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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recollect a description of the "inspectors" was given for any of the aforementioned locations. If it were ME types, it would not be mentioned or noted because that would be PROFILING, and you know that could lead to lawsuits and fingerpointing. Move along and don't ask questions of those "officials" who can't arrest those purveyors of "dry runs" until the actual run happens.
Thank you sweet lady for the salmonella info and all of the informative links you do for us. What a pretty flower you sent Myrradin (while I am out pulling weeds on my daffodil hill).
What kind of lawmakers do we have who permit this? What priority / importance do they place on protecting America and Americans? Not much according to this!
Cyberspace Vigilantes
Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:38:12 -0500Summary:
Cyberspace vigilantes dismantle websites they see as threatening, especially Islamic radical sites. By alerting supporters, they hack attack a company hosting site, forcing it to close down a targeted domain.
[Posted By euroforex]
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Republished from Washington Post
Are they a threat to the Internet's Freedom of Speech?
CARBONDALE, Ill.—A. Aaron Weisburd slogged up to his attic at 5 a.m. to begin another day combing through tips he had received about possible pro-terrorist activity on the Internet.
It did not take long for one e-mail to catch his attention: Ekhlaas.com was offering instructions on how to steal people’s personal information off their computers. It was a new development for an Islamic discussion site accustomed to announcing “martyrdom operations,” or suicide bombings, against U.S. troops and others in Iraq.
Weisburd quickly listed the discovery in his daily log of offensive and dangerous sites, alerting his supporters. A few days later, Ekhlaas experienced an unusual surge in activity, the hallmark of a hacker attack, forcing the company hosting the site to take it down.
It was another small victory for Weisburd, one of a new breed of Internet activists. Part vigilantes, part informants, part nosy neighbors, they search the Web for sites that they say deal in theft, fraud and violence.
Weisburd said he and his supporters are responsible for dismantling at least 650 and as many as 1,000 sites he regards as threatening, especially Islamic radical sites.
“I’m sort of like a freelance investigator,” Weisburd said.
Like the foes they pursue, online crusaders like Weisburd are adept at using the Internet’s unique characteristics—its anonymity, speed and ability to reach across nation-state boundaries. Some work alone and in secret; others like Weisburd have managed to put together well-organized operations that run almost like companies. Their causes can vary widely, be it stopping spam or holding large corporations accountable for poor products or service. There are groups that investigate murders and those that fight terrorism and other crimes.
The activists often operate at the boundaries of what is legal and illegal. For his part, Weisburd insists that he uses only legal means to go after his targets. A posting on his site explains that in fighting crime he does not think it proper to commit one, but he admits he cannot always control the actions of those who help him.
Government agencies and others are not sure what to make of him. Some law enforcement officials praise his efforts. Kenneth Nix, a police detective from Missouri who is on the Internet Crimes Task Force, said Weisburd often provides information that “we didn’t have before.”
But others say that he is making more trouble than he is doing good. Some U.S. officials think that they can learn more about terrorist operations by monitoring suspicious sites as they operate. Weisburd said an analyst from a federal agency recently wrote him a scathing letter calling him a “grave threat to national security” because his work was interfering with its investigations.
Marshall Stone, a spokesman for the FBI, said that while the agency encourages citizens to report alleged wrongdoing, it believes any attempt to stop criminals should be left to the government.
Without due process, evidence could be tainted and become unusable in court cases or, worse, targets could be condemned as guilty when they are really innocent, said Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a coalition of tech company chief executives. “When we all become ‘law enforcement officers’ justice becomes very blurry,” he said.
Armed with three aging computers, Weisburd hunts what he describes as terrorists from his home.
Weisburd, 41, a half-Irish, half-Jewish New Yorker, said that like other Americans he was deeply affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He wanted to enlist in the military, but his age and health issues made that impossible.
Then, about a year later, he saw a news story about a Web site that showed what appeared to be a kindergarten class in the Gaza Strip acting out terrorist attacks. He was outraged and went to his computer to do some research, eventually discovering the name of the company hosting the site. He e-mailed the owner of the Web-hosting company at 6 a.m. By 8 a.m. the site was down.
From that success, the former philosophy major from George Washington University set up “Internet Haganah,”—the latter word in Hebrew means “defense” and was the name of the underground Jewish militia in British-controlled Palestine from 1920 to 1948. The site, dedicated to fighting back against Islamic terrorist sites, has more than 30,000 unique visitors each month.
On another morning that same week in early April, Weisburd called up an e-mail informing him that someone on a Yahoo bulletin board was soliciting donations to go on a “jihad” somewhere. Within a few minutes, Weisburd is able to find three of the messages and trace their origin—from cable modems at someone’s home and at a New England school district. He hit the forward button and sent the information off to a law enforcement contact.
Another message urged Weisburd to check out a Web site in Arabic rallying readers to pray to Allah for a volcanic eruption on the Canary Islands. The site surmised that, if large enough, the vibrations could trigger a tsunami that could wipe out the Eastern seaboard of the United States. The site even contained a map of the potential destruction. A bit absurd, Weisburd thought. He summarized the information, posted it on his site, and moved on to the next e-mail.
The site consumes so much of Weisburd’s time that he gave up a steady job as a computer programmer. He now works part time as a high-tech consultant and he said he and his wife, who is a graphic artist, are just scraping by.
He said he has received thousands of dollars in donations, as well as some ominous death threats. One warning came in a handwritten letter mailed to Weisburd’s house. Another letter on a Web site declared that he should be beheaded and it listed his address. For his protection, Weisburd keeps a loaded 38mm pistol in the house.
Weisburd is helped by a loosely organized group of volunteers. Among them are techies from Silicon Valley, Middle East experts, and more than a few women he described as “young grandmothers with high-speed Internet in rural areas.”
In one case, Weisburd identified an Atlanta-based Web provider that appeared to be hosting a site that advocated attacks against the United States and its Western allies. The provider, however, seemed to be ignoring requests to remove it. So some Weisburd supporters figured out which church the owner went to and got his personal cell phone number and began lobbying him non-stop until he took down the site.
“I sometimes feel like I’m in that scene from [the movie] ‘Young Frankenstein’: I am the enforcer and there is an angry mob in back of me,” Weisburd said.
Some Web hosting providers who have dealt with Weisburd and his supporters said such groups place them in an awkward position. If they keep the sites up, they are in danger of being labeled as supporting terrorism. If they take down the sites, they could become targets of free speech advocates, and lose paying customers.
T. Griffin Conrad, vice president of marketing for iPowerWeb Inc., the Santa Monica, Calif., company that hosted Ekhlaas, said the company shut down the site because it feared the surge in activity was in danger of triggering a ripple effect that could shut down the company’s other clients. Conrad would not speculate on what caused the excess traffic and said he was unaware of the nature of the content on the site until contacted by a reporter.
Perhaps the most difficult question Weisburd faces is determining which sites qualify as promoting “jihad.” Even some of his supporters are torn.
Brian Marcus, director of Internet monitoring for the Anti-Defamation League, said Weisburd deserves “a lot of praise.” Marcus added that the line between a terrorist-support site and a discussion forum is often nebulous. “We are a civil rights group and freedom of speech means to lot of us,” he said.
Weisburd does not read Arabic but uses a computer translator and relies on other volunteers who are fluent in other languages to assist him with more difficult text. But he said it is often clear from just the images and a few words on sites which ones deserve to be kept up and which ones should be made to disappear from cyberspace.
“I understand enough of what they say to know they are my enemy, and that’s all I need to know,” Weisburd said.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/2449/Cyberspace_Vigilantes
It's certainly no different in the USA - cab drivers, cooks, gardeners, bus drivers, factory workers, warehousemen, telemarketers, etc. They're all around us but inconspicuous as to their real intent in / for America.
Terrorist threat still looms large: Putin
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200504260360.htm
Cuba Demands Washington Answer at the UN on Terrorist Posada Carriles
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BF61DC93B-154C-4BCC-9236-077E039863A2%7D&language=EN
Hamas invites terrorist leaders to Gaza after Israeli withdrawal
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Briefs/5379.htm
Update from Halhoul Area Apparent Terrorist Incident
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=80813
Area man turned in 9-11 terrorist
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050425/NEWS01/504250407/1075
Bush administration terrorist list excludes right-wing groups
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/terr-a25.shtml
Parking at the US Embasy in Caracas
Hopefully we've stopped the construction work on the public parking lot since Venezuela ended military ties and evicted US Officers. Doesn't sound like a good investment!
Predators to go off radar in NY
53 undocumented Brazilians taken into custody this past Thursday
Speaking of Venezuela.......has anyone heard from GorillaMa?
Her husband and his family were from there. I believe her MIL passed away not too long ago and her husband and children went there. She posted here quite often for a while.
Connecting dots between drugs and terrorism
$60.00 a barrel oil from Russia
Putin to visit the ME on Tuesday
4/26/05 Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information-Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment Markup
http://www.almjlh.com/vb/showthread.php?p=29513
http://www.al-ekhlaas.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11660
http://www.almjlh.com/vb/showthread.php?p=30035
http://www.almjlh.com/vb/showthread.php?p=29810
http://www.ribaat.org/services/forum/showthread.php?t=29733
Another Lion has joined the caravan of Martyrs which leaves for Paradise...
"Each day, there are some caravans for Paradise"
"Caravans of Martyrs that The Compassionate accepts"
The Martyr Badr Ben Salem Ash-Sharari (Abou Rahoufa Al Jaoufi)
Abou Rahoufa Al Jaoufi, a hero among the heroes of Jihad, and a Lion among the Lions of combat.
He left for Afghanistan in order to fight the Americans over there. He remained on this earth 6 months after he followed the orders to retreat and he returned to the land of two holies. After a certain time, after his return, he was stopped in order to be interrogated on his activities in Afghanistan. He was imprisoned for 4 months, then he got out and his passport was confiscated. This didn't push him to stop aspiring to jihad.
He didn't accept remaining with backwards people, the people who find excuses. On the contrary he hoped constantly to attain Martyrdom on the path of Allah. Thus, at the time of the siege of Fallujah, Abou Rahoufa went out and joined the fighters on the Saudi border, because without a passport it was the only way. Some Mujahideen brothers of Al Qaeda of Jihad waited for him at the border and they made way to Baghdad.
Our brother, hero, Abou Rahoufa found the Martyr, god willing, in armed combat against the Americans.
The brother was married and had a daughter. He was 27 years old.
That Allah accept them as martyrs on his path
That Allah accept Abou Rahoufa and that we gather with him
*** Don't say that the Martyr is dead..He is happily living ***
*** His dwelling is eternal..He is under the watch of The Compassionate ***
Reported by the brother "Fatiyul-Jaouf" of Al Qal'a
http://www.ribaat.org/services/forum/showthread.php?t=29670
Official Statement of The Army of Ansar al Sunnah! Strike on the Crusader camp at Hit
In order to bruise the enemy and to give him a lesson that he won't forget (if he stays alive) and after some strikes on the seat of American Forces and of their servants of the renegade guard at the camp of Hit, the Mujahideen have repeated once again the striking. Thus the heroes fired 2 shells 120 mm at around 6 p.m. today. Praise to Allah the shot hit the objective with precision, and some enormous explosions were heard, all as dense smoke escaped from the site.
Know O servants of the cross, like we have promised you before, the Lions of Tawhid are determined to purify their city of your stain and of the stain of those who support you, among the renegades.
Heed us well or leave our lands small and humiliated.
Headquarters of The Army of Ansar al Sunnah
15/Rabi' AL AWAL 1426 23/April/2005
Please add me to the ping listn here
by SITE Institute April 25, 2005
A letter posted on a jihadi message board, addressed to the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, asks Zarqawi to defend the Muslims in Sweden stating: “we here [in Sweden], the Muslim people, cry out to you and ask you to beg the nation of jihad to use their power to get back our religion, by doing what Allah ordered you to do, especially if there is an attack on the dignity and reputation of our Prophet.”
The message, claiming to be from “The weakened Muslims in Sweden,” refers to the statement by the celebrity Norwegian Evangelist preacher Runar Søgaard, who called the Prophet Muhammad, “a confused pedophile.”
Following a display of the letter, the author of the message assures the death of Søgaard, who is currently under police protection, stating: “You will hear that he will be killed soon, Allah willing, just like in Holland with the Dutchman who wrote a book fighting the veil (hijab) and made a film making fun of Muslim women wearing the hijab.”
Finally, the message promises that “the dirty dog in Swedenwill face the same fate, no matter what the Swedish police do.”
http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications39605&Category=publications&Subcategory=0
GorillaMa's MIL passed away in November, at which time GM said she was also starting a new job.....
April 25, 2005
Note: The following text is an exact quote (minus the graphics):
===
===
Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
www.joyjunction.org
IRANIAN TERROR SITE PULLED OFF LINE
An Iranian terror friendly site with a picture of a nuclear explosion and other apparent nuclear devices is no more.
Once alerted to the site's contents, Utah based Internet Service Provider Biz Hosting (www.bizhosting.com) took the site off line within minutes.
Those individuals surfing the site before it was pulled could have been forgiven for thinking that www.iranian.7p.com was an Iranian fashion site.
A pretty, fashionably dressed woman adorned the home page and at the top left of the picture was the word "fashion."
From www.Iranian.7p.com
However, even non Arabic- speaking visitors who "dug" a little could quickly find disturbing evidence that this site contained much more than just fashion.
This picture, from the Iranian.7p.com site was captioned "Beauty of Destruction."
From www.Iranian.7p.com
An image like this raised concern because the United States, backed by Israel, MSNBC reported recently (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7621110/ ), believes Iran is using a civilian nuclear development program as a cover to make atomic weapons. It has threatened to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which can impose sanctions, but is waiting the outcome of negotiations with the Europeans.
While there was no way to verify their authenticity, there were also other alarming pictures.
From www.Iranian.7p.com
From www.Iranian.7p.com
These and other images were stored at http://iranian.7p.com/htm/img/
According to MSNBC, Europeans have also called on Iran to abandon enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors and, taken to a higher level, material for bombs. Iran insists its nuclear program is for the sole purpose of producing electricity and has offered to provide safeguards of its good intentions.
However, an article on Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154407,00.html ) read in part, "An Iranian bomb would be a crushing setback for President Bush, whose doctrine of ‘pre-emption' is based on the policy of keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world's most dangerous people."
Other pictures on www.iranian.7p.com and some similar ones located on a different site but attributed to www.iranian7p.com were also disturbing, as they appeared to show a woman about to be hanged and then swinging from the makeshift gallows.
From www.Iranian.7p.com
From www.Iranian.7p.com
Like the apparent nuclear images, it was also impossible to verify the authenticity of these pictures.
However, a 2002 fact sheet (www.wfafi.org/Factsheet-09-05-02.htm) produced by the Women's Forum against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI), reported that tens of thousands of women have been executed in Iran since 1979, when the mullahs took power. They were executed on political grounds, for their opposition to the policies of the ruling government. Many of those executed were pregnant.
In addition, according to WFAFI, torture inflicted on woman prisoners opposing the regime includes sexual assaults and amputation of body parts.
In Feb. 2005, Agence France Press reported (www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1424), that the UN's top official on women's rights chastised Iran over what she said were abuses and discrimination built in to the Islamic Republic's laws.
"In the family, women face psychological, physical and sexual violence, and gender discrimination," said Yakin Erturk, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women.
She told a news conference, AFP reported, that Iran's laws "do not provide protection for victims of domestic violence and make it difficult to escape violence through divorce," adding that suffering wives also faced "time-consuming judicial procedures and stigmatization."
In addition, at www.iranian.7p.com/htm/haker.htm, the site operator appeared to provide hacking instructions.
An e-mail asking for comment about the site and sent to the address provided on the home page was returned with the comment, "This account has been disabled or discontinued."
Continued prayers for both of you. JerseyGirl, how's your dad doing? Missing you Knak and hoping you'll post with us again one day soon.
It sure is! There's no escape from HELL!
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