Bahrain Activists Battered By IP Tracking Attacks 48
An anonymous reader writes "Having been targeted by malware in the past, anti-government protesters in Bahrain are now being hit hard by IP tracking attacks, according to a researcher. Bill Marczak, of Bahrain Watch and Citizen Lab, who is putting together a report on the attacks, said it appeared Bahrain officials had been masquerading as fake activists, sending obfuscated URLs to targets to learn their IP address. The next step is to take the IP address and the time of the click to the relevant ISP to find out who the user is. Then all sorts of things can happen. 'People who have clicked on these links have suffered various types of consequences ranging from having their houses raided and being charged for saying insulting things about the king on Twitter, or losing their jobs,' says Marczak. 'It looks like, from our investigation so far, in one case, the government did lock up the wrong person.'"
These protestors are ignored by the West (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Doesnt the US get massively criticized as being an imperialistic, oil-interested monster every time we intervene overseas?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
I love how /. is headed... when a country does something bad, it is the US's fault. Places like Syria which are true brutal hellholes (but not hellholes due to the US being involved) get a free pass.
Comparatively little to worry about... (Score:2)
But then, it's always an arms to see which side keeps ahead of whom....
Scary because it's so effective (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're going to be a repressive tyrant, at least do it right. While the false positive rate on true dissidents probably limits the effectiveness to some degree, the much more chilling effect is to make people afraid to read any anti-regime news. That's probably much more valuable to them in the long run than nabbing a few people they consider troublesome.
Re:Scary because it's so effective (Score:4, Interesting)
These actions are never about the dissidents they find. It's always about making an example of someone. It doesn't even have to be a real person, as long as the coverage is public enough and people believe it.
Tor (Score:5, Insightful)
This is what Tor is for. Use it.
Re: (Score:1)
Not quite. Of course this will help actual activists not get caught, but! As stated above, if a media-example is made of a few activists being caught, people (your dentist, grandma) will steer clear of even reading such news, because of the possibility of being tracked as transmitting anti-government material. And if you think "normal" folk are going to start using Tor, you're an idiot.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly with the dude below who presses upon "us programmers" the need to embrace privacy and ano
Tor to the rescue once more (Score:1)
add it to the list (Score:3)
The Thailand royal party sucks
The queen of England sucks
The king of Bahrain sucks
Are there any I missed insulting where it's legal in the US but illegal in their own country?
Anyway, anyone with a brain should be using TOR. They can track that all the way to a known exit node and that's it. Most smaller countries like this can't block every known TOR exit node either. Even China has problems blocking every single one.
Re:add it to the list (Score:4, Informative)
Russia. Putin. See the story from earlier today.
Re: (Score:3)
No matter what country you're from or what your political ideals are, it is never okay to "not support the troops".
The troops are people who have put themselves in harm's way to fight for their ideals. That is a commendable quality, regardless of what those ideals are. You are, however, perfectly free to oppose those ideals and promote your own. You are perfectly free to vote for pacifist politicians and to openly protest wars, but do not confuse the war with the people fighting in it.
Re: (Score:3)
No matter what country you're from or what your political ideals are, it is never okay to "not support the troops".
The troops are people who have put themselves in harm's way to fight for their ideals.
Maybe they put themselves in harms way for their ideals, or maybe they did it for a steady pay check, and to get the training needed to go after one of those often very lucrative private security/logistics jobs at an entity like Blackwater ( or whatever its calling itself now).
I am not suggesting that I am ungrateful to those who have served in our military. I am not suggesting most of them are Patriots, or that the vast majority of their hearts are in anything inconsistent with serving our nation, and def
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
The hypocrisy of US (Score:2, Interesting)
The Monarchy of Bahrain, has again and again, committed crimes against the civil population. Unlike other Arab nations, little or nothing is said in corporate media or by the US Gov. officials, simply because the Bahrain monarchy is an "ally" that allows an US military base in their soil.
The last time a movement not too different to the Egyptians and Tunisians (plaza included); was dealt by bringing Saudi (foreign) military troops against the population. That monarchy further proceeded to demolish the place
Re: (Score:3)
The Monarchy of Bahrain, has again and again, committed crimes against the civil population. Unlike other Arab nations, little or nothing is said in corporate media or by the US Gov. officials, simply because the Bahrain monarchy is an "ally" that allows an US military base in their soil.
I suspect that there's very little pressure from the US government to not print these stories, it's just that the editorial board does not find it relevant or interesting to the targeted demographic of the media's advertisers.
It's simply that news coverage of the death or oppression of thousands of non-US citizens does not boost circulation nor sell cars or burgers.
Sad but true.
Comment removed (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/07/30/stop-and-frisk-for-local-environmentalists [thestranger.com]
Great post, globally speaking, and now for .... (Score:2)
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/07/30/stop-and-frisk-for-local-environmentalists [thestranger.com]
We owe a solution to Bahrain Activists (Score:5, Insightful)
Consider communicating to the internet using HTTPS, TOR or something similar. Have cell-phone pictures (atleast those from the worst totalitarian countries) by default stripped off their GPS-data and other identification data. Embrace anonymity by default. And if possible make all your communication and messaging software end- to-end encrypted. And finally help the revolunaries getting rid of incriminating evidence from the hard disks, USB sticks; for example by overwriting data not just by removing filenames.
Those who trust their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, upon your software do appreciate you going that extra mile.
Bahrain anti-protest actions = UK government (Score:1)
The British government has sent high ranking police and intelligence officers on secondment into Bahrain to oversee the crackdown on democracy protesters. Under direct instructions from the UK, all activists, their families, friends and other associates are monitored 24/7. Key leaders are targeted for arrest, followed by either torture and then long prison sentences, or simple murder. The British are operating the same plans as they followed in various colonial states toward the end of the British Empire.
T
"Kingdoms" (Score:2)
"Kingdoms" belong in the past. It's hypocritical of a democracy (maybe that should be in scare quotes) to even recognise a monarchy as a legitimate government (of course we all know the reasons why they do, convenience and favours chief amongst them).
But yeah the rightful place for a King is in a guillotine, in my humble opinion.
Kinda makes me despair about our species in general. We're always a slip away from this kind of bullshit in any society. Celebrity worship/obsession is the same kind of thing, nasce
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My point was that countries that officially overthrew monarchies simply replaced it w/ a different dynasty, w/o saying so in as many words. Like in Iraq, King Faisal was deposed, and replaced by Saddam, who, had he remained, would have had Udai or Qusay succeed him. Even though Saddam didn't call himself a sultan. In Libya, Gadaffi ousted a king in 1969, but in his succession would have been his son Saif al Islam. In Syria, Hafez al Assad originally planned to have his older son Basil succeed him, but a
Re: (Score:2)
Totally fair. I think it boils down to marketing in a sense. Even China doesn't 'own up' to what it really is. What little voting that happens within the party is predetermined.
Funnily enough I always thought it was an amazing coincidence that in a country where 'anyone' can be president you have George Bush and shortly later, Dubya. What are the odds eh? ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Blocked Content. (Score:1)
i am in Bahrain - this article has been blocked from IP addresses in this country
Twitter (Score:1)
Often when I sent out a tweet, I get a reply by some random vague twitter account with some obfuscated URL. I considered this to be spam (usually I don't click on it), but could it be some automated system run by some government to collect IP-addresses of people who post critical tweets?