The Facebook Conspiracy

Dont worry about it if they want to spend all there loose change, depleting there resources i.e. man power its quite simple really just dont leave anything incriminating on your p.c. and the jobs a good en scrahey.

I'm new to the site- tell me if I offend the ettiquite here!

I actually found out about ATS through someone on myspace and as a result the social networking site has gone up in my estimations. I use Facebook a fair deal more than the former now- but on both have different personal information.
For example, Myspace has my real name as Cath Smith, whereas Facebook has it as Kathy Smith etc. Both also have seperate e-mail accounts with equally false names. (Niether of these are actually used by me- reading this thread has made me even more paranoid)
This wasn't a specific intention of mine against the government- I get bored of my name quickly, and just feel a little bit less vunerable to people I would rather not be talking to on the internet! If the government really want to track me down, they'll trace everything from my computer somehow, I'm sure(I don't know how this would work but it's probably possible)... or, you know, come and ask me..?

I am not sure- joining this site really does put me right back into the ignorance I thought I was crawling slowly out from!

There isn't for anything I have stayed clear of sites like MySpace, Facebook and that #. It's not surprising at all that the Gov. or any other higher order are using this sites to their advantage and to spy on people.

Hell, I mean.. after MySpace and Facebook, who the hell need the FBI and CIA to spy on people? Just look'em up at MS og FB and you'll find enything about them.

People are so careless these days, posting almoust everything on the web. What better way to serve the dark forces then handeling over all your personal information to them on a silver platter?

It's just frigthening me to see people putting out all that private information for all to see without even giving it a second thought.


Edit: Context

[edit on 21-7-2008 by TopSecretArea]

Oh my god, the internet is used to get information from us!!!

I believe all of these social sites are used for data collecting on individuals. Just like the show "big brother", which used your own mobile phone against you when you "vote" to get an idea how your mind works.

Years ago (and you still see it) you'd see postcard sized entries for sweepstakes in your local deli, pizzeria, etc. "Win a time share" or "Win a car". These were data mining companies and the information mined all those years ago was added to "Lexus Nexus" and "Accurint" and other databases. These were used by law enforcement heavily as well as the media, lawyers, and later on anyone with a credit card.

Sounds like Facebook is the same thing only much more thorough and accurate.

You know what's really funny is the fact that I never really tell much of the truth on my Facebook or my MySpace. I do have my personal friends that I talk to on both sites and they know what I mean when I say such and such things. They see through what I'm saying and actually find the truth on both pages. But see, this did take a few years to develop and there's really no "code" to break there. So it really is funny when someone I don't know tries to contact me using everything I say on my page as a literal truth.

Kind of like when telemarketers call, try to sound like a friend and then mispronounce your name.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the likes of Facebook – all being a tad paranoid.

Just stick your profile on completely private – while this won’t stop your “government” and “CIA” seeing your details, it will stop general random people or future employers etc reading your information. So the only people who can read my info are the people I have allowed to.

I don’t understand the people who don’t have their profile on private?

If the government wants to look at my profile and gain access, go head – I’m not that interesting. But they would find much more info about me if the just look at their own sources (Passport, Health care, Drivers licence etc etc) rather than Facebook.

Mikey


[edit on 3/1/2009 by Mikey84]

I don't have my profile on private. I think that's a little on the paranoid end. If there's some bit of information you really don't want people to have, it's really simple: Don't put it on the internet.

See the thing is, even with your profile set to private, people can get in and see the info. It happened to me on MySpace a couple times before. So it really doesn't matter either way.

Watching this video and reading the post on ATS that basically transcribes it into a textual format made me interested in how people actually took this news and the level of paranoia that it generates. The thing that gets me is that, while a lot of responses dismiss the claims of this video by playing ostrich or simply not caring, no one has offered a counter-argument. Having done some study and personal reading in the areas discussed, I thought I would at least attempt to provide what I see as an alternvative explanation.

I see the links decribed as an extrapolation of the "revolving-door" relationship between government and enterprise. I will assume that most people reading this post understand to what I refer in this case. The ex-military is a teeming recruitment pool for Blackwater and other private security and CPP firms and on the top of the tree executives become bureaucrats and vice versa - Cheny, Carlyle, ad nauseum. The process happens throughout the Global North, not just in the US, although I will admit it seems that the movement back and forth is a much more publicised occurrence in the States, whereas in other countries it tends to be exit from civil serivce leads to employment in private enterprise in a related field. An extreme example of this is Police Officers in Japan retiring to jobs in private security for firms which are reputedly the fronts of the Yakuza. (For reference see Kattoulas, Far Eastern Economic Review, 17 Jan 2002)

I would argue that intellectual property and products and/or services that result from government contract or run concurrently with such contracts enjoy a similar living space. The public access to Facebook may be the sibling of technology developed for the intelligence community in the form of A-Space, a beta test that has outgrown its original purpose, or a knowing attempt to use a technology for commercial benefit as well as providing the intended product.

Mike McConnell (then DNI)talked about the need to bring the US intelligence community together after 9/11 gave the country a wake-up call. As well as noting that the centralisation of administration was a necessary step, he argues that greater collaboration was necessary to improve the overall effectiveness of the apparatus. The information sharing ability of social networking users is highlighted in Hart and Simon, who also share conclusions with McConnell regarding other problem areas facing the community. It is, however, the data mining capabilities of the facebook application that are perfect when you consider McConnell's statement that 'The U.S. intelligence community also needs to know where collection gaps exist, where it needs greater specific intelligence, and on what areas it is overly focused.' Other applications such as Intellipedia also have their roots in Web 2.0 dynamic content.

So from the other side of the coin, perhaps In-Q-Tel's product has been put to commerical use providing the piggies with another trough to put their snouts in, perhaps its being used as a pseudo-overt revenue source for the intelligence community, or maybe it really is some massive surveillance operation masked as an exciting, dynamic and benign communication tool. Perhaps, and I wouldn't be surprised if, it is all three. As many other people have pointed out in copious posts, the national security apparatus have many, many avenues, both overt and covert, for forming demographic databases and for surveillance of those of interest to them. Facebook is just another potential source. How do ATS members feel about "government acces to keys" as Bruce Schneier puts it, or subliminal channels in cryptography for the benefit of the NSA against foreign targets? I look forward to responses and hope to be debunked thoroughly. Most of this is conjecture!

reply to post by gforce811


S&F hope to scare some friends with this hehe and wtf 5 Flags and no stars for the OP come on

I think that anyone using a social networking site, blogs, forums, etc. should expect that the information can be collected. It's logical. As for FB. I do have an account, it's got very little information on it and it's mostly there so that I can monitor what friends are putting out there (i.e. pictures, videos, etc.) of me. I have not had any instances in which I've had to ask to have pictures removed (yet) but I watch nonetheless. Lol.