While I write this post I am acutely aware of the fact that my computer is being monitored by several agencies including The FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, MI6 and others.

I have nothing to hide, My wife and I are facing extradition to the USA and this type of monitoring is normal procedure.

What is worrying is that the USA are monitoring hundreds of thousands of computers in real time and most other email systems around the globe for key words.

What is of the most public interest is that anybody I am in contact with becomes under a similar scrutiny.

The US has been able to listen to your mobile phone even when off for 7 years and the technology they are using against terrorist is being used against people in countries all over the world. see link below from Fox News who O'Bama has lot's of bad things to say about. Maybe because they are not afraid of putting this clip on the news.

http://extradition.org.uk/fox-news-exposes-mobile-phone-eaves-dropping/?preview=true&preview_id=671&preview_nonce=00ed37f11a

INTRODUCTION TO MODULE

THE USA PATRIOT ACT, FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE
& CYBERSPACE PRIVACY[1]

INTRODUCTION

USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, USAPA), H.R. 3162, was passed on October 26, 2001. The bill is 342 pages long and amends over 15 different statutes. The legislation was written extremely quickly only five weeks passed between the introduction of the first draft of the act and its final passage into law.Creates authority to conduct searches and surveillance of foreign agents or foreign governments with the goal of gaining intelligence information.

There are several important differences between a FISA intercept order obtained under intelligence authority and an intercept order obtained under authority to investigate criminal matters. Most importantly:

(1) There is no probable cause requirement for a FISA search;

(2)There is no requirement of notice for a FISA search;

(3) The target of a FISA search cannot obtain discovery of the FISA court order application. As a result, the target of a FISA search cannot effectively challenge a wiretap or search conducted under FISA authority;� and

(4) Finally, FISA created a secret court--one comprised of a panel of federal judges whose hearings, decisions, and makeup are all secret. Moreover, once it obtains the intercept order, the government need not report back to the secret Court.

The above preview of the patriot act allows the USA to look inside your computer, Listen to your conversations, and break in to your home and search it even in Australia. Without any Warrant in Australia. The Admin Mr Young may already be seeing US government IP addresses visit these posts.

Dear BrianHowes,

I run Ubuntu Linux as my operating system on my computer. I have found it to be a very robust operating system, and for the low-level stuff I do on it, pretty quick on my old second-hand 'customised' Dell Optiplex GX240 machine.

Just in the last day or so I have noticed that even my text editor, in which I compose my posts, has been running as slow as a wet week. At the same time I have noticed a lot of hard drive activity, what with the little red LEDs flickering and the drives making those little sounds that drives do when somebody asks them to do something from the keyboard.

Do you think anybody could ask my drives to do things over the internet, Brian?

I don't particularly want to do the improper shutdown that I routinely get away with on my nice, free, NON-MICROSOFT, open source Ubuntu Linux OS, that I know would stop these little noises and lights on my computer from irritating me so much, so is there anything I can do to facilitate the uploading of my drive contents that I suspect your possible answer of 'Yes' may trigger my mind to speculate may be going on?

I use the real genuine Australian ISP, Internode, so I don't have to pay for upload traffic. I would have to pay, and have my ADSL throttled back because of the exceeding of my 12GB monthly bandwidth allowance, if I was still on 'India Calling' Bigpond Broadband.

Please, what should I do? Will stopping thinking help, do you think?

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Do you think anybody else could be trying to think what I might be going to think of next?

What should I do? I don't really think I have a bad attitude or anything. I would like to feel safe in my own headspace. Is there anything anyone can do about my drives? I want to be in control of my own thoughts.

From the innermost thoughts of Forrest Gumpp.

Forrest.

Wow Forrest,

Those little lights of hard drive activity are generally associated with programs starting or internet activity or even a remote connection, authorised or not.

It could also be because of a virus and keyboard logger used bu hackers and government agencies.

Of course Forrest no computer is secure on the internet and even harder to believe that even if not connected to the internet the computer can be manipulated.

Any computer can be manipulated from ober the internet to transmit what the person is doing on the computer or internet. your computer can also be used to transsmit information on tour hard drive to another location.

Even with a firewall and good ant virus programs this is still very possible.

Unfortunately if your system has been compromised by a third party the only real way to stop it is to cut your connection to the internet in the hope that will allow you to shut down and restart. This if your system is compromised will only last days at most if you are still being targeted.

Uploading and information to the internet is done via packets of information that is easily picked up during upload if the person or agency wants it.

Yes I am thinking what you are thinking, something I deal with every day of my life.

Yes it is likely that people would like to know what you are going to do or say next.

I am very sad to say Forrest that privacy is a thing that has gone and very few people even know it yet.

I have been working with computers since they were first invented and every time a computer is switched on it is available to certain people with the technology to view it, delete it or monitor it.

The only advice I can give is is to keep your anti virus up to date and your firewall and restart your computer as often as possible.

I hope I have been of help my friend.

Brian,

I look at like this, I'm doing my bit to bring down the evil Satan the US and its minions.

Details and tactics.

First my hard drives are full of so much conflicting/contradicting data.

Second, my somewhat idiosyncratic emails, constant anti 'the systems' and un-disguised derogatory attitude for the US as an entity (not the people per se). Did I mention my utter my contempt for 'feral Capitalism' as opposed to Capitalism as a servant of the people?

My clear tendency to challenge accepted dogmas and complete distrust of the cult of personality over policy.

Answering the phone to unwanted canvassing calls with
' Glory to god 'Chaos' Bomb making factory'
' Lashka atoiba (excuse spelling) retirement home for failed suicide bombers and social club.'
or simply answer the phone “ Uncle Osama is that you?” Or “the germ weapon is nearly ready no more US parasitic lackey capitalist political dogs.....”
Or in the middle of conversation saying “ Akmed...stick to the code on the telephone”

All these are to trigger words/phrases searching computers of Homeland security/CIA and the rest of the alphabet soup.

Given my past I'm sure that ASIO, ASIS, Defence Signals Directorate have files on me.

Reasoning,
All this would waste their time, effort and money if everyone did it they'd implode.
In some deep bunker somewhere an eaves dropping operative is going not so slowly mad, (sick pay, shrinks,Drs, drugs, cryptographers, facilities etc., more expense ) forced to listen 'just in case'.

The final part of the plan is the computer, and it's inherent unreliability ...simply run window and monkey around in the registry etc deleting embedded useless MS apps (plenty of them) causing bizarre actions. Thus if they or hackers can get find anything or get sense out of it which is more than me. (psst GIGO rules.) ;-)

Brian to warrant such attention you need to be under some concern to begin with. Sheer weight of numbers . “Evil thinks evil sees” if they want to see a plot they will (military paranoia). Best don't draw attention. :-)

Well I suppose if you're going to embark on an international campaign defending the interests of confessed and alleged paedophiles and alleged purveyors of precursor chemicals, you're bound to attract the attention of those agencies that are combating those reprehensible activities.

examinator

I don't understand jiberish,

Can you spell it out in English?

Are your saying that I must be evil to see something wrong in the world when surveillance of computers and phone calls and all other communication has became a matter of fact for some of us.

I am glad you are familiar with deleting registry entries from your computer. That will surely ensure you will not be getting monitored then, you think!

The UK Government has the ability to monitor all calls and internet activity and Billions has been spend on doing so. There was a public outcry and the project was said to be put on hold.

I do not think so! If the power of the government is extended to allow monitoring of everybody then the government will always know the opposition parties thoughts and ideas.

I have nothing to hide and just monitor connections to my computer although all can't be monitored.

You seem to attack what you do not understand. It is not just people that are always monitoring certain people or news media or political parties it is super computers as well.

It is accepted by most journalists that they are being monitored and even MP's correspondence are being monitored and shared and I will show evidence if needed. Wake up examinator.

Don't worry too much if you're running Ubuntu Linux, Forrest. One possible slowdown across the desktop maybe a software update, by default automatic, although you might find a more specific cause for the flashing lights if you open the System Monitor, in the SYSTEM -> ADMINISTRATION menu on Jaunty Jackalope and Karmic Koala.

Software updates will usually invoke a fairly active modem LED as well as HDD writing when download complete, and the occasional delay on mouse or kbd at times when the system is working at 100%.

One advantage of Linux/Ubuntu is that open-source operating system and updates are trustworthy because every piece of code in every program is freely available for all the World to see and change if they wish to. There is very little chance of secret squirrel business ala Redmond's XP/Vista/7 NTFS tactics. No viruses either.

Another advantage over M$ is the partition and directory setup. The documents, pictures, downloads, music and videos that you work with online, as well as the web browser bookmarks, history, cookies and whatever other fingerprints you key in are stored in your /home/forrest/Documents directory and the same for the others respectively. Only you and those with the admin permissions to sudo nautilus etc. can read your data. If the US forces really felt the urge to perv on you, then they would have to invade your home and seize your equipment, and go through your HDD from another Linux machine compatible with Ext3 or Ext4. This cannot be done without physically unplugging your HDD from the CPU and connecting it up to another machine that they have root access to.

With Linux, insecurity begins at the ISP, because the high school kid who answers the phone on weekends can go through everything you do through your modem.

Forrest was reassured by Seano's post about the relative security of his Ubuntu Linux, but was at the same time a little bit sheepish about admitting that he was still running the old Gutsy Gibbon, Ubuntu 7.10, on which the automatic updates had long ago been disabled.



Forrest was a very pedestrian user of his computer.



At first Forrest had devilish glee with the thought that somewhere, someone might have uploaded part of the contents of his hard drives. It would serve them right, Forrest thought, thinking that they could think the thoughts of Forrest Gumpp as thoughtfully as he himself thought them. "Think again", Forrest thought to all and sundry, wishing them luck in the circles in the spirals of the windmills of his mind. Forrest had thought well to download the 'Power without pride' thread when he had, months ago: it had been his, all his; now perhaps it was 'theirs', all 'theirs'. Forrest wished them luck. With any luck they would get a pain in the belly trying to digest that lot!



It was then that the latent meaning of the words of the old song hit Forrest like a ton of bricks.



"On a corner, by a porn shop, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania ....". Forrest couldn't remember any more of it, but what there was of it was more than enough.



Twitter! It could be anybody's undoing.



Twitter wasn't for twits as Pericles had proclaimed. It was an intelligence gathering tool for the US military-industrial-congressional complex, for sure. It just had to be! Forrest knew Twitter hadn't yet made much, if any, money, and wondered where in the US Defense budget its funding had been hidden. Suddenly, sick to the bottom of his stomach, Forrest realized how 'selected' twits could so easily be incriminated.

It was the porn.

It came on Twitter. Whether you wanted it or not. It came in the guise of 'followers'. If one was but moderately egotistical, one would tend to let them follow, as it built up one's score, rather than block them.

Mistake!

ForrestGumpp

Is right about Twitter being a US government ran.

There is a budget for such things: here is an example:

Report Reveals Chinese Threat to U.S. Technology
In 2007, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission reported that Chinese spying in America is the leading threat to American technology, especially through cyber attacks. The report recommended that lawmakers finance counterintelligence efforts to stop the Chinese from stealing US technology and manufacturing expertise, and it called for the US to work closely with China to promote energy security and deal with environmental problems such as climate change and pollution.

Report: China spies threaten U.S. technology (Associated Press)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/15/us.china.tech.ap/index.html

It has a 404 error becoming increasingly suspicious.

U.S. panel urges vigilance on China spying, cyber war (by Paul Eckert, Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1423827920071115?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&rpc=69

We can be thankful that Reuters link is still working as so many links to information the USA and UK governments do not want people to see are hidden by IP address blocking as with the Olympics in China by China or the information is removed or the file that gives the 404 error message.

Here is a link to how information is easily collected by the USDEA
http://cryptome.org/fbi-corrupt.htm

Here is more information related to US monitoring which is far more advanced than this report says.

http://www.unc.edu/courses/2009spring/law/357c/001/FBI/techniques.html

Before I post the techniques I am aware of, do you as OLO users think wholesale monitoring that extends to the whole world acceptable?

The FBI has quietly built a sophisticated, point-and-click surveillance system that performs instant wiretaps on almost any communications device, according to nearly a thousand pages of restricted documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The surveillance system, called DCSNet, for Digital Collection System Network, connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephony providers and cellular companies. It is far more intricately woven into the nation's telecom infrastructure than observers suspected.

It's a "comprehensive wiretap system that intercepts wire-line phones, cellular phones, SMS and push-to-talk systems," says Steven Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor and longtime surveillance expert.

DCSNet is a suite of software that collects, sifts and stores phone numbers, phone calls and text messages. The system directly connects FBI wiretapping outposts around the country to a far-reaching private communications network.

Many of the details of the system and its full capabilities were redacted from the documents acquired by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but they show that DCSNet includes at least three collection components, each running on Windows-based computers.

The $10 million DCS-3000 client, also known as Red Hook, handles pen-registers and trap-and-traces, a type of surveillance that collects signaling information -- primarily the numbers dialed from a telephone -- but no communications content. (Pen registers record outgoing calls; trap-and-traces record incoming calls.)

http://brianhowes.typepad.com/uk-us-unfair-extradition/2009/10/point-click-eavesdrop-how-the-fbi-wiretap-net-operates.html

More to the point I am making is that this is not limited to the USA but the who world.

If unchallenged there will be no privacy in your own family life, you could end up being prosecuted for visiting websites banned by the US or a fictional story you write on your computer about terrorism is the cause of an extradition request from the USA. Many more examples exist here that OLO members may wish to expand on.

Well it seems that posts are missing on this thread and others, which means that either the server had to use a backup of it's posts that was about 24 hours old or the posts have been removed for other reasons.

I am noticing not a lot of posting to this forum at the moment but certainly a lot of interest in looking.

I wonder if GY would please post here or on another thread what happened to the missing posts and the server?

I am just curious as to the background of the total loss of such a big forum that even political people post.

I know it will of been outside the control of the Administrator, but because I run several Blogs and Websites and Host my own Domain I would find it interesting and it may help myself and others stop getting the same problem.

I hope I am not being cheeky by asking Graham.

Interesting.

All communications, from email to Skype - are digital, which makes them by definition highly vulnerable to tracking, tracing and interception.

Forrest put his finger on it, as usual.

>>Twitter! It could be anybody's undoing. Twitter wasn't for twits as Pericles had proclaimed. It was an intelligence gathering tool for the US military-industrial-congressional complex, for sure.<<

An intelligence-gatherer's goldmine.

But there's a problem with volume.

Five billion tweets. Four billion of those in the last eleven months.

That should keep those guys in the green eyeshades busy, sorting out Osama's call to action from the philosphical musings of Ashton Kutcher.

Then they need to keep track of emails

247 billion per day

http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/iland/2009/08/8-email-statistics-to-use-at-parties.html

Let's assume that your analytic software is able to refine your investigations to eliminate 99.9% of dross from, say, 0.1% "items of interest".

That still leaves your team of analysts 247 million to get through every day. That's 10.3 million every hour, 24/7. If they worked 8 hour shifts, and were able to analyse and make a decision on, say 100 suspicious emails every hour - that's less than a minute each - you'd need a team of around 400,000 people.

But think of the job satisfaction.

Of course, that's only two avenues of opportunity. Osama is probably on Facebook somewhere, complete with his friends, all masquerading as thirteen-year-old girls and communicating their secret plans through detailed commentary on the latest Twilight movie.

Without a tweet or an email in sight. Track that, CIA.

And we haven't started on phone calls, text messages or surveillance cameras...

So I think that BrianHowes might be exaggerating the dangers a little.

>>do you as OLO users think wholesale monitoring that extends to the whole world acceptable?...If unchallenged there will be no privacy in your own family life<<

I think "family life" is quite safe, Brian.

The sheer volume of information that is flying around makes it literally impossible to extend surveillance to "the whole world".

Coupled, of course, with the obvious: if you really have something to hide, there are still a zillion ways you can do that.

To all OLO users,

I received this as a .pdf emailed to me from a trusted source. It is a warning issued by the Australian Federal Police. Below is its entire text.





PLEASE READ BELOW AND PASS ON AS
SOON AS POSSIBLE.
TREVOR SMALLWOOD
BRISBANE OFFICE
Tel +61(0) 7 32221347 Ext 17347 Fax +61(0) 7 32221219
http://www.afp.gov.au
PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE
Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment that
you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be able to fix it!
If you get an email along the lines of 'Osama Bin Laden Captured'
or 'Osama Hanged' don't open the attachment.
This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe .
Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:
You should be alert during the next days:
Do not open any message with an attached filed called
'Invitation' regardless of who sent it.
It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your
computer.
This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her
contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts.
It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.
If you receive a mail called 'invitation', though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut
down your computer immediately.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the
most destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind
of virus.
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information
is kept.

End of AFP Warning.
BTW I inserted the 'http://' in front of the AFP web address to make it into a link on OLO. That wasn't in the .pdf text.



Its moments like this I'm glad I run Ubuntu Linux. I think.

I wonder?

Forrest, that Osama bin Laden hoax e-mail has been around since at least 2004.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/osama.asp

I don't suppose you've phoned "Trevor Smallwood" of the AFP to establish the veracity of the spam e-mail you've reproduced?

Gullible?

Good to see someone has noticed, CJMorgan!

Yes, I was (yet again) shamelessly exploiting the 'Dick Smith' principle, that 'all publicity is good publicity, even bad publicity'! Dick's not a bad bloke, and one could do worse than to emulate him. And it was a slow Saturday afternoon.

I was, of course, quite sincere in my concern for all OLO'ers in republishing this, as it turns out, mischief. Better that than that one should protect one's reputation by hanging back and doing nothing, thought I to myself, thought I. I mean, that's such a politicianist-supremacist attitude, hanging back and doing nothing while protecting the reputation, isn't it?

So I went where few had trod before: to the Ubuntu Forums! Nowhere can one get a quicker answer. And did I not rapidly get edificated as to what was what re the "Olympic Torch" 'virus'. Behold: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1307356 I was even called a troll! Me, Forrest Gumpp! By golly, was it not fortuitous that I had a history upon that Forum that belied that claim! See: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4547019&postcount=95

It was all so very well presented in the .pdf. All complete with the 'inverted' Commonwealth star. And from such a trustworthy source. Yet I feel an inner glow of utter righteousness that I was prepared to smash the glass and press the button, so to speak. It was all good. And I already knew that, because I had already done it before, here and there. And will do it again if circumstances dictate!

For better or worse, I felt it was a very appropriate time to extoll the virtues of Ubuntu Linux, what with the Swiss FDFA having just found a (very heavy) 'trojan horse' in their proprietary OS, and OLO having had lots and lots of 'Server error' problems recently. I can assure you that mine is a very canonical viewpoint, in this respect.

BTW, I notice you haven't posted to the 'OLO pop-up survey' topic yet. Do you have any constructive ideas for OLO in this troubled time?

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3174&page=0

Forrest, I haven't participated in that thread because the 'pop-up' survey hasn't popped up for me yet. Clearly, it's a conspiracy.

Maybe I should take my tinfoil hat off.

CJMorgan,

Before this server was brought down by technical problems you called me Forrest's page boy.

Why do you feel so threatened by others having something more interesting to write about?

So much so that you resort to attacking by any means including libel and defamation against myself and others.

For me this forum serves little purpose when it may be gone even faster than it arrived with all history with it of all posts including your libel comments.

Repeating false accusations over and over again does not make them true.

I sit here while my wife is watching James Bond, My eldest Daughter 12 checking her Bebo farm and my other 3 girls in bed and my baby on her mother knee having her last feed as it is past 10PM.

Just to make it clear to you Morgan, you are the very type of person that ensures people do not get fair trials. If you were the head of any Jury I was being tried with, I would have no chance of being found not guilty.

Your mind is so closed to corruption or anything that you clearly do not understand you go on the attack rather than use reason.

I don't need you! you probably need me more. Maybe you never received a pop-up as the server is only programmed with people who have donated in the past.

Morgan can you repeat the allegations made against Forrest the night the server was taken over?

Morgan, I fear you will be fighting for the other side if internet war breaks out.

Wake up Morgan you might even be useful to the real arguments that you have evaded on my threads, but not in the near future.

Are you sure Morgan that it was just a technical problem that stopped the server from working? and only that?

Get it right, Brian - the term I used was "poster boy". As for the rest of your spray, I haven't libelled or defamed you. I've just posted some links to media reports about you and said that I think you're on the nose.

Save your breath for the judge, old chap. Meanwhile, would you like a tinfoil hat?

BrianHowes, in his post of Wednesday, 28 October 2009 at 10:53:57 PM, says:

"I am noticing not a lot of posting to this forum at the moment but certainly a lot of interest in looking."

On the basis that a substantial proportion of these interested viewers may be unfamiliar with the OLO Forum features, I offer a few tips on how to follow any particular discussion, as such can rapidly disappear from view if the default Forum display is all new viewer uses.

This link will take a viewer to the OLO home page, where new articles are first posted: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ . An article does not appear on the Articles Index page until it has attracted at least one comment. Some never do, but they are few. An indication of the degree of interest in any article is given in a display immediately (beyond the ads) below the list of 'Today's articles' on this page.

This link is to the OLO 'Discuss' page: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/display.asp?page=discuss . Bookmark this page as a convenient direct entry to the Forum; it will take you with one click to the 'Welcome to the Forum' page, where you may click to display either the Articles index page, or the General Discussions index page. General Discussions are started with a simple post, not from an article being first published.

The default index display is one in chronological order of article publication, or general discussion topic opening post. In the General Discussions index, topics are grouped under four headings, with the default display showing a maximum of five topics at any one time. The display can be altered to one in the order of recency of posting (one that many users prefer), by clicking the words 'Last post' at the top of the column listing. More than five topics per grouping can be displayed by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting from the 'Show (5) discussions per category' menu, then clicking 'display'.

For BrianHowes' topic 'Extradition without evidence ....', viewers can alternatively click this link:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3148&page=0#75076

Beware folks.

Everything's a conspiracy.

The FBI is after you.

Nobody is safe.

They're LOOKING at us.

The end is nigh.

Even those little pink fairies I see in the park every night are probably evil ASIO agents spying on me.

Heck, it's all driving me INSANE!

Just so you know that this forum incorporates the tracking and analyses system below. BY Brian.

NetRatings SiteCensus

How they describe themselves:
“

SiteCensus is a browser-based audience measurement tool that provides in-depth tracking and analysis of your Web site users, site performance and other critical measurement data. Examine your site performance, usage trends, content and product placement, visitor loyalty, search engine performance and visitor behavior. Analysis is delivered via concisely constructed reporting modules so that each important process can be researched independently and benchmarked internally.
“
Popularity:

Country:

Privacy Policy:

Privacy Contact:
http://www.nielsen-online.co... privacy@netratings.com
Application Owner:
The Nielsen Company

770 Broadway, 13th Fl.
New York, NY 10003

Website: http://www.nielsen-online.com

Oh Brian you're so right! It's just horrible, as we all know market research companies are just a thin cover for the FBI and ASIO to gather personal information about us in order to persecute us when the New World Order arrives. Be vigilant, be wary and remember they're LOOKING at us. Even last night I counted an extra little pink fairy in the park, and that pink fairy had a LAPTOP. I KNOW what she was doing .... SHE WAS SPYING ON YOU BRIAN. Keep up the good fight and remain forever vigilant ....... if we don't then the end is nigh.

not only am I shocked at the naïveté of the member I find it am incredulous at the lack of perception that the readers have as to the ABSOLUTE POWER te Australian government has to its INTRUSION AT WILL into the medium of internet.
So my advice to all you absolutely corrupt self opinionated Orzies is to cease and desist immediately otherwise colonel Klink will getcha an Schulz will know nothing

Well do ya think this one’s caused storm of controversy at my home.
Firstly I am anti drugs so that’s a no brainer, but I also anti government intrusion.
So no doubt my pc is being monitored, or at least a request from the Australian government is being processed to see what can be done about assessing my pc to monitor its opinion.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26319890-2682,00.html
So just in case e you think I am fooling here is link that doesn’t work anymore as far as the normal internet is concerned.
Again fairly harmless report but one that begs many questions into police procedures and the manner they are allowed to operate within our society.
To sum this up all I can say is lucky Howe’s isn’t being extradited to Australia because by the time it reported in the papers he will dead, nasty accident of course.
Ya right.

I'm having trouble submitting a new discussion topic.

When I first attempted to submit it I encountered a server error. So I went back, and tried again.

On the second try I encountered a message, 'Error. This thread has already been created. You cannot post it again.'. On going back to the posting pane I noticed a message at the top of the preview window asking me to review the content of the post.

This I did, ensuring that it was not in excess of the word limit. It should not have been by my count (I did not encounter any word-limit warning), and the post only contained one relatively short link. There was no profanity. Am I doing something wrong, or has the post in fact been received and awaiting moderator review before going up as a new topic?




Its proposed title was 'Public apology to Klaas Woldring'.





I reported the server error in a Twitter @reply to GrahamY when it first occurred at around Nov110547K.

Don't know where I stand re submission of this new topic.

Forrest Gumpp: "he was still running the old Gutsy Gibbon, Ubuntu 7.10, on which the automatic updates had long ago been disabled."

Forrest, how daringly naughty of you!

On a more serious note, here is something for the tin foil hat brigade - or the floppy cloth hat brigade even.

A few years ago WA Transport introduced a new ticketing system that covers all public transport - buses, trains, etc, etc called "SmartRider". Sort of like our "govia" toll card but for personal travel. It works in much the same way. You send in your name, address, birthday, credit card and 1/2 a pound of flesh and you get a SmartRider card which you then have to swipe every time you get on and off public transport. Apparently it all works very well, and it even has its own Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartRider

Here is a quote from that page: "The police have the potential to use SmartRider card data as an investigative tool"

How does that work? Well every time you use the card it gets sent back in real time to WA Transport. Since the card is uniquely tied to you, this means WA Transport knows everywhere you go, and when. In fact everyone with access to that database knows everywhere you went, and when.

The only problem with the Wikipedia page is it is a little out of date. The police already use the database to track people:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/6475151/police-using-smartrider-to-track-people/

In fact the clever little blighter's have even figured out a way do that even if you don't use a SmartRider card. You see, every place you can use a normal ticket has a camera focused on the user. A normal ticket also has a unique ID, which is transmitted back to base on every use. So once they have found you once, if you use a weekly they know you entire weeks movements.

Aren't today's computer systems just neat?