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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2010 00:25 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2010 00:25 |
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A draft US Army intelligence report has identified the popular micro-blogging service Twitter, Global Positioning System maps and voice-changing software as potential terrorist tools. The report by the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, posted on the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), examines a number of mobile and web technologies and their potential uses by militants. The posting of the report on the FAS site was reported on Friday by Wired magazine contributing editor Noah Shachtman on his national security blog Danger Room at wired.com. The report is not based on clandestine reporting but drawn from open source intelligence known as OSINT. A chapter on "Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter" notes that Twitter members sent out messages, known as "Tweets," reporting the July Los Angeles earthquake faster than news outlets and activists at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis used it to provide information on police movements. "Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences," the report said. Hacktivists refers to politically motivated computer hackers. "Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives," the report said. "Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance," it said. "This could theoretically be combined with targeting."  CONTINUES BELOW The report outlined scenarios in which militants could make use of Twitter, combined with such programs as Google Maps or cellphone pictures or video, to carry out an ambush or detonate explosives. "Terrorists could theoretically use Twitter social networking in the US as an operation tool," it said. "However, it is unclear whether that same theoretical tool would be available to terrorists in other countries and to what extent." Besides Twitter, the report examined the potential use by militants of Global Positioning Systems and other technologies. "GPS cell phone service could be used by our adversaries for travel plans, surveillance and targeting," it said, noting that just such uses have been discussed in pro-al-Qaeda forums along with the use of voice-changing software. "Terrorists may or may not be using voice-changing software but it should be of open source interest that online terrorist and/or terrorist enthusiasts are discussing it," the report said. - AFP TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
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Here we go again. The military 'enemies list' that groups humans rights groups, vegetarians , and 'religious communities' (are we talking monks and nuns? The Quakers? The Amish?...) with atheists, communists and anarchists is appalling not least for its logical fallacy! The 'list' includes pairs of opposites! That fact alone demonstrates that the technology is neutral. What in the name of all that's sane has the US Army got against 'vegetarians'? Or 'political enthusiasts'? Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the US was founded by a group of 'political enthusiasts' whose objective was to establish a form of governance based on the premise that humans HAVE rights. A few of those founding 'fathers' (Thomas Paine, for example) were atheists. Jefferson was a vegetarian in later life. They used the technology of the day--the printing press--to 'communicate with each other and send messages to broader audiences'. Had they not done so, the US would not exist. Hence, the US Army would not exist.
"Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives," the report said.
Ni shit, Sherlock! Yes, any technology can be used by terrorists. However, that same technology is used by millions of ordinary people every day for totally innocent purposes.
So what is the point of the US Army's 'study' of Twitter and the GPS technology? That they should be restricted to military and CIA uses? That those on the list should be denied access to the internet?
Censorship result in innovative ways to communicate 'subversive' points of view. Just ask Tannie Evita. Military paranoia would be funny ---if it weren't so dangerous...