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FBI Using Social Media, E-Commerce Sites to Track Down Suspects (Including Non-Lawbreakers)

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday June 23 2020, @05:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the using-all-available-resources dept.

chromas writes:

So Much For Going Dark: FBI Using Social Media, E-Commerce Sites To Track Down Suspects (Including Non-Lawbreakers):

You know the drill, right? The FBI keeps insisting that it has a "going dark" problem due to encryption making it impossible to access key evidence of supposedly criminal behavior, in theory allowing crime to happen without recourse. The problem, though, is that nearly every single bit of this claim is false. It's kind of stunning.

  • It appears that, in practice, the FBI almost never runs into encryption.
  • In the rare cases where it has (and we don't know how many because since the FBI admitted it over exaggerated how many "locked" devices it had, and then has since refused to provide an updated count), there do appear to be ways to get into those devices anyway.
  • But the key issue, by far, is that the opposite of going dark is happening. Thanks to our increasingly electronic lives, the government actually has way more access to information than ever before.

Two recent articles highlight this in practice, with regards to the FBI trying to track down the rare cases of criminal activity happening around some of the protests.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2020, @11:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2020, @11:56PM (#1011768)

    My excuse: I "own" some things. Things that are easily taken from me by nothing more than a stroke of a pen. Men with guns will enforce if needed.

    I am seeing more and more the wisdom of not fighting battles I can't win.

    Nowhere left to run to get away from the takers of things. I am really pondering about whether I am really happier trying to work, or should I just get on the dole and get paid to not cause trouble.

    There are those who own things and "earn" rent. That's good. Then there are those who prostitute their bodies. Ok, but risky. Then, there are those who prostitute the labors of their hands and minds. Those should be taxed into Oblivion. We can always import stuff from other countries, as we have the ability to pay by "extending the debt ceiling". And hire H1-B.

    While our idle pillage the street. While their welfare checks still arrive, thanks to the tax imposed on the people who still prostitute the labors of their hands and minds. You know, useless people like farmers, miners, factory workers, food service people, shopkeepers, engineers, builders. These have simply got to go. Do your best to discourage them. Way overcomplicated tax forms is a great way to make one reconsider if it's really even worth it to try to earn a wage. Compel them to have to get professional help if they involve themselves with employers.

    If you believe this, you can get elected to Congress.

    They are full of people who think just like you do.