scan every communication (maybe). I seriously doubt it is capable of processing even a fraction of communications.

I would be pretty confident their efforts would be focused on known "persons of interest". Otherwise discussions like this one on the internet would waste valuable resources.

-Gumboot

[Aoidoi]

For what it's worth, most emails are sent in easily readable format across multiple networks to get to their destination. Any number of people can potentially read them; it's an inherently unsecure communication medium. If you are concerned with privacy there are a number of encryption methods that would make it more difficult for someone to read your email.

Course, I almost never send anything in an email that I would worry about being read by a third party, so I don't bother. But if you're discussing your plans for world domination, PGP might be right for you. If you think filtering terabytes of data on a daily basis is daunting, imagine trying to decrypt chunks of it, most of which will be either computer geeks or paranoics without any more interesting content than the rest.

[JimBenArm]

Could this be why the FBI agents following me have such noticable "bulges"? Reading all the special discount pharmacy and male-enhancement stuff I get?

[gumboot]

Of course it's not the FBI that does it anyway... ECHELON for the USA is run by the NSA.

-Gumboot

[stateofgrace]

Originally Posted by Davidjayjordan

Dear naive anti-truthers, the FBI loves you and wants the best for you. They are there to protect you and serve you, and would never spy on you, never invade your privacy, and never lie to you ..... unless you were a mere citizen.

Wow I feel loved. You mean, you mean they care all about little old me? There I was thinking that nobody cared for me only to find out that lots and lots of people care.

Dear Mr. FBI email reader, thank you for caring, it means so much to me.

Yours state.

[defaultdotxbe]

sersiouly though ive always figured echelon scans a percentage of all communications and never really worried about it, if i want security ill send a regular letter or just go talk to someone in person, or as aoidoi suggested PGP is a great email encryption program (need to use outlook though i think)

[uk_dave]

I thought the whole controversy about Echelon was that it circumvented the US prohibition on spying on it's own citizens by getting a partner nation to do it for them.

[tacodaemon]

edit - duplicate post

[CptColumbo]

Originally Posted by MG1962

Will they check and correct my spelling for me?

Yes. Unfortunately, in a typical move by the Bush Admin, they've appointed former VP Dan Quayle to be in charge of this part of the operation.