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Can the powers that be make a database of all the people subscribed to this web site and others?
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Understand this, it's sure to let you relax and quit worrying over it all:
There is no such thing as "anonymous" on the web.
- Every single device connected to the Internet at any one time, has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. Mine is currently 69.231.95.254 For people on dial-up, DSL, or Cable this IP is "borrowed" from you provider, who has a whole bank of these.
- Each time you connect to the Net, the ISP's server you dial/connect to records the phone no. or customer name (in cable's case), time/date, and IP address assigned in a log.
- Every single web server you connect to also maintains a log of time, date, IP address of requesting computer, and every file it sends to you.
- These logs must be surrendered to law enforcement, immediately upon request, no search warrant required. (more on that in a sec)
Oh, those "anonymous web browsing services" you've heard of? Fugetaboutit.
1. They're subject to the same laws.
2. Remember the news story about the guy who hacked Gov. Palin's email? He used one. It took the FBI a whole day to track him down.
If something on this site was so secret, "devastating", illegal, immoral, or even slightly fattening, they would approach the owners, not you. They would have such info removed, or the site wouldn't be here. Tuit suite.
The idea that something read here would be so "bad" that a govt agency would not only shut down the site, but, also hunt down and kill everyone who read it, would be... well... you called it, a bit paranoid.
(relax, you don't sound like you're there yet)
Mostly their reaction seems to be, "the horse is outa the barn, so..." have someone log in here as a user, and start a pattern of "disinfo". But then this is why God gave you a "BS-Meter".
A better question might be:
"With over 40 million computers connected to the Net at any one time, why would they be interested in me?"
Short answer: 99.9% of the time, they aren't. After all it's a lot of data to wade through just out of idle curiosity.
Example:
The front page of this forum says that as of 12:45 PDT
Currently Active Users: 1375 (472 members and 903 guests)
The front page of this forum also causes the server to "read/send" out 44 files totaling 166Kb. every time it's accessed. This means that just the act of everyone here now, visiting the home page once, generated:
* 44 x 1375 = 60,500 entries in today's log,
and
* used 22.8Mb. of bandwidth.
"What, me worry?"
To this end, I've taken a different tack. My nic, Fredkc, is my real first name, middle, and last initial. I have used it for every login to every forum, blog, service, community site, or anything else that comes along, since 1986. it's my "best defense a good offense". or John Hancock approach. If they want me(and someday I think they will), they'll get me.
A quick google of it turned up 2090 hits, and the first 3 pages I looked at are all me. Everything from my opinion on the Bailout, to govt's illegal activities, my opinions about them all being traitors of one kind or another, software I've written, Sites I've authored, and even some glass cleaning tips I posted on a BMW owner's site. (yeah, I really went out on a limb on that one)
Ok, the second's up: (from above)
I have had two encounters with the FBI since 2002.
#1. A partner and I had a web hosting service. One of our customers was the official site for the Mazda Miata's enthisuast site, called MiataMagazine. Somneone who wanted this relationship to end, so they could get this contract hired a hacker in Connecticut by the name of
Stephen Suplita (I just love making him famous
) to hack/disrupt the Miata site. After several episodes I got tired of rebuilding the site, and having his patterns, made some programming changes to the site to create
extra log entries for his habits.
Upon his return, I called the San Diego FBI office and turned over my web site logs. Now criminals are notoriously dumb. His attempts gave me two IP addresses, so he was no exception. Not only did he hack my site from work, he then went home and did it some more!
Result: San Diego FBI sent the logs to Connecticut office. They traced the IP numbers to, and visited his work (he was immediately fired), and then his home. The FBI took away all his electronic toys, arrested him and you can see the results
here, and
here.
____________________________
Now you'd think this would have given us a bit of credibility/slack with the local FBI office. Well, no good deed goes unpunished.
#2. About 6 months later I got a call from my biz partner at 5:45 AM. (he lived closer to our server than I, or it'd been me calling him)
No "Hi Fred", "Good Morning", or even a "Sorry for the early call..." instead:
"WHAT THE F**** DID YOU DO?!?!
I know it wasn't me! I don't care what the hell it was, I just need to know WHAT IT WAS NOW!
I have 5 FBI agents on my front lawn and 1 at my door!!"
"Good morning, Richard." I replied.
Now, access to the logs, they just have to ask for. Instead they gave him two choices:
1. Take them down to the machines and give them access, or
2. Go to jail, and then they'd go down and access them anyway.
Even with the provisions of
FISA in force at the time, and the
ILLEGAL Patriot Act, what the FBI did was completely illegal!
The FBI scraped off a complete copy of both of our machines. This included:
* The websites of about 5 companies,
* All of their online business transactions,
* All the data of all their customers,
* Business and private email of about 30 other users.
No search warrant! No National Security Letter (NSL)!
I read some months later that the FBI had done this roughly 30,000 times in 2002 alone (each and every single instance a felony). You should know that:
- The feds have been grabbing a complete copy of all traffic that goes across this country. Intgernet, Cell phone, and land line since 2001 at least. They pattern search all of this traffic.
- Now that Posse Comitatus no longer exists, the Pentagon is now doing the same thing.
- The Pentagon also has contracts out for bid, to farm out pattern recognition surveillance of all this to private companies.
NOT a hunch. Not a conspiracy theory. You can find news accounts of all of this with a simple Google search.
I apologize for being so long winded, but it happens to be a pet pieve, and something I have some direct experience in, which I just LOVE sharing about Big Brother's Stooges. It's also the reason I use my real name.