Searching Terrorism?

[Boswell]

Was just wondering if the FBI would actually pay you a visit if you kept Google searching "I want to bomb America" etc, would it happen? Rather interesting don't you think?

[chris4stars]

haha, though it wouldnt be the FBI, you would be paid a visit

[Bronz]

Almost definitely not. There are billions of internet users, who do you think is sat there looking at your searches? The authorities would need reasonable grounds for suspicion outside of Google searches before they start monitoring any of your activity.

Although, on a similar note, anyone heard of User 927?

http://consumerist.com/2006/08/aol-user-927-illuminated.html

Edited February 24, 2010 by Bronz

[chris4stars]

kept Google searching "I want to bomb America" etc - does imply regular and related searches, and it doesnt need much to flag up a little bit of interest, even if it is just google.

so....i take it part of it back, rather than a visit....you would have someone keep an eye on you

as for the billions of internet users...things like this are obviously monitored by a computer, not some internet security guard!

[totaltrials]

Almost definitely not. There are billions of internet users, who do you think is sat there looking at your searches? The authorities would need reasonable grounds for suspicion outside of Google searches before they start monitoring any of your activity.

Although, on a similar note, anyone heard of User 927?

http://consumerist.c...lluminated.html

I think it's funny you think there's a bloke sat at a desk looking at everyone's searches.

I do think if certain things are searched for a few times then that will flag something at MI5. The same with phone calls.

Type in "underage 12 year old sex video" loads of times.

Go on, give it a try, see what happens. Probably nothing if the internet security man is a paedophile.

I think MI5, MOD, FBI have much better spying/monitoring techniques than just flagging a user when certain words are searched anyway.

[Bronz]

I think it's funny you think there's a bloke sat at a desk looking at everyone's searches.

I don't think that…

[totaltrials]

I don't think that…

you said "Almost definitely not. There are billions of internet users, who do you think is sat there looking at your searches?"

Which implies you don't believe you would get caught doing it because you don't believe there is someone "sat there looking at your searches".

Because you don't think there's someone sat there, that's why you won't get caught. Which implies if you did get caught, it'd be by the bloke "sat there looking at your searches".

[Bronz]

The f*ck, are you playing riddles?

Getting caught would have nothing to do with a man at a desk because (as I started) there isn't one.

You made a point and undid it about three times there

[totaltrials]

The f*ck, are you playing riddles?

Getting caught would have nothing to do with a man at a desk because (as I started) there isn't one.

You made a point and undid it about three times there

Haha, sorry. I'm just trying to explain what you were saying sounded like.

I think it makes sense.

[Bronz]

Haha, sorry. I'm just trying to explain what you were saying sounded like.

I think it makes sense.

Gotcha. Well either way, I'm a web developer so I have probably just enough knowledge to know that there's not a man at a desk looking at searches

(though what a job that would be…)

Edited February 24, 2010 by Bronz

[chris4stars]

the 'flags' will go up after certain words in searches and emails on a number of occasions, certain websites visited etc....its not all that complex for a computer to determine the risk of a particular person

[Twitch-119]

Wouldn't it be MI6 for internal affairs? until it got bigger than uk?

[yoyoyo]

Apparently google tracks what you search for, hence why when you put in 'trials' you get biketrials not law trials coming up. So yes Mi5 probably would be tracking you after a while.

[Mikey Tomo]

Think what happens is you search something along those lines and they then put you on a surveilance thing for a few weeks/month to make sure your no baddie. Doubt you search it once and they come smashing your door down.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Mikey Tomo

[TomR]

Wouldn't it be MI6 for internal affairs? until it got bigger than uk?

SIS (MI6) is worldwide, Security Services (MI5) is internal. Although GCHQ would be doing the monitoring.

Obviously not public knowledge but most likely they just scan through and the computer picks up patterns of certain terms. Then it's probably filtered through different levels to assess the severity. "I want to bomb america" isnt very serious, looking up the anarchists cookbook, Jihad forums, Yemen terror training camps and suppliers of fertilizer and hydrogen peroxide however would probably cause more of an alarm.

I've probably mentioned enough terms there to have the spooks pay me a visit

[chris4stars]

as TomR pointed out, its more along the lines of the 'anarchists cookbook' type things that definatly do bring about some attention....'uncle fester' or some american site with a very similar name created a very warped home scientist was a popular one recently

as for getting supplies...worringly if you were of that persuasion, youd barely need to make any efforts to seach for the supplies youd need...but that sort of behaviour definately will get you some unwanted attention!

[Si-man]

Ive got the pdf for the original cookbook somewhere, tis good. wanted to make smoke bombs

Well, ive just been on about 10 sites with anarchist cook book in mind. Ill let you know if my door gets kicked in.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Si-man

[TomR]

Thats the thing, the Anarchists Cook Book mixed everyday nuisance pranks with IRA style pipe bombs, which I guess is bad news if people look up pranks and realise how easy it is to go a step further if they've got some religious/social/political issues. There are things like smoke bombs made of tin foil and ping pong balls, but there are also things equivelant to electroncially detonated grenades made out of quite accessible components that could wreak some serious havoc if you're of the wrong kind of mentality. I can certainly see why that's on five's radar.

[anzo]

Google isn't government owned. Google will not share information with government agencies unless it's very dodgy (dodgy enough to stand out from the millions of users every day) or the government agencies ask for that specific data - and even then they have to have a warrent for it, the same as if they request data from an ISP.

Googling "I want to bomb America" will not do anything - it will be flagged up as a trend on some data record somewhere in google as to show it was searched for X amount of time on X day, but it wouldn't be all that odd - searching for terrorism isn't illegal, what about journalists, politicians, reporters, authors, researchers that google something that may sound dodgy every single day?

Not to mention, if you were a serious threat to the public - would you seriously google 'I want to bomb _______'?

[chris4stars]

Google isn't government owned. Google will not share information with government agencies unless it's very dodgy (dodgy enough to stand out from the millions of users every day) or the government agencies ask for that specific data - and even then they have to have a warrent for it, the same as if they request data from an ISP.

Googling "I want to bomb America" will not do anything - it will be flagged up as a trend on some data record somewhere in google as to show it was searched for X amount of time on X day, but it wouldn't be all that odd - searching for terrorism isn't illegal, what about journalists, politicians, reporters, authors, researchers that google something that may sound dodgy every single day?

Not to mention, if you were a serious threat to the public - would you seriously google 'I want to bomb _______'?

noone suggested that searching for it was illeagal, only that after repeated searches of that and similar content would probably flag something where some computer program will perform a risk assesment of that user...something relatively simple like that

as for the information they share, there will no doubt be arrangements with god knows how many internet search engines, email providers etc for exactly that sort of information...i dont know the ins and outs of how someone would go about monitoring the internet, but it will be happening...warrant or not

as for being a serious threat to the public, youd be surprised at the simple mistakes made by such people. extreme activists are known to prey on those with substantial learning difficulties so it wouldnt be that far fetched

[anzo]

It's pretty impossible to police the internet effectively to that degree - they just don't have the resources to police and montior every seach that could be deemed dodgy or threatening.

Of course e-mails and such can be monitored, however they do need a warrent otherwise it's highly likely that any evidence developed from unauthorised access will be dismissed in court, just like when they search your house.

However, they can in many cases (child pornography, fraud, terrorism to name a few) seize your computer, mobile phone and any other electronic devices and search them for any evidence.

Sure, it may well be flagged up - but the cost of someone looking into it wouldn't be worth the potential threat. I can google instructions on how to make a bomb, google could report it along with my ISP and IP address, the police could request information from my ISP involving my IP address and then the last thing they could do is warrent for my arrest and questioning and also a warrent to search my house and equipment.

So personally, my answer would be no, nothing could happen to you, you won't be monitored and no one will give a toss.

[chris4stars]

"they" do easily have the resources to monitor such behaviour online etc, to come into a high risk catagory is something different altogether. it doesnt take away the fact that monitoring has gone on.

such things would never be used as evidence in court. it is just a flagging system that can point to indiviuals/groups/areas and give an idea to "them" where to start looking for intel. terrorism is tackled in a comparitively similar way to a a large illegal drups operation, involving months or longer of preparation and evidence gathering before anything (if anything is going to happen) is done about it.

alot of the stuff goes on right underneath our noses, and understandably almost noone really knows quite how much goes on.