Do You Want Your Searches Monitored?

[Renegade]

Well, more police-state nonsense:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/could-google-have-caught-the-norway-killer-20110728-1i17r.html?from=smh_sb

Speaking to the website, Charles Sturt University computer science lecturer Craig Wright said he expected people in European countries to call for search engines to monitor user behaviour as a result of the attacks.

...

Nigel Phair, a former Australian Federal Police officer who is now a private security consultant, said real-time monitoring of search queries would be a welcomed "additional intelligence tool for national security agencies". Google could theoretically be a "good citizen" and report users it has identified as potentially high risk.

It seems like every tragedy is an excuse to tighten the noose of control in the modern western police state.

Oh, and by the way, since 76 people were murdered in Norway 6 days ago, almost 90,000 children under 5 have starved to death. Just to put a little perspective on things...

[tomos]

Oh, and by the way, since 76 people were murdered in Norway 6 days ago, almost 90,000 children under 5 have starved to death. Just to put a little perspective on things...

...there's really no need to put perspective on this Renegade: it is good that you make us aware of what's going on in the world and I understand that you are upset about the media coverage imbalance and the reactions you quote.

But if you were related to any of those people, or if you were closer geographically, you wouldnt want to hear this.
Neither is on. Hunger or murder. No need to compare imo.

[vlastimil]

It seems like every tragedy is an excuse to tighten the noose of control in the modern western police state.

Politicians are happy when they can play it safe and responsible and gain another bit of power in the process.

I am ashamed of the European governments. The situation in Lybia and Somalia are another examples of how effectively can we "help".

[nosh]

I'm always torn when it comes to these issues. It sucks having big brother breathing down your neck. OTOH, I also can't stand libtards whining about security checks. We live in f#ed up times, there's no perfect solution.

[Renegade]

Oh, and by the way, since 76 people were murdered in Norway 6 days ago, almost 90,000 children under 5 have starved to death. Just to put a little perspective on things...

...there's really no need to put perspective on this Renegade: it is good that you make us aware of what's going on in the world and I understand that you are upset about the media coverage imbalance and the reactions you quote.

But if you were related to any of those people, or if you were closer geographically, you wouldnt want to hear this.
Neither is on. Hunger or murder. No need to compare imo.

Off topic

I knew that was coming at some point. And to some degree I deserve a tongue lashing for it.

And you're right. It's not a fair comparison at all. It's something that we're simply going to be in disagreement on.

But knowing people isn't going to change my perspective. In other news, 44 people were killed in floods in Korea where I have a lot of friends. And 15,000 kids starved to death today.

I'm going to hammer on the "media tragedy hype" with the non-news-worthy starvation deaths of kids under 5.

I'm always torn when it comes to these issues. It sucks having big brother breathing down your neck. OTOH, I also can't stand libtards whining about security checkups. We live in f#ed up times, there's no perfect solution.

It is a hard issue. But surveillance on everyone won't solve anything. It's hard to know who the bad guys are until things go south. But any determined bad guy can use SSL, VPNs, encryption, proxies and other measures to conceal their tracks. So is it worth spying on everyone? I rather doubt it. It's all too easy for good intentions to lead to bad places.

[Stoic Joker]

Be yourself, in the comfort and privacy of your own home ... Just as long as it falls within the guidelines of the societal "norm", As defined by... ??? ...Otherwise you'll be brought in for questioning to explain your actions/intentions.

...So this is how democracy dies, to thunderous applause?? [Yes, a Star Wars quote]


Those who would give up liberty for security deserve neither.

[tomos]

Thanks for the response Renegade

On-topic:
Wouldnt the first search then be:
> how do I search anonymously?

Immediate arrest please !!

[Stoic Joker]

Wouldnt the first search then be:
> how do I search anonymously?

Immediate arrest please !!

Much as I'd like to laugh, I can't ... Because that is exactly where this is heading.

[Renegade]

On-topic:
Wouldnt the first search then be:
> how do I search anonymously?

Immediate arrest please !!

Pretty much... That's where it could head.

On the autocompletion topic:

[attachimg=#]

It's popular enough for autocompletion! And it has lots of results!

About 19,000,000 results (0.20 seconds)

And from what I understand, it's also illegal in the US. Not sure about other countries though.

[tomos]

well,
I just heard some commonsense spoken in the radio news by some Europol person (European international police) saying that basically if this kind of thing was implemented the perpetrator would simply work around it....

(dont know was that a spokesperson or not)

[Stoic Joker]

I just heard some commonsense spoken in the radio news by some Europol person (European international police) saying that basically if this kind of thing was implemented the perpetrator would simply work around it....

Yepper, Break the primary target down into vaguely related subcomponent topics, and then re-associate/assemble them later (off line) in your head. I do exactly that all the time when looking for source code. Can anyone tell what I'm coding from the searches I do/did? No. But that has zero impact on my ability to get the project done.

Hell from a search perspective; the only difference between a tourist, and a terrorist ... Is only one of them has a fuse sticking out of their fanny-pack. Otherwise the'll both be looking for pretty much the same shit.

[Renegade]

well,
I just heard some commonsense spoken in the radio news by some Europol person (European international police) saying that basically if this kind of thing was implemented the perpetrator would simply work around it....

(dont know was that a spokesperson or not)

SSL, VPNs, proxies... It's not hard to get around. They'd only end up persecuting regular people.

[J-Mac]

So what security is gained by monitoring everyone's internet searches? Another example of what Bruce Schneier calls "security theater". Looks like it could possibly add to security but in reality does nothing but waste a lot of money. Terrorists aren't caught by invading the entire population's privacy! Terrorists are caught the way they have always been: with good, solid targeted intelligence and investigative work. Monitoring everyone everywhere is completely unworkable - who the hell is checking ALL searches? What, through filters? Useless. Look at every instance of terrorist caught since 2001 and tell me how many were due to mass monitoring. Zero. Plus here in the US the mass privacy intrusions are being used more for lesser crimes rather than terrorism. Which is probably why the internet search monitoring is proposed more so than preventing another act of terror.

Jim

[zridling]

What's also sad is how boring criminal investigation has become. Search the computer, examine phone records, GPS locations, CCTV recordings, Highway/intersection camera tracking, etc. I don't do anything wrong or illegal, but we all know that's not enough to keep you from being "detained" indefinitely in the US. If I think about it for more than five minutes, I get screaming mad and need a fistful of sleeping pills just to calm down. Point is, everything we do can be monitored after the fact, and many times, during. It's no wonder I live a desperately quiet life.

[KynloStephen66515]

lol. I can imagine what is going to happen if the likes of Google and Bing start monitoring all searches by its users...Domains like piratesearch.com will start popping up!


On a better note:

Forums that usually use terms like "JFGI (Just F***ing Google It)" will maybe start answering questions instead!

[kyrathaba]

I think that what we're dealing with here is a parallel of the gun-law debate.  My father, a staunch supporter of the NRA, repeats one of their favorite slogans often, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns...".  Seems to me that this is in a similar vein.  A whole lot of effort is going to be spent applying ridiculously expensive (and relatively ineffectual) blanket strategies, rather than surgically precise measures to protect the general populace.