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Comments:
yd - 2005-02-11 09:27:25 I already know you wish to remain anonymous and I wouldn't dream of outing any people, as opposed to government agencies, on this blog without their permission. In addition, most of the info is local server info--which doesn't tell me who's using the server; could be anyone. I've tried to make it clear that I take pains to ask people's permission to post stuff when they email things to me, instead of just throwing it up there. And I must not be savvy, since I don't have the slightest idea who you are. * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-11 09:40:05 I wonder if there is an automatic search that picked up something posted on your page...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 09:43:21 I hope that's the explanation. But what triggered it? Is this Saturday's Bunny Brunch cover for a covert operation?* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-11 09:45:45 You had a lot of posts with the name "Cheney"...* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-11 09:46:49 also, it could be finding random words from various posts -- maybe at some point someone used the word "kill" in one post, and the name of US leaders in another (now I'm getting paranoid! I mean no harm, really!).* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 09:59:51 Looks like it's igpay atinlay imetay. Say, did anyone see pictures of GWB speaking in Detroit? I thought he looked great. Nice haircut, neat-looking suit, confident bearing. Yes sir, he looked great. Greater than great. As befits the widely admired leader of our great nation. Yessiree.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-02-11 10:15:27 Yes, Our President looked wonderful. And why shouldn't he? Everything is right on track. Yep, right on track. See all you straight partriots in church on Sunday, okay?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 10:19:59Sure thing! I'll save ya a pew.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-02-11 10:38:54 My pitiful pages often receive visits from .mil servers. Although I know that some of them are sinister homelandspies, I hope that the searcher last month for "skidmarks+underwear+removal" was a lonely soldier sitting at night with a laptop snug in his/her lap. The ranks of "Privates" stir imagination.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 10:52:57 "Often"? Good heavens. You have to wonder how many blogs they're watching. And why.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-11 11:04:15 Mr. President, Can I say how glad I am that you are spending my money searching blogs? Thank you Mr. President. I decided not to even file a tax return this year because I just want you to have the money. Feel free to keep spending in Iraq, and if you see fit, throw some cash at Korea and Iran. Thanks, love you, Anna.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 11:10:51 Talk about a cushy job--the blog detail. What are they doing, filling out checklists? "Mentioned President in positive light...check." "Dwelled with excessive detail upon the Conet Project...check."* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-02-11 14:45:15 Last month .mil>visitors came to XRAY pages from the Camp Lejune hospital and several Air Force locations, among other agencies. The three most interesting hits were from: The Chemical Materials Agency at the Pine Bluff Arsenal The Community Involvement Tracking System at Nellis AF Base and gladiator.whmo.mil, the Whitehouse Military Office * * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-02-11 14:46:34 oops fixed?* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-02-11 15:01:09 You know, visits from these domanins seem a bit sinister (and possibly they are), but I wonder if the more likely explantion isn't bored gov't workers and military folks simply surfing the net. Or maybe I'm not as paranoid as I truly should be?* * * * * * * * * * * * Iss - 2005-02-11 15:11:55There have been several stories in Newsweek, et.al., that Blogs are the next CNBC or CNN, as they are that much more immediate, far-reaching and investigative. (a la Dan Rather, busted by bloggers). I think you can be assured that you are being watched. Don't you think there is a national budget for 'blog awareness'?* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-02-11 15:14:24 Many of them are common. They've been spidering thru the Web for a while. They look for words and phrases of interest. Many I've searched appear in many Web statistics pages. Some are easy to track back, others more difficult and secretive. For the most part, they aren't people. The spiders and crawlers report to people.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 16:59:44 Iss: blogs are also uncensored. Comparing them to other media in general, there's no ad department putting pressure on editorial. There's no right-wing nutjob at the top leaning on a left-wing expose. Of course, there's no circulation, either, but there you go.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-02-11 17:16:50 I guess I was talking more about these specific instances, than monitoring in general. My thinking was that these instances were likely causal passes because the people truly charged with domestic surveillance would have the ability to mask their server names, domains and IP addresses, and you'd never know you were being monitored. And here's another wrinkle: while the gov. may be yet still be somewhat limited (although not for long) in the sorts of surveillance they can conduct, so far as I know, there's nothing preventing them from purchasing information from the enormous commercial databases out there. In fact, if you think about it, this is the perfect solution for those with a certain ideology. Corporate America profits, and the gov. has access to a huge cache of demographic info. about you, how much you make, how much you save, where you spend your money, etc. All of this information is like having 1000 gumshoes on the case. They can trail you passively through your money. And yes, web stats culled by spiders and crawlers are generated, consumed, and stored by the terabyte each day. And a big part of web stats is "keywords," which can be collected passively to ascertain the most popular. Or, you can flag certain words to track where, when and by whom they are used. So, they really are watching. All of them... * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-11 19:21:01Dan, you raise some good points as usual. Indeed it's true that the sort of agency with the resources to surveil could conceivably easily mask their server data. On the other hand.... The most powerful people in such agencies and in this country in general are of the boomer generation and older. They never grew up with this technology, they are not in general bloggers, and it's conceivable that the tiny detail that server origin data can be seen because of some blogs' statistics setup may have escaped them entirely. Just look at how some people, many of them around my age, in this thread were surprised to learn that. Or maybe the agency outsourced the setup of their spiders to some whiz kid and are oblivious to the fact that their server data can be seen. Or maybe they want it to be seen.* * * * * * * * * * * * farlane - 2005-02-11 19:40:30 I have to agree with you Dan that the real spooks would seem to have a lot of spooky tech at their disposal. A truly unfortunate side effect of the Information Age is that the data a governmental entity can gather is increasingly limited only by its will to gather it. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-12 10:01:25 Indeed it is. One reason why I use my credit card as infrequently as possible.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-02-12 18:30:53 I'm still cranky. Want to know what really pisses me off? Supermarkets with "discount" cards that have to be swiped so that you can get reasonable prices for things like produce. Has this phenomenon made it to Michigan yet? If I don't want to pay 2.00 lb for broccoli, I have to submit to having the grocery store monitor and record everything I buy. It seems like extortion to me.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-02-12 19:16:14 Oh yes indeedy, every store I know here has 'em. The trick? Fill out an application with a fake name. Yes, they'll still be able to make their pie charts of broccoli purchases, but they'll never be able to track it to you (unless you pay with a check). I give myself an allowance at the beginning of the week and try to pay in cash as often as possible (just spent the last of it at the Cross Street bookstore so no champagne costume balls tomorrow).* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |