RE: No DHS necessary
March 17, 2012 at 1:20 am
(This post was last modified: March 17, 2012 at 1:51 am by Rokcet Scientist.)
(March 17, 2012 at 12:16 am)Tempus Wrote: I sometimes wonder whether IM conversations can be monitored like that. I'm decently knowledgeable about computers, but I don't know much about the internet/networks.
Assume they do.
Assume they monitor everything that's unencrypted.
Quote:I often drop the words terrorist, bomb, paedophile, etc during IM just to be a cunt incase teh governments is tracking usage of keywords through IM
Better beware: they love to screw cunts!
Quote:Somehow that seems doubtful given how man IM conversations there are at a given time... but then I think of some of the super computers out there and it begins to seem pretty possible.
If they string together a couple million federal PCs' processing power when they are not in use (screensaver time, night time, etc.; probably 16 hours a day or better per machine) in a 'distributed computing' system – like analysing SETI signals with the SETI@Home project – they have the number crunching power of a thousand supercomputers at their disposal...
So yes, it is very possible. They don't need realtime analysis. A couple days is perfectly OK.
Once a suspect has been identified other, realtime systems take over. They 'zoom in', as it were. For which not nearly as much processing power is required. A dozen workstations running dedicated software is enough to run any targeted surveillance situation.
Quote:They'd probably be search for phrases like "I'm a / I want a terrorist" or "how to make a bomb" rather than just "terrorist" or "bomb" which would probably turn up way too many false positives.
That's never stopped political parties looking for scapegoats, or Sheriffs or DAs grandstanding as they are running for office. Etc. etc. Meanwhile innocent "suspects"' characters are assasinated and lives destroyed. Even if they get acquitted eventually. On page 26.
Who wants that PITA? That trauma? And that expense?
And that's how you armtwist people into plea bargain confessions even if they are totally innocent.
Not much different from what the Inquisition and the witch hunters did...
