I was saddened to hear that two individuals who released fur animals and vandalized fur farms across America were busted: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/fbi-arrests-activists-accused-of-releasing-mink/article_6c169b5d-dbbc-5dd1-adb0-534ee46af88b.html
But the arrest is sort of beside the point and there are two interesting tidbits in there. First and less interesting, is the ridiculous charge of terrorism under the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act" -- seriously, what they did is just plain old crime. Before you know it, going 10 over on the freeway will be considered an act of terrorism.
More intriguing, despite a lack of details on how they got busted, is this tidbit:
The indictment states that they covered their tracks by avoiding phones or logging into known online accounts and email. Instead, they used public Internet computers and encrypted email and cash for purchases while traveling. They would allegedly withdraw hundreds of dollars while back home in the San Francisco Bay Area before another trip.
The FBI states that they drafted communiques and posted them online to publicize their actions on websites associated with "animal rights extremists."
I'm going to guess automatic license plate readers were involved. Pure guess.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday July 27 2015, @11:13PM
Yep I do. The mink breed and heavily predate other species, of which some are endangered. Hey, these aren't my tactics. I was just objecting to the attitudes of people who aren't willing to accept humans breeding and confining animals to kill them raises ethical issues. I was objecting to people like you who say they're glad these protesters were caught, hope they rot, etc. Do I think some of their actions may be misguided? Sure. Do I think they have good intentions and are getting people talking about a serious issue? Yeah.
It would be best off really if the released mink were neutered / spayed where their large numbers are upsetting the ecosystem.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?