STOP what you're doing and read this.

[BAL]

http://animalnewyork.com/2012/02/the-de ... ese-words/

Unbelievable. I picture a room full of governmental agents staring at their
monitors going thru facebook \ twitter etc searching for these words and
then Mohammad and Abdullah walk up with a bomb duct-taped to their
chest and ask for directions to the main office and several people don't
even look up from their monitors and simply point down the hall to HQ.

[rosconey]

some kids from england were detained and then sent back because they said on twitter they were going to blow america up-british slang for party hard

[NYRich]

What you're picturing isn't so far fetched. Latest word is that New York City will soon be under constant surveillance by drone aircraft. This, in addition to the thousands of street cameras already in place. Anti-terrorism is one thing, but I don't recall giving the government carte blanche to spy on me.

If you've never watched "Person of Interest", you really should. Whether or not such technology exists is anyone's guess, but I wouldn't entirely rule it out.

Why anyone would put their lives on display in places like Facebook or feel the need to "tweet" every time they pick their nose baffles me beyond belief. This whole "social networking" phenomenon pretty much invites stalkers, be it the government or the perv down the street, right into your living room.

I know that we're not supposed to get all political here, but this kind of stuff really burns my butt.

[ChrisR]

Thing is, when the politicians said they'd "make the world a safer place" this is what they meant ... whereas ordinary people thought they'd be out there catching terrorists. I'm just wondering how "safe" people will let their world get (with the same real-world level of risk as 50 years ago) before they stand up and say "enough!".

The levels of day-to-day risk for the average individual westerner have never been all that high - outside periods of world war. But the politicians bring in more and more draconian laws to shave off 0.01% off the risk level. Over here the roads have never been safer ... most cars now have lower emissions, air-bags, ABS, crumble protection, pedestrian protection ... you name it ... and they still drop the speed limits by 10mph every few years. It won't take much more before we're all driving at 10mph in the cities. :rolleyes:

[rosconey]

mass paranoia sells-

whats was the jefferson quote about giving up freedom for safety-in the end you have neither

[Evil D]

There's a good chance that they also monitor who's looking at that site of words they monitor lol.

[The Deacon]

I've never used Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site, so nothing for me to worry about there. Of course I would not be terribly surprised to learn they monitor this and others forums or email for certain words and phrases. I was given a piece of advice when I first got online, "don't send anything in an email, or post on a message board, that you wouldn't write on a postcard".

[Sequimite]

This is pretty old news. 6-8 years ago we found out that government computers sort through every e-mail sent by anyone in the world looking for patterns. Everything on the internet is being screened.

I think the increased surveillance stinks, but at least government agents around the world are also being watched with videos on the internet of their wrongdoing.

It is bizarre that at the safest time in human history so many are frightened enough to give up their rights. Our fellow citizens are also losing touch with reality by spending too much time in front of electronic screens that cater to their fears and paranoia.

[jackburton9807]

Hey guys, no need to worry. The nature of my job (nothing fancy, just teach a lot of HAZMAT/WMD/bomb stuff) requires me to email half of this stuff all the time. If this is true; they're too busy reading my stuff to worry about much else.

Jeff

[BAL]

I don't mean to offend anyone, I live my life a certain way and don't care for anyone to tell me how to
live it, therefore I am not going to stick my nose in anyone else business. However, I don't understand
the facination with twitter / facebook craze and all of that. I have my opinions and they are rather
strong, so I won't head down that road, but I don't want anyone to know anything about what I am
doing from one minute to the next and seriously, why in the **** would anyone care what you are doing.

This forum is as close to that as I have ever been. I lurked for a long time because of that, and finally
felt quilty for spying on everyone's opinions, so I joined in. However, forums like this draw in people
with similar tastes and at least one main common bond.

Some day soon, there will start to be a series of severe ramifications for some who share there every
breath with everyone. If people know where you are, they also know where you aren't and know a
multitude of things about you, that you probably don't realize rhat you are putting out there.

Ok, I'm done (for now).

[NYRich]

I don't mean to offend anyone, I live my life a certain way and don't care for anyone to tell me how to
live it, therefore I am not going to stick my nose in anyone else business. However, I don't understand
the facination with twitter / facebook craze and all of that. I have my opinions and they are rather
strong, so I won't head down that road, but I don't want anyone to know anything about what I am
doing from one minute to the next and seriously, why in the **** would anyone care what you are doing.

This forum is as close to that as I have ever been. I lurked for a long time because of that, and finally
felt quilty for spying on everyone's opinions, so I joined in. However, forums like this draw in people
with similar tastes and at least one main common bond.

Some day soon, there will start to be a series of severe ramifications for some who share there every
breath with everyone. If people know where you are, they also know where you aren't and know a
multitude of things about you, that you probably don't realize rhat you are putting out there.

Ok, I'm done (for now).

You're absolutely right. I just don't see the point of something like Facebook and talked both my daughters into closing their accounts. I probably scared the **** out of them when I asked why they would post details about their children where any perv with an Internet connection would read about them. One daughter was also mentioning details regarding her husband, who is currently stationed in Afghanistan, for which I really tore into her. Subtlety is not one of my strong suits.

Twitter is totally beyond my ability to understand. My life is way too boring for anyone with a life of their own to follow minute by minute and I really don't care if some movie star or ballplayer is suffering from constipation. Some things are simply better left unsaid, which probably includes about 99% of what is "tweeted".

I've probably posted things here and on other forums that, if pieced together, would provide a pretty clear picture of my political beliefs. Maybe It's naive of me, but I still believe that this is a democracy and that I have the right to express my opinions which, like yours, tend to be strong at times. If some guys in black suits show up at my door I'll deal with it. Apologies to Sal if some of my political rants have been over the top. Not that anything has been mentioned to me about it, but I'll try to "police" myself going forward.

[ChrisR]

Personally I have no problem with Facebook ... it's actually an extremely useful tool for networking and maintaining contact with family & friends. Without Facebook I wouldn't have been able to build the links I now have. The problems come with misuse of Facebook by people who don't understand it and who post unguarded comments. If you don't want the general public to read your story or see your photo then don't post it or restrict the privacy access. If you have something private to say then use email or send a letter :)

I restrict general access to just my friends and I can decide exactly which photo or stories I want different groups of people to read. I don't put any really private information out there - only things that are public knowledge and trivia.

[Sequimite]

I don't understand the facination with twitter / facebook craze and all of that.

I'm on Facebook several times a week and it is a fabulous tool.

I spent a visit with my father scanning old family photos, some going back to the nineteenth century, birth certificates, death certificates, etc. I burned CDs for my four siblings which they promptly lost. Rather than burn a new set, I opened a Facebook account and posted them all there. My siblings, nieces and nephews can see them whenever they wish and leave their own remembrances.

[SMI]

I'm amazed the **** people put up on facebook. "Here is my new house, pictures of every room, the entrances, the exits... here is where I keep my valuables.... here is my address." Not to mention the metadata on pictures uploaded from their phones. If I was a criminal, I could make a really good living off facebook.

[SMI]

I restrict general access to just my friends and I can decide exactly which photo or stories I want different groups of people to read. I don't put any really private information out there - only things that are public knowledge and trivia.

Just remember facebooks code isn't the best. There are ways around all those privacy settings. Best advice is just not to put anything you wouldn't want the entire world to see up there.

Twitter is totally beyond my ability to understand. My life is way too boring for anyone with a life of their own to follow minute by minute and I really don't care if some movie star or ballplayer is suffering from constipation.

Ha, well you said it yourself. Your life is boring, which is why most people follow other peoples twitters :) . A lot of people would rather live vicariously through others rather than living their own lives. But I'm with you, twitter is a massive waste of time... however to this day I wish I invented it.

[Minibear453]

I'm going to have so much fun putting random keywords in my innocent posts. :D

[Waffle]

Facebook used to be exclusive to people who were students. At one point the only way you could sign up was with a school e-mail address. That has since changed, obviously. I am not a facebook user nor do I wish to be. There is a lot of drama and immaturity that comes along with it. I'd rather not waste my time on such garbage. I agree facebook can be a useful tool for networking and keeping in touch with family/friends. For most people, facebook consumes them. People probably spend more time on facebook than they do actually working their jobs(I might be exaggerating slightly). It's big with the young crowd. Teenagers.. people in their 20's. It's a big popularity contest.

[w3tnz]

Deleted my facebook account a few months ago, best thing ive ever done. All it is, is a mass marketing tool, and quite frankly I dont trust them enough to have the kind of information they gather, I dont like google's new "anti" privacy policy either. My G+ account got deleted too. Sure its a good way to stay in touch with friends etc, but the really important people in your life will get in touch other ways, in person, phone, skype etc. I got sick of hearing about what such and such from primary school had for lunch.

[razorsharp]

eh, havent used face book in months, but have visited it once a week, I get loads of notifications........all invites to games, and the statuses are always stupid, dont really like it. i really only go on there incase there is a semi important PM

[Zenith]

I use facebook, to get in contact with friends. But if I post once every 2 weeks, its a lot. Jeff Randall from ESEE knives wrote a heck of an article warning against spilling every detail and making yourself a target for criminals etc.

Heck, some of my friends don't shut up on facebook and I can't help but think they are making themselves a target.

For excample. Posting that you are going to a certain theatre/mall for the next 2 hours opens up your house to robbers, yourself to an ambush.

In South Africa there is a 'facebook rapist'.

I don't really like to comment on the government thing, IMO, the best protection is to arm the inocent. Can you imagine a terrorist stood up and said 'we are hijacking this plain' and 120 glocks came out in response? Shortest hijack attempt ever. There are a bunch of social theories etc I know of that say I am wrong, but heck, we have tried it all and it has failed.