Slashdot Mentioned In Virginia Terrorism Report 779
megamerican alerted us to a leaked document (PDF) from a Virginia Fusion Center titled "2009 Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment." The document is marked as "Law Enforcement Sensitive," not to be shown to public. Citizens for Legitimate Government has a write-up. Slashdot gets a mention on page 45 — not as a terrorist organization itself, but as one of the places that members of Anonymous may hang out: "A 'loose coalition of Internet denizens,' Anonymous consists largely of users from multiple internet sites such as 4chan, 711chan, 420chan, Something Awful, Fark, Encyclopedia Dramatica, Slashdot, IRC channels, and YouTube. Other social networking sites are also utilized to mobilize physical protests. ... Anonymous is of interest not only because of the sentiments expressed by affiliates and their potential for physical protest, but because they have innovated the use of e-protests and mobilization. Given the lack of a unifying creed, this movement has the potential to inspire lone wolf behavior in the cyber realms." According to the report, cell phones and digital music players have been used to transfer plans related to criminal activity, and therefore presumably could be grounds for suspicion. Podcasting is also suspicious.
Re:Level Up (Score:1, Insightful)
How ignorant. A bunch of mall-goth imbeciles that happen to visit 4chan does not a terrorist organization make.
Sic Semper Tyrannis (Score:1, Insightful)
Remember, Virginia, that you yourself may be the Tyrant. Americans today pay far more in taxes than they did under George III - and get very little in return.
Signed,
"Moved with my feet"
Re:Message to Virginia Fusion Center, from Anonymo (Score:1, Insightful)
Government ( followed by religion ) is the biggest terrorist organisation EVER !
Re:A.C. (Score:5, Insightful)
They just don't understand the joke, do they?
Re:Anon (Score:4, Insightful)
You laugh, but Ted Kennedy has already be caught up in this sort of nonsense.
VA better watch out! (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot is known for being a terrorist hotbed of activity.
Seriously though, is it getting just so utterly bullshit that they list Slashdot as a potential terrorist hangout? I mean, really? Is the government this god damned stupid? I suppose in the back of my mind I always knew it was, but wow.
I don't want to come off as a nutjob here, but this country is falling down hard. A new revolution in the next 100 years appears to be more than possible at this point. Laws are getting absolutely ridiculous.
I realize VA is far from the federal government, but this "OMG EVERY1 IZ TERRORIZT!" stuff is getting really scary.
Terrorist.. This decades Communist.. Make lists and round 'em up, boys!
Fucking scary.
Re:Kind of funny (Score:5, Insightful)
"Ethnic cleansing" would be a better description of what the founding of America was based on.
Terrorism is something else and a term that gets abused to the point of making it meaningless.
Re:Level Up (Score:5, Insightful)
Scientology. Or Habbo.com. Either could be the culprit.
That's such an illogical conjecture I'm not sure where to start. "Anonymous" isn't some sort of highly organised group. It's just a bunch of people on various websites. Going to those websites doesn't make you a terrorist, or a furry, or a protester, or whatever it is someone else is doing. "Stick around"? Makes no sense.
Re:That silly Constitution (Score:3, Insightful)
Free speech
Assembly
Petition the government (or government institutions).
...
No wonder this was marked "not to show to public". How dare we engage in such subversion of the LAW enforcement establishment.
Generally speaking, those three things are not directly equivalent to "subversion of the LAW enforcement establishment".
This is more generally indicative of a new age of governmental and police paranoia where anywhere and everything is a potential place or tool for Bad Things(TM). And they're right. They just haven't figured out how to accurately assess the risk levels yet.
Re:oh yeah, beware the slashdot terrorist (Score:3, Insightful)
You know there is one down side to the internet.
On the internet no matter how totally whacked out your idea maybe odds are you will find at least 100 people that will agree with you.
Once you find people that agree with you all of a sudden you can believe that your idea has merit.
Some where their is a discussion board about how it is to have orgies dressed up as giant stuffed animals. And the people on it will be convinced that they are perfectly normal people.
Re:Level Up (Score:5, Insightful)
Anonymous is a microcosm of society. There is no formal method for joining. There are no membership lists or membership dues.
There are people doing good things (for whatever you consider good), people doing bad things (for whatever you consider bad), people doing neutral things (for any other action), and people doing nothing.
When someone says "Anonymous will do xyz", they're not charging everyone who associates themselves with the group to do xyz. They are simply invoking the protection of being lost in a crowd and the protection of free association.
All things that, in and of themselves, are perfectly legal in the United States. However, what is done once under the cloak of these protections, on the other hand, may be illegal.
Personally, Anonymous scares me a hell of a lot less than the far right militia groups (which, by the way, all do the same thing and are legal).
Could A.C. be a wheat/chaff solution? (Score:3, Insightful)
This raises an interesting question: could I actually create an alternate communication method using A.C. postings alone? Using a cipher symbol alphabet consisting entirely of sensible words or sentences, I could hide inside of the more popular systems that allow anonymous posting and probably not even be noticed (I mean hell, how many people do more than scan the A.C. posting to see if it makes sense?).
Re:That silly Constitution (Score:4, Insightful)
[citation needed]
Perhaps you're unaware of the terrorism that occurs in central Africa on a daily basis, that is conveniently ignored? Or does that not count because it doesn't greatly affect American economic interests?
Re:That silly Constitution (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't know which is scarier, the fact that there should be people actively employed in writing this kind of nonsense, or the fact that they are so hideously misinformed?
The fact that they put "anarchist extremists" such as, erm, Slashdot people, right up there with groups who have actually, erm, killed people, tells me that they're worried about what kind of authority-subversion is going to come out of the Series of Tubes next.
Virginia Fusion Center are terrorists. (Score:3, Insightful)
Groups that exist to deny us basic freedom in the name of their religion are terrorists, aren't they?
List of sites where people are NOT anonymous (Score:3, Insightful)
Isn't it easier to list those websites where people are NOT allowed to be anonymous?
If I were in the Virginia govt., I would block all internet, tv, radio, phone. You'll feel much safer if you don't know what's happening in the evil outside world.
Re:Level Up (Score:5, Insightful)
That's such an illogical conjecture I'm not sure where to start. "Anonymous" isn't some sort of highly organised group. It's just a bunch of people on various websites. Going to those websites doesn't make you a terrorist, or a furry, or a protester, or whatever it is someone else is doing. "Stick around"? Makes no sense.
That's basically what the report actually says about Anonymous. They got a mention and a small write-up in the report because a few individuals identifying with them committed minor acts of vandalism. It says that they aren't really an organized group. The main reason they're even mentioned seems to be to give an example of people coordinating protests or actions online.
The "phones and ipod" section just gives examples of how terrorists and organized criminals were taking advantage of technology-- examples which are already pretty well-known, really.
This isn't alarmism on the part of the Virginia government. The summary is silly.
Re:Message to Virginia Fusion Center, from Anonymo (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the world would be a better place without 99% of those who comment on YouTube. Kill them evil terrorists I say!
Re:Message to Virginia Fusion Center, from Anonymo (Score:5, Insightful)
remeber bretheren....
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It all goes down 4/20/09 at 16:20 local time. Tell the others!
Re:A.C. (Score:5, Insightful)
Genius. How great would it be if Slashdot changed 'Anonymous Coward' to Lone Wolf for a few weeks?
Re:That silly Constitution (Score:5, Insightful)
A terrorist attacks civilian targets. Freedom fighters attack military targets. There is a big difference.
You can be a freedom fighter and a terrorist. When will American history books call the people behind the Boston Tea Party terrorists? There's also the matter of a couple of nuclear bombs on Japan, and the fire bombing of Dresden.
Re:Message to Virginia Fusion Center, from Anonymo (Score:2, Insightful)
That is why international monitoring of shark sales is so critical. Should laser-possessing members of Anonymous get their hands on one, then they will finally have everything that they need.
Social Science Research Gone Bad (Score:4, Insightful)
There might be dozens of other reasons why people would legitimately want to stay anonymous.
Oh, yes, I realize I posted this one while logged in. Let them mark me an enemy of the state if they so desire.
[I hereby raspberry those segments of United States government, or any other agencies for that matter, that conduct such shoddy research and make generalizations based on fear and incomplete information.]
Re:Terrorism (Score:3, Insightful)
Since they demonstrate the tactical capacity to put a bunch of people in a place, at a time, without law enforcement getting a sniff of it beforehand.
Don't think of it as terrorism per se: think of it as a people-organizing toolset, and it ought to terrify any police state who's paying attention. To the extent the US behaves like a police state, this is a threat.
Take a look at Improv Everywhere's Cell Phone Symphony. Heck, much of what IE does is militarily relevant. It says, "We're a bunch of peaceful clowns. But if we'd wanted to get you, you'd have been got". It says "Your security theater is irrelevant".
Re:Q: anonymous in an organization? (Score:1, Insightful)
I find it funny how TFA quotes Wikipedia almost verbatim.
From Wikipedia: "A "loose coalition of Internet denizens", the group is banded together by the internet, through sites such as 4chan, 711chan, 420chan, Something Awful, Fark, Encyclopedia Dramatica, Slashdot, IRC channels, and YouTube."
They are very ignorant, and can be destructive. (Score:2, Insightful)
It's NOT a joke. It's VERY serious. They are extraordinarily ignorant, yes. But they believe in doing damage as a way to solve what they perceive as problems. (1,000,000 Iraqis [opinion.co.uk] and those of their families who are still living can verify that.)
This is nonsense: "Slashdot gets a mention on page 45 - not as a terrorist organization itself, but as one of the places that member of Anonymous may hang out". In the minds of extremely ignorant angry people, providing a place for terrorists is the same as being a terrorist.
However, let's not get too extreme. If Slashdot editors are sent to prison, it will probably be for bad editing, not for helping terrorists and therefore being terrorists themselves. For example, "that member of Anonymous may hang out" is bad English. It could be "that members of an Anonymous group may hang out".
When the violent dictatorial regime gains complete control, Cowboy Neal will post (heavily censored) stories like this from his prison cell: "DRM is a wonderful way to assure order in the world." "Let's praise the brilliant insights of those who wrote the DMCA." Essentially the same old stuff, just moved several thousand miles to the west.
Would they kill YOU? Would they kill members of your family? Yes, they would. Your safety comes only from the fact that they are not likely to focus on you.
Re:That silly Constitution (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not all that up on the history of the Boston tea party, but I don't think it was intended to terrorize anyone. Sure, the people guarding the tea on the boats might have had violence committed against them, but the goal wasn't terrorism.
The other two, yeah, they were designed to produce terror in the populace and get them to work to change their government's stance.
Re:A.C. (Score:3, Insightful)
Genius. How great would it be if Slashdot changed 'Anonymous Coward' to Lone Wolf for a few weeks?
I would rather push for "OMG Ponies" instead, as this would certainly make the report more fun to read ;)
Re:Social Science Research Gone Bad (Score:3, Insightful)
[I hereby raspberry those segments of United States government, or any other agencies for that matter, that conduct such shoddy research and make generalizations based on fear and incomplete information.]
The fact that you can do this unmolested indicates that freedom of speech isn't nearly dead in the US. Read the article, it's a lot less inflammatory than the summary.