careful what you tweet it can make you a terrorist.

[DeletedUser16008]

two British (would-be) tourists, Leigh Van Bryan and Emily Bunting, discovered the hard way just last week.

Apparently rather chuffed at the upcoming prospect of a wee jaunt over the pond, Van Bryan and Bunting engaged in a bit of online banter before their big trip to the US. Mistake number one. The two were perhaps unaware that the Department of Homeland Security routinely trolls the global social media digital waves, setting up accounts to listen in on prospective threats to…um…the “Homeland.”

We can only imagine the hysterical frenzy that whipped around the DHS H.Q. when they discovered what Van Bryan, 26, had posted.

“Free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America x”

Not that it should matter, but “destroy” is popular English slang for “party”…an easily Googlable fact, one would think, for the highly skilled heroes manning the control tower at the Twitter and Facebook Counter Terrorism and Special Operations Unit for Liberty and Freedom of the Homeland… Patriot… Liberty… uh, never mind.

After making their way through passport control at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) last week, the pair were promptly detained by armed guards/heroes/patriots. But the real trouble was still to come.

The two were then informed that the DHS was on to their scheme to “destroy” (read: party in) America and (Could it be? No! Sweet Mother of Mercy!) their sick and twisted plot to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe!

“3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!”

The pair explained that the tweet, which the DHS had considered a grave matter of national security was, actually, a reference from Family Guy, a popular television show produced in the Homeland itself…behind patriot lines!

“They asked why we wanted to destroy America and we tried to explain it meant to get trashed and party,” explained Bunting. “I almost burst out laughing when they asked me if I was going to be Leigh’s lookout while he dug up Marilyn Monroe. I couldn’t believe it because it was a quote from the comedy Family Guy which is an American show.”

Department of Homeland Security staff, brave unwavering professionals as they are, were not deterred from their mission.

“It got even more ridiculous because the officials searched our suitcases and said they were looking for spades and shovels. They did a full body search on me too” explained Bunting.

Perhaps because grave-robbing spades and shovels have little to do with (most people’s idea of) partying, the DHS were unable to find any in the pair’s luggage or, strangely enough, on their person. Nevertheless, this was no time to take chances:

“I kept saying to them they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me ‘you’ve really f** up with that tweet boy’.”

Van Bryan, apparently thought to be the leader of the non-existent operation, was then cuffed, thrown in a cage inside a van and whisked away to a location where he could not be of harm to Homeland citizens.

Recounted the suspect:

“When we arrived at the prison [ed.: prison!] I was shoved in a cell on my own but after an hour two huge Mexican men covered in tattoos came in and started asking me who I was… They told me they’d been arrested for taking cocaine over the border… When the food arrived on the tray they took it all and just left me with a carton of apple juice.”

After 12 hours in custody, the pair were returned to the airport where they were sent directly home…charge sheets in hand.

Emily “The Lookout” Bunting’s charge sheet stated: “It is believed that you are travelling with Leigh-Van Bryan who possibly has the intentions of coming to the United States to commit crimes.”

“Possibly has the intentions”? We can almost hear Special Twitter Task Force Agent Johnston saying, “That’s as good as a thought crime to me!”

Added the charge sheet of one Leigh “Happy Birthday Mr. President” Van Bryan:

“He had posted on his Tweeter website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe. Also on his tweeter account Mr. Bryan posted that he was coming to destroy America.”

We’re not quite sure what a “Tweeter account” is, but you can be sure the vigilant servicemen and women at the DHS are on the case. Thank goodness the pair didn’t use the “we were only taking the Mickey” defense. Could you imagine the costs and hassle involved in having to put Disneyland on high security lockdown? We shudder to think.



Read more: Lost in Translation: An Important Note for International Reckoners http://dailyreckoning.com/lost-in-t...te-for-international-reckoners/#ixzz1lJQqEpOT

 

[DeletedUser]

You know what they say, when you leave for a hollyday don't tell that to strangers, possible thiefs, taxi drivers and your twitter account.
And I'm sure that in the Terrorism for dummies book there is a section sayngg that you must anounce it on twitter.

The only possible conclusion is that the DHS might aswell let my mother check twitter accounts.

 

[DeletedUser16008]

Great advert for going to see the land of the free huh ?

 

[DeletedUser]

I agree... they ought to start a new tourist atraction: USA's greatest personalities exhumations. Always dreamed of meeting Elvis? Well pick a shovel and start digging.

In my opinion, any tourist that feels free in America is a njub. Not sure on the details but every person that enters USA has every phone tapped for at least 6 months.

 

[DeletedUser]

I agree... they ought to start a new tourist atraction: USA's greatest personalities exhumations. Always dreamed of meeting Elvis? Well pick a shovel and start digging.

In my opinion, any tourist that feels free in America is a njub. Not sure on the details but every person that enters USA has every phone tapped for at least 6 months.

That is a gross exaggeration ...

DHS should know that a real terrorist would not post information on Tweeter for them to see and stop him. But you are talking about a country that was hit very hard at 9 11. They can't be cautious enough.

 

[DeletedUser30834]

I personally find this funny.

While I agree that organized terrorists are not going to post their plans to Twitter before doing it, or even after doing it, I do not believe individuals who are seeking revenge for something or mentally challenged would be so cautious. I completely agree with monitoring public channels of the internet in order to get ahead of potential violence before it happens.

We just had a news story of a cop who got fired for posting his abuses of authority on his facebook account as if it was an honor wall. There was another in the news who was fired a day ago because he was recorded threatening FedEx drivers because he missed being home for the delivery of his new Iphone by 20 minutes and the company wouldn't message the driver and make him turn around to come straight back and deliver it.

But this goes to more then just ill trained cops. It goes to people's attitudes and their gutter behaviors. Sure, I understand that what was tweeted was slang and taken from pop culture but this type of reaction is not as crazy as it is presented here. The word is common slang too, I bet most usage of it will get me banned or reprimanded for using it here. I dare any number of people to walk into a bank or casino and yell "this is a good place for a stickup" (referencing the popular glad air freshener commercials where someone sniffs some odor and then places a self adhesive air freshener pad in the are). You can also walk into any government building and with an elected official and try seeing what happens when you exclaim "we are going to blow this " which is slang for leaving or "I'm gonna blow this down" which means putting someone in their place by ripping and shredding on your guitar. Try mixing I'm da bomb in there too for effects. Bonus points if you dress in traditional middle eastern Muslim attire or crazy redneck American militia style (trench coat with shorts on and surplus combat boots).

The point is, if you are going to make inside jokes and use words with duel use meanings, do not be surprised when someone takes it out of context.

It was most likely a computer program that monitors Twitter, it probably flagged the message for review because of the words blowing up and America in it. The program or the reviewing person, likely crossed the twitter account with the airline information and sent an alert out to detain these people as soon as they realized they were inbound before determining what kind of it any threat they were. It's all their own faults for trying to be brash.

 

[DeletedUser16008]

Actually tweets are no different than email or chat rooms .. they are subject to to policing ... the fault lays with DHS being too stupid to realise different cultures have something called slang ... their job monitoring such communications should include sorting the real threats from obvious innocent chat... I noticed they were put on a plane back instead of apologised to when it became clear they were no threat... thats a lot of money wasted in flights.

They can be paranoid and jackboot mentality bullys and too lazy to check properly you mean not cautious

Your talking about a country that had an attack a decade ago... I could go into the details but using 911 as an excuse is rubbish... with the hundreds of thousands killed and dozens assassinated probably more by the US and the record for war crimes and civil detainment without charge its just another example the US has turned into a fascist state.

Turda is right when normal people are subjected to interrogation and later no apology given when clear its a mistake tourists are clearly not in the slightest bit free of the watchful eye of the fascist state... I certainly don't have any plans to visit there in the current climate as I post here and other boards and sometimes my comments can be deemed as anti establishment and ill be damned if I'll take a chance some DHS goon thinks its funny to do the same to me....In fact the body groping search many have to go through is enough to ensure ill not be stepping on american soil again nor my family. Which is a shame because its a great country ... shame about the nazis running it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

Picture of their actual charge sheet here ... it actually says the charge and now he will be most likely forever on the suspected terrorist watch list probably along with the GF.... no mention of it being a misunderstanding and also fingerprints taken and added into the database.... pffft

 

[DeletedUser]

Calling the US a 'fascist' or 'Nazi' state is egregious nonsense. Whatever its faults it's a pluralistic democracy. Like calling a traffic warden a Nazi if (s)he tickets you for being 5 mins over - it's dumb on at least 2 counts:
1. It exhibits an ignorance of what properly constitutes fascism or Nazism.
2. By applying the terms to relatively minor abuses of authority it weakens their force and is an insult to the millions of people who suffered as a direct result of Nazi or fascist ideology, either fighting it or as victims.

It was a bureaucratic over-reaction, but not surprising to anyone who is familiar with US officialdom. Those guys don't do nuance.

 

[DeletedUser30834]

Actually tweets are no different than email or chat rooms .. they are subject to to policing ... the fault lays with DHS being too stupid to realise different cultures have something called slang ... their job monitoring such communications should include sorting the real threats from obvious innocent chat... I noticed they were put on a plane back instead of apologised to when it became clear they were no threat... thats a lot of money wasted in flights.

The DHS did recognize that there is slang in other cultures. That is why they were not whisked away to club gitmo and instead, allowed to return home. The US or any sovereign nation for that matter can deny entry to anyone at will. But because the words used have more then one meaning (the very definition of slang) and one of the meanings was an illegal act specifically defined to cause damage, it was proper to deny entry to them. It is their own fault after all.

They can be paranoid and jackboot mentality bullys and too lazy to check properly you mean not cautious

No, I meant what I meant. You see, slang on it's own is not enough to ensure that someone meant a statement differently then the dictionary definitions indicated. An investigation into whether they held any ill will towards the country or whatever else needed to be done in order to ensure the statements held the alternative meaning. Again, it was the two people's fault for failing to use their communications skills properly and causing the ordeal when trying to appear cool.

Your talking about a country that had an attack a decade ago... I could go into the details but using 911 as an excuse is rubbish... with the hundreds of thousands killed and dozens assassinated probably more by the US and the record for war crimes and civil detainment without charge its just another example the US has turned into a fascist state.[/blockquote]I never used 9/11 as an excuse. It is however the reasoning to why security is increased and the government monitors public communication feeds. But even without 9/11 if this situation still presented itself, I would be still laughing and saying it was their fault and not the government's. But you show what the real problem here is with this comment, you don't like the American government or it's actions period.

That's fine and all, post a comment about how you are going to blow it up then try to travel to America and I will laugh at you too.

But stuff like this was happening well before 9/11. I was catching a flight from Columbus Ohio to Saint Louis Missouri and had a friend meet me at the airport for drinks before I left. We drank about 6 *jagerbombs on top of 4 or 5 large tap beers (23oz glasses). I was concerned with him driving the 40 or so miles back to his house so when walking back to the gate, I phoned another friend about 15 minutes away to make sure he got home ok. While on the phone, I told them we were doing jagerbombs which is why I wanted someone to drive him. Well, guess what happened when I went through the terminal screening. I got pulled to a side room and had to undress to my undies while a bomb sniffing dog walked around the room. They emptied the pockets and told me I couldn't take my pocket knife on the plane even though I specifically asked about it when checking my luggage and was told it was ok. I had a choice to either toss it in the trash or mail it somewhere. I sent it to my destination. I was then allowed to get dressed and go thought the terminal screening again, then board my flight. This was 1998 and I am a US citizen who got no apology for from them. This type of screening or harassment is nothing new.

Turda is right when normal people are subjected to interrogation and later no apology given when clear its a mistake tourists are clearly not in the slightest bit free of the watchful eye of the fascist state... I certainly don't have any plans to visit there in the current climate as I post here and other boards and sometimes my comments can be deemed as anti establishment and ill be damned if I'll take a chance some DHS goon thinks its funny to do the same to me....In fact the body groping search many have to go through is enough to ensure ill not be stepping on american soil again nor my family. Which is a shame because its a great country ... shame about the nazis running it.

I do not think you understand, you are not free to enter the county as you wish. Claiming that the freedom afforded to it's own citizens should be extended to idiots trying to enter the country is a bit unrealistic. The DHS had nothing to apologize for either. That rests with the two people in question for choosing to use slang that directly help other meanings which could be construed until the original and excepted meaning. I bet more foreign countries with a lot of US tourists would agree that when going to the forieng country, you need to act according to their customs not impose your own or these things will happen. This doesn't make anything a fascist state. It's highly more likely that you have some conception that never has been valid in the last 30 years. But this is just one story and there has been really a small amount of stories of people getting harassed. For instance, in 2010, 6.5 million foreigners visited (that's the number of non immigrant visas issued) the United States. can we really say that given that number, the amount of stories of foreigners harassed over the last decade while trying to enter the US is even close to 1% of the one year total? Hardly a statement of systematic government corruption or incompetence or fascism or anything.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jägerbomb

 

[DeletedUser16008]

K well first off i was replying to dudie not you sumdum but anyway...

Their own fault ? lol you must be joking .. they obviously had no clue and were innocently chatting ... granted they arnt well informed but their own fault, serves them right ? hardly... You are being very blaise about it probably because you are happy to be hassled and generally bullied by lazy security who haven't bothered to look further than their nose or care to. actually I dont agree there should be policing of private correspondence its an intrusion into privacy ... no one opens letters in the mail at random or listens to every phone conversation I see the internet as no different.. You also have no right to judge how people choose to talk to each other ... slang .. swearing .. whatever ... stop being a snob it was a private communication and shame on you for suggesting everyone should act or talk in a certain manner ... thats elitist, narrow minded and judgementally arrogant, not what id expect from you.

Turns out DHS were wrong and a simple apology and allowing them to continue their holiday would have been the right thing to do and you know it.

I come from the UK and we dont have that intrusion into phone calls etc at least not gen public yet and i find it totally unacceptable you were spied on, im not saying its nothing new ... on the contrary i know its not but it dosnt make it right either...I can assure you if it had been in reverse security here would have certainly apologised and sent them on their way to enjoy their holiday.

No i think its YOU that dosnt understand. the US gov has no right to police other nationals communication outside its borders, especially regular public. In your own calculations 1% constitutes over 60,000 ... thats one hell of a number. Im telling you the US is /has turned into a fascist state, in fact the UK is there too just not as jackboot about it yet. it has nothing to do with how to conduct yourself in a country they did their chat whilst still in their own ... if your trying to tell me its anyones business but their own and least of all the US what they chat about at home the other side of the world you are in lah lah land.

Fascism - definition
A totalitarian philosophy of government that glorifies the state and nation and assigns to the state control over every aspect of national life.

I think that about sums up the US in its direction atm and its being rolled out across the western hemisphere.

Now while im here ill make a point of saying in case our snoopers in drag are monitoring things ... i have no probs with the American people etc but in general your goonshow police, and homeland security CIA etc etc are just a bunch of over reacting bullys. No i don't subscribe to the security bs, you get on with life and accept things happen you cant wrap everyone in cotton wool and take away rights and freedoms based on a bomb or two.... yes i know what im talking about I've lived through multiple terrorist bombings knowing the risk was always there daily in London for over a decade ... you don't go nuts over security or become over zealous because thats giving in to fear. I do find that in the last dacade or so Americans have become fearful since they realise things can happen on US soil... well welcome to the real world.

If you dont notice your land of the free has become the land of you have no privacy or rights then your too close to the trees. I have nothing good to say about the way the UK is going either btw and I had to live abroad for nearly a decade to see the stark change since I got back. Its not good and as soon as I can im out of here before it goes completely to hell.

Like the frog ... if you put it in a pan of boiling water itll jump out in shock... but... If you put it on cold water and slowly heat it up itll sit there and get boiled alive none the wiser...

PS yea your right Eli Nazi was an overreaction on my part so i apologise but an increasing fascist attitude the US does have and i cant believe the amount of frogs you have there happily croaking away while the heat gets turned up.

 

[DeletedUser30834]

K well first off i was replying to dudie not you sumdum but anyway...

does it really matter when you are making the reply in a public forum without specifically addressing one person? If it does, then lets put it in the rules so I know to only answer people specifically replying to me.

Their own fault ? lol you must be joking .. they obviously had no clue and were innocently chatting ... granted they arnt well informed but their own fault, serves them right ? hardly... You are being very blaise about it probably because you are happy to be hassled and generally bullied by lazy security who haven't bothered to look further than their nose or care to. actually I dont agree there should be policing of private correspondence its an intrusion into privacy ... no one opens letters in the mail at random or listens to every phone conversation I see the internet as no different.. You also have no right to judge how people choose to talk to each other ... slang .. swearing .. whatever ... stop being a snob it was a private communication and shame on you for suggesting everyone should act or talk in a certain manner ... thats elitist, narrow minded and judgementally arrogant, not what id expect from you.

I doubt they were innocently chatting. I think they were trying to create an incident in order to get their 15 minutes of fame. Why do I think this, because regardless of the slang interpretations of their words, the real world definitions are specific to a nature that everyone who travels knows all to well. Also, twitter feeds are not private communications. I'm not sure why you brought up private communications but the reality is that twitter is public by design and open to anyone who wants to read the twitters. There is no way for you to even lock the twitter feeds down to just certain people.

I also have every right to judge people based on how they talk to others. But the point of bringing the swear words and such up was to prove that not all communications are proper at all times. You may call that being a snob, but it is the reality of life.

Turns out DHS were wrong and a simple apology and allowing them to continue their holiday would have been the right thing to do and you know it.

DHS was not wrong. They are charged with screening potential threats and keeping them away from the country specifically involving the real world definitions of the words the idiots used. That is what they did. You can sit there and claim it was just slang, but it was just slang that had real world definitions closely matching the specific job that DHS is charged with protecting us against. Like I said, walk into any bank in the world and yell in the native language that this is a good place for a stickup. You will get extra attention even though you are commenting about an odor in the air. It was the fault of the people crying about it now.

I come from the UK and we dont have that intrusion into phone calls etc at least not gen public yet and i find it totally unacceptable you were spied on, im not saying its nothing new ... on the contrary i know its not but it dosnt make it right either...I can assure you if it had been in reverse security here would have certainly apologised and sent them on their way to enjoy their holiday.

Say what? lol. There are more government run surveillance cameras per capita in the UK monitoring your every move then anywhere else in the world. And that is the government monitoring it's own citizens movement with them knowingly consenting, not just public twitter feeds.

You should take a look at this. If you don't think the UK government monitors communications of it's own people.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2008/10/16/govt-comms-database-has-to-happen-39517303/

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/securit...t-may-track-all-uk-facebook-traffic-39629479/

You might want to look at echelon and project green lantern while you are at it. Yes, they were US based ops but the core of them was originally mining foreign communications in exchange for the foreign country mining the US communications then exchanging/sharing the data to skirt privacy laws in those countries.

Currently, the EU requires most of all internet communications to be stored by ISPs operating in the covered countries for 12 months to specifically give Law Enforcment access to it. There is even talk of intercepting and duplicating all internet communications that pass through the UK.

If you seriously do not think the UK monitors it's own citizens, you should stop worrying about the USA and start paying attention in your own yard.

No i think its YOU that dosnt understand. the US gov has no right to police other nationals communication outside its borders, especially regular public. In your own calculations 1% constitutes over 60,000 ... thats one hell of a number. Im telling you the US is /has turned into a fascist state, in fact the UK is there too just not as jackboot about it yet. it has nothing to do with how to conduct yourself in a country they did their chat whilst still in their own ... if your trying to tell me its anyones business but their own and least of all the US what they chat about at home the other side of the world you are in lah lah land.

1% isn't my calculations, I said they wouldn't even equal 1%. In other words <1%. But the US government has every right to monitor all communications it can outside of the country. It's called inteligence gathering and has been an excepted right of all sovereign states for the better part of a century or more. The only thing that differs now is the abilities to gather this intelligence and who the enemies of the state might be. But this is neither there nor here. Twitter simply is not a private communication. It is no different then putting the information on a giant sign and posting it in your front yard for everyone to see or printing an add in the local news paper. nothing in your wildest dreams should prohibit the US from purchasing your local news paper and finding out what you wrote. Twitter is not private at all.

Fascism - definition
A totalitarian philosophy of government that glorifies the state and nation and assigns to the state control over every aspect of national life.

I think that about sums up the US in its direction atm and its being rolled out across the western hemisphere.

Securing the borders does not equate to every aspect of national life. Every sovereign nation has an inherent right to control it's borders. You are simply confused if you think otherwise.

Now while im here ill make a point of saying in case our snoopers in drag are monitoring things ... i have no probs with the American people etc but in general your goonshow police, and homeland security CIA etc etc are just a bunch of over reacting bullys. No i don't subscribe to the security bs, you get on with life and accept things happen you cant wrap everyone in cotton wool and take away rights and freedoms based on a bomb or two.... yes i know what im talking about I've lived through multiple terrorist bombings knowing the risk was always there daily in London for over a decade ... you don't go nuts over security or become over zealous because thats giving in to fear. I do find that in the last dacade or so Americans have become fearful since they realise things can happen on US soil... well welcome to the real world.

The only response this deserves is a simple LOL.

If you dont notice your land of the free has become the land of you have no privacy or rights then your too close to the trees. I have nothing good to say about the way the UK is going either btw and I had to live abroad for nearly a decade to see the stark change since I got back. Its not good and as soon as I can im out of here before it goes completely to hell.

You are simply confused. Twitter is not private by any means. This is directly out of the Twitter privacy policy.

Tweets, Following, Lists and other Public Information: Our Services are primarily designed to help you share information with the world. Most of the information you provide to us is information you are asking us to make public. This includes not only the messages you Tweet and the metadata provided with Tweets, such as when you Tweeted, but also the lists you create, the people you follow, the Tweets you mark as favorites or Retweet and many other bits of information. Our default is almost always to make the information you provide public but we generally give you settings (http://twitter.com/account/settings) to make the information more private if you want. Your public information is broadly and instantly disseminated. For example, your public Tweets are searchable by many search engines and are immediately delivered via SMS and our APIs (http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_faq) to a wide range of users and services. You should be careful about all information that will be made public by Twitter, not just your Tweets.

 

[DeletedUser]

Any thing tweeted is public knowledge and can be used for any purpose even if its not what you intended. If you don't want it to be available to every one don't send it.

 

[DeletedUser16008]

I doubt they were innocently chatting. I think they were trying to create an incident in order to get their 15 minutes of fame. Why do I think this, because regardless of the slang interpretations of their words, the real world definitions are specific to a nature that everyone who travels knows all to well. Also, twitter feeds are not private communications. I'm not sure why you brought up private communications but the reality is that twitter is public by design and open to anyone who wants to read the twitters. There is no way for you to even lock the twitter feeds down to just certain people.

Yea ok they were trying to make a scene and get 15 mins of fame ..... just the kind of standard answer id expect... maybe just maybe they were showing off to thier friends etc who are likely to be following the feed... when i say private i doubt they had the intention of getting thrown in jail having thier flights wasted and the money gone just for 15 mins of fame as you put it. yeaa thats really really likely isnt it... yeesh what nooblet thing to imply

I also have every right to judge people based on how they talk to others. But the point of bringing the swear words and such up was to prove that not all communications are proper at all times. You may call that being a snob, but it is the reality of life.

Id love to see you deal with many of the accents we have here youd have a fit..... the reality is you judge others by the way you deem they should speak according to you so snob fits... what are you a bible basher or something ? .... great well thats cleared that up, ive already noted your holier than thou attitude to others ... boy have you got a rude awakening coming sometime

DHS was not wrong. They are charged with screening potential threats and keeping them away from the country specifically involving the real world definitions of the words the idiots used. That is what they did. You can sit there and claim it was just slang, but it was just slang that had real world definitions closely matching the specific job that DHS is charged with protecting us against. Like I said, walk into any bank in the world and yell in the native language that this is a good place for a stickup. You will get extra attention even though you are commenting about an odor in the air. It was the fault of the people crying about it now.

Yea yea ok your DHS are all heroes .... you any idea how over paranoid you sound ? twitter chatting slang the other side of the world is hardly the same as walking into a bank etc...give me a break you actually believe your guff dont you ?

DHS are a in general a bunch of badly trained over zealous bunch of jobsworths the only thing is the tweet investigators are even worse... god bless your heoroes keeping you safe from all the dangerous tourists there i pity the day when they are turned loose on your population via FEMA.

Say what? lol. There are more government run surveillance cameras per capita in the UK monitoring your every move then anywhere else in the world. And that is the government monitoring it's own citizens movement with them knowingly consenting, not just public twitter feeds. you bother to read ?

i said in general ... cameras are not exactly jackboot now are they? you notice what view i wrote re my own government ? no ? did'nt think so

You should take a look at this. If you don't think the UK government monitors communications of it's own people.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2008/10/16/govt-comms-database-has-to-happen-39517303/

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/securit...t-may-track-all-uk-facebook-traffic-39629479/ doh you cant read it seems im not scoring points on whose system is more big brother im well aware of what my own gov does thanks and I dont need your whining and links to try and make some unrequired point ... which btw is irrelevent to this thread..

You might want to look at echelon and project green lantern while you are at it. Yes, they were US based ops but the core of them was originally mining foreign communications in exchange for the foreign country mining the US communications then exchanging/sharing the data to skirt privacy laws in those countries. And your point is that the gen public should be treated like potential terrorists I suppose... okaaaay i see it as scumbags in governments with nothing better to justify their paycheck than playing Gestapo style games with the general populous under a threat of national security...wooo lets all play James Bond

Currently, the EU requires most of all internet communications to be stored by ISPs operating in the covered countries for 12 months to specifically give Law Enforcment access to it. There is even talk of intercepting and duplicating all internet communications that pass through the UK.
Your point is what ? thats its done or in general we dont freak over tourists on a tweet give 5 hrs interrogation throw them in jail and after that deport them again ? no your right generally its not like that over here i assure you our press is very good at screaming from the rooftops about that kind of thing

If you seriously do not think the UK monitors it's own citizens, you should stop worrying about the USA and start paying attention in your own yard.

Yet again you said that not me, you should read someone's post properly before accusing them of not knowing what goes on in their back yard... thx I happen to be very aware and as ive stated very clearly im not going to be putting up with it for much longer. The problem is you obviously seem to be a child of the fascist state there and seem to think its ok.... poor chap i don't worry about the USA but rather the pervasive way they like to worry about everyone elses business. Very insecure and dangerously paranoid.


1% isn't my calculations, I said they wouldn't even equal 1%. In other words <1%. But the US government has every right to monitor all communications it can outside of the country. It's called inteligence gathering and has been an excepted right of all sovereign states for the better part of a century or more. The only thing that differs now is the abilities to gather this intelligence and who the enemies of the state might be. But this is neither there nor here. Twitter simply is not a private communication. It is no different then putting the information on a giant sign and posting it in your front yard for everyone to see or printing an add in the local news paper. nothing in your wildest dreams should prohibit the US from purchasing your local news paper and finding out what you wrote. Twitter is not private at all.

Meh 6.5 m i quoted 60k which isnt 1% just like youve just said helooo is anyone in there ?... do you have a problem reading ? Private ie not some governments business the other side of the planetpoint is the US does monitor as much as possible everywhere and you dont think thats a paranoid fascist state action ??? Its a lemming attitude coupled with a must control everything mentality LMAO you can't keep trying to control and influence the whole world it will only come back to bite you harder the more you try.

Securing the borders does not equate to every aspect of national life. Every sovereign nation has an inherent right to control it's borders. You are simply confused if you think otherwise.

Borders is US soil not the rest of the world ... and dont give me that threat to homeland ... you dont have a clue what a real threat is heck youve been taken to war at least 4 times with that notion by your lovely governments all of which was propaganda bs..... the way things are going at some point youll get blowback... you know what that is ? look it up if you dont its a CIA term.

The only response this deserves is a simple LOL.

You think its funny having to deal with real weekly bombings and picking up bits after ? sunshine you really don't have a clue a do you ?

You are simply confused. Twitter is not private by any means. This is directly out of the Twitter privacy policy. No im not confused i simply believe in freedom of speech and your saying if you dont like the language or wording then its cool to freak out over it .. you remind me of the old British attitude towards everyone else that they are not in the same league and should all speak the Kings English.... elitist class dinosaurs, the world has moved on or at least some of us have thank goodness

oh and dont bother to get all semantics on me Im not interested in splitting hairs over silly irrelevent points.... we are at two ends of the scale ... I like and advocate freedom and am a political atheist, you my friend have an opinion everyone should do it your way and are willing to sign away that freedom because your scared something may happen if you dont .... just like your jackboot crony DHS ... you should apply for a job with them youd do real well.

 

[DeletedUser30834]

Wow.. I think someone went wrong with the quoting. but it's ok. I will streamline my response and just make it in a bullet point type response to facilitate saving a little space.

* It doesn't matter if they thought it was private, they used a public medium to facilitate the communications. It is no secrete that twitter is by design, open to anyone for the stated purpose of disseminating information.

* we have different accents here too. This is not about someone's accent, it is about using words with specific meanings to convey a thought that is different then those specific meanings. But hey, keep on using the words blow things up and keep on crying about government agencies freaking out.

* You know, twitter chatter slang half a world around is meaningless until they decide they are coming to the US. Had they posted this a month or two ago, it would likely have been investigated well before their visa was even approved. I guess the moral here is to not use words with standard and accepted meanings to convey thoughts other then those meanings in statements about another country when planning on visiting that another country. It is their own fault. and it does not make me paranoid.

* ehh can't keep it straight. Will start quoting again.

DHS are a in general a bunch of badly trained over zealous bunch of jobsworths the only thing is the tweet investigators are even worse... god bless your heoroes keeping you safe from all the dangerous tourists there i pity the day when they are turned loose on your population via FEMA.

Actually, I think you are thinking of TSA employees. I would agree there but DHS employees are actually a pretty well trained and hold college degrees. Now you can say they are overly zealous and I could agree. But I find nothing wrong with what happened here.

And your point is that the gen public should be treated like potential terrorists I suppose... okaaaay i see it as scumbags in governments with nothing better to justify their paycheck than playing Gestapo style games with the general populous under a threat of national security...wooo lets all play James Bond

Well, yeah, that was the entire point of the projects, to spot potential threats from each country and deal with them.

Your point is what ? thats its done or in general we dont freak over tourists on a tweet give 5 hrs interrogation throw them in jail and after that deport them again ? no your right generally its not like that over here i assure you our press is very good at screaming from the rooftops about that kind of thing

How many times in the past has someone tweeted they were going to blow the house of commons up or kill the queen then boarded a plane bound for the UK? It doesn't matter because the UK has the same policies. You can be denied entry at any time into the UK for simply being associated with people. There is also a list or people banned from entering the UK for making statements nowhere near as controversial. Some of which are purely political and some are a little more crazy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage#Banned_from_entering_the_United_Kingdom
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/ecg/ecb/ecb18/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alim_Musa#Banning_from_the_UK
I will just mention that the Phelps of west burrow fame are banned for their religious beliefs too.

Yet again you said that not me, you should read someone's post properly before accusing them of not knowing what goes on in their back yard... thx I happen to be very aware and as ive stated very clearly im not going to be putting up with it for much longer. The problem is you obviously seem to be a child of the fascist state there and seem to think its ok.... poor chap i don't worry about the USA but rather the pervasive way they like to worry about everyone elses business. Very insecure and dangerously paranoid.

You are right, I did misconstrue what you were saying. I went back an read it 5 more times and finally derived what you intended to say from it. When I was at the airport, they didn't spy in my conversation by tapping the phone, they overheard me talking. When I used the word jegerbomb, it drew their attention.

Meh 6.5 m i quoted 60k which isnt 1% just like youve just said helooo is anyone in there ?... do you have a problem reading ? Private ie not some governments business the other side of the planetpoint is the US does monitor as much as possible everywhere and you dont think thats a paranoid fascist state action ??? Its a lemming attitude coupled with a must control everything mentality LMAO you can't keep trying to control and influence the whole world it will only come back to bite you harder the more you try.

It has been happening before you were even born. The first well documented use of spying on foreigners outside of wartime that I know of (I'm talking details on how it was accomplished, names of people and countries that were targets and so on) was in 1919 when the world communist party attempted to overthrow the US government and install a Stalinist type leader. Of course their attempt failed miserable, but it created the public necessity of monitoring what happens in other countries. WE have had an active program doing so ever since and there are documents describing intermittent attempts at it for close to a half century before that in the library of congress. There is even a diving bell designed and commissioned to specifically tap into underwater telegraph cables without losing connection and forward all communications to a navy ship several hundred miles away.

What makes the US different than before it was popular to cry about it when something happens and it is known about? You see, the only thing different is the abilities to intercept communications and it being easier to publicize it when something does happen because of it. The US is the same US you always knew, you just know more about it now.

Borders is US soil not the rest of the world ... and dont give me that threat to homeland ... you dont have a clue what a real threat is heck youve been taken to war at least 4 times with that notion by your lovely governments all of which was propaganda bs..... the way things are going at some point youll get blowback... you know what that is ? look it up if you dont its a CIA term.

Sure the borders is US spoil, and the US has a right of sovereignty that allows us to secure them any way we see fit as expressed by the US Supreme Court in the early 1800's after hearing a case about a law passed in the first session of the first congress seated in the new country that specifically allowed warrantless searches at the borders and ports of entry. And you should try a little more then 4 times. The reason half of South America speaks spanish and the other half Portuguese is largely due to the same rhetoric and the threat of war. Cuba would be a Spanish colony still had it not been for the same and actually going to war. President Teddy Roosevelt fought for Cuba's independence from Spain.

You think its funny having to deal with real weekly bombings and picking up bits after ? sunshine you really don't have a clue a do you ?

No, I think it is funny that we do not deal with them and the UK had to while you are trying to claim the lax security at the borders is more appropriate like in the UK where you had to deal with it. Do you see a pattern there? I'll point it out,
OMG, you can't secure your borders and country that this way, it is too mean.
OMG, you don't know what a security threat is because you do not have bombings every week.
OMG, you need to be more like country X
OMG, country X has bombings all the time.

Some say insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

No im not confused i simply believe in freedom of speech and your saying if you dont like the language or wording then its cool to freak out over it .. you remind me of the old British attitude towards everyone else that they are not in the same league and should all speak the Kings English.... elitist class dinosaurs, the world has moved on or at least some of us have thank goodness

I believe in freedom of speech too. However, I'm am not so blinded by the concept to think that speech doesn't have consequences. I mean go ahead and post nothing but profanities about what you and your favorite gal did this weekend. I'm sure it would be removed and you would likely be punished in the forums for it. Would you consider inno or the forum mods "freaking out" when they took action over dropping the f bomb a few times in a post? These words in question was not innocent words,.. They were words with specific meanings and if someone said they were going to kill your family, I'm betting you would brush it off either. BTW, killing someone is slang for beating them badly in a game or contest. I would/will kill you in a game of checkers. Excpet they left checkers off and said they would blow the US up.

oh and dont bother to get all semantics on me Im not interested in splitting hairs over silly irrelevent points.... we are at two ends of the scale ... I like and advocate freedom and am a political atheist, you my friend have an opinion everyone should do it your way and are willing to sign away that freedom because your scared something may happen if you dont .... just like your jackboot crony DHS ... you should apply for a job with them youd do real well.

lol.. my opinion is that stupid things happen when people do stupid things. Using words specifically carrying a definition about what the DHS, NTSA ,or TSA is supposed to be looking for to describe some alternative meaning is stupid at best, most likely intentionally malicious as I believe they wanted something to happen in order to get some fame and recognition. But this situation is nothing more then what happens in other countries like your own. The UK has people permanently banned from entry because of political and religious opinions that were never stated inside the UK. Do not act like the US is the only ones doing this. The UK had to monitor publicly available communications on other countries to find enough about these religious or political opinions in order to ban them for it.

 

[DeletedUser16008]

posts are getting far too long but ill be brief

No, I think it is funny that we do not deal with them and the UK had to while you are trying to claim the lax security at the borders is more appropriate like in the UK where you had to deal with it. Do you see a pattern there? I'll point it out,
OMG, you can't secure your borders and country that this way, it is too mean.
OMG, you don't know what a security threat is because you do not have bombings every week.
OMG, you need to be more like country X
OMG, country X has bombings all the time.

Actually we tend to just get on with things, we don't bow down to terrorism, never have and neither do we cower in fear of it nor willingly give up our freedoms because it exists ..... You ask the British public if you want to be subjected to the security required to lock the country down tight most would say no way we have our pride and are not prone to panicking when theres more likelihood of getting killed numerous other ways.... stiff upper lip i guess same as we used to wear red uniforms to hide the blood thereby not inducing panic in the ranks and show the enemy where we were if there was a fight to be had then ok bring it...

A light hearted interlude

"why did the British wear red coats in battle?" A long time ago, Britain and France were at war. During one battle, the French captured a British Colonel. They took him to their headquarters, and the French General began to question him. Finally, as an afterthought, the French General asked, "Why do you British officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at?" In his casual, matter-of-fact, way, the officer informed the General that the reason British officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic. And that is why, from that day forward, all French Army officers wear brown trousers.

We don't want an Orwellian state introduced through fear or any other way & certainly not a visible fascist security force... we have a concern of that well founded during the last century ...mind you the UK gov are still trying but by more subtle means at least.

About 90% of the attacks here last century up until now came from the IRA over 50 or so.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London

Which I may add was greatly funded and armed by the US Irish/Americans and others....

The majority of weapons came from the U.S and libya..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_IRA_arms_importation

John Major asked Clinton not to grant visa's to Sinn Fein/I.R.A. and not allow fundraising . He did and then this happened.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/30003.html

Bars in Boston use to sell drinks called 'car bomb' and 'kill a brit'. U.S politician's did support the I.R.A through rose coloured glasses'.
http://www.nysun.com/national/rep-king-and-the-ira-the-end-of-an-extraordinary/15853/
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/19/222634.php

The U.S gave them the biggest platform- The White house, without pre-condition's, which gave them credibility.The money flowed in
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/19/222634.php

Funny but shorty after 911 the IRA were forced to the peace table when the money arms and drugs suddenly dried up, mmm i wonder why ?... in short the US had a wake up call and could no longer support or ignore the fact since it became a victim too and its been a whole lot quieter here since..... any thoughts on that one before you try to suggest your jackboots are essential to your safety ?

PS the IRA were quaintly referred to there as freedom fighters not terrorists during that period ... funny but you changed that tune rather quickly when it was on home soil.

PPS do I need to add we are a small country with a very small population compared to the US so I don't know about you but it tells me theres one heck of a fear and paranoia there that we just don't have ... I put it down to your lovely media scaring the crap out of everyone all the time until you hide under your beds and beg the jackboot charlies to grope you and treat you like animals... in the 50s and 60s it was the commies are coming ... now its another paranoid fuelled fear... some things never change

lol.. my opinion is that stupid things happen when people do stupid things. Using words specifically carrying a definition about what the DHS, NTSA ,or TSA is supposed to be looking for to describe some alternative meaning is stupid at best, most likely intentionally malicious as I believe they wanted something to happen in order to get some fame and recognition. But this situation is nothing more then what happens in other countries like your own. The UK has people permanently banned from entry because of political and religious opinions that were never stated inside the UK. Do not act like the US is the only ones doing this. The UK had to monitor publicly available communications on other countries to find enough about these religious or political opinions in order to ban them for it.

They were kids doing what kids do... chatting and bragging ... dumb yes .. deserved no.... thats what kids do ... stupid things. You have to be pretty paranoid to suggest they were being malicious or intended any confrontation...... thats the the way things go when people have a humour bypass and get over zealous... it also does nothing for the image .... yknow i keep hearing this line about the US arnt the only ones etc etc ... heres the problem with that.... with great power comes great responsibility and if it had any sense it would be a beacon of just and rights... from what I have seen over the past 10 years the example set by the US Government is about as bad as it can possibly be. This is only a very minor example but the sentiment of it serves them right is just the kind of reaction your jackboot attitudes are encouraging and want....

 

[DeletedUser30834]

posts are getting far too long but ill be brief

I'll see if I can keep it brief too.

Actually we tend to just get on with things, we don't bow down to terrorism, never have and neither do we cower in fear of it nor willingly give up our freedoms because it exists ..... You ask the British public if you want to be subjected to the security required to lock the country down tight most would say no way we have our pride and are not prone to panicking when theres more likelihood of getting killed numerous other ways.... stiff upper lip i guess same as we used to wear red uniforms to hide the blood thereby not inducing panic in the ranks and show the enemy where we were if there was a fight to be had then ok bring it...

Lol. The UK is very much the same as the US. It even goes further and denies entry to people for political and religious thought. That's right, if you use your freedom of speech for something other then bragging how much of a drunk you are to your friends, the UK can block you from entering the country.

A light hearted interlude

"why did the British wear red coats in battle?" A long time ago, Britain and France were at war. During one battle, the French captured a British Colonel. They took him to their headquarters, and the French General began to question him. Finally, as an afterthought, the French General asked, "Why do you British officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at?" In his casual, matter-of-fact, way, the officer informed the General that the reason British officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic. And that is why, from that day forward, all French Army officers wear brown trousers.

When I was a gun dealer, I used to purchase french military firearms cheap and I could resell them generally claiming they have never been fired and only dropped a few times. A real money maker.

We don't want an Orwellian state introduced through fear or any other way & certainly not a visible fascist security force... we have a concern of that well founded during the last century ...mind you the UK gov are still trying but by more subtle means at least.

Don't you think your missing the elephant in the room here? I mean government spy cams and all? OR the fact that the UK mines the internet just as much as the US does if not more? Or is big brother watching your every move not your idea of a fascist security force.

About 90% of the attacks here last century up until now came from the IRA over 50 or so.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London

Which I may add was greatly funded and armed by the US Irish/Americans and others....

The majority of weapons came from the U.S and libya..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_IRA_arms_importation

John Major asked Clinton not to grant visa's to Sinn Fein/I.R.A. and not allow fundraising . He did and then this happened.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/30003.html

Bars in Boston use to sell drinks called 'car bomb' and 'kill a brit'. U.S politician's did support the I.R.A through rose coloured glasses'.
http://www.nysun.com/national/rep-king-and-the-ira-the-end-of-an-extraordinary/15853/
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/19/222634.php

The U.S gave them the biggest platform- The White house, without pre-condition's, which gave them credibility.The money flowed in
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/05/19/222634.php

I am by no means trying to stick up for every government action the US does. I am saying that this one incident is not the way you are making it out to be. Hell, we have the "fast and furious" program where the government thought it would be beneficial to give guns to Mexican drug lords and watch their movement by the amount of chaos created as they traveled from point A to point B. Actually, some in the government started using it as calls for taking gun rights away making gun controls more strict until someone released info on showing them to be the cause of the problem.

Funny but shorty after 911 the IRA were forced to the peace table when the money arms and drugs suddenly dried up, mmm i wonder why ?... in short the US had a wake up call and could no longer support or ignore the fact since it became a victim too and its been a whole lot quieter here since..... any thoughts on that one before you try to suggest your jackboots are essential to your safety ?

PS the IRA were quaintly referred to there as freedom fighters not terrorists during that period ... funny but you changed that tune rather quickly when it was on home soil.

I actually supported the IRA at that time. Still do in spirit. I do not know what you want me to say here but the struggle of the Irish under the oppressive English rule is one that has gone on longer then both of us together has been alive. The end of hostilities actually started in 1996 with the proposition of the Belfast agreements that where entered into in 1998. This started their disarmament which I thought was a bad decision at the time. England did try to poison this process of limited home rule which caused the republic to pull away in 2002 or so and they refrained from participation until 2005 or 2008.

PPS do I need to add we are a small country with a very small population compared to the US so I don't know about you but it tells me theres one heck of a fear and paranoia there that we just don't have ... I put it down to your lovely media scaring the crap out of everyone all the time until you hide under your beds and beg the jackboot charlies to grope you and treat you like animals... in the 50s and 60s it was the commies are coming ... now its another paranoid fuelled fear... some things never change

lol.. the commies are coming. Seems like you know full well that little has changed except possible how noticeable it is and the name of the current boogerman.

They were kids doing what kids do... chatting and bragging ... dumb yes .. deserved no.... thats what kids do ... stupid things. You have to be pretty paranoid to suggest they were being malicious or intended any confrontation...... thats the the way things go when people have a humour bypass and get over zealous... it also does nothing for the image .... yknow i keep hearing this line about the US arnt the only ones etc etc ... heres the problem with that.... with great power comes great responsibility and if it had any sense it would be a beacon of just and rights... from what I have seen over the past 10 years the example set by the US Government is about as bad as it can possibly be. This is only a very minor example but the sentiment of it serves them right is just the kind of reaction your jackboot attitudes are encouraging and want....

You know, if it was any other combination of words, I could agree with you. But come on, if they are really so stupid that they didn't think that claiming to blow up the US wouldn't cause any problems, it is probably best they do not come to this country anyways. Seriously, you certainly have heard about all the precautions and crap put in place since 9/11 specifically over some things being blown up. I don't think they are that stupid which makes it intentional and malicious in my opinion. You really cannot go through all the hassle to get a visa, to make the kind of money necessary to fly across an ocean or two, purchase tickets and plan an itinerary and be that stupid. A simple search on entering the US on about any internet search engine would show how ridiculously complicated it is to enter the country now and I seriously doubt someone who uses twitter would not bother with an internet search.

It is their own fault no matter how you look at it. They are either so stupid they don't need to leave their own country, or were malicious and intentionally did this in an effort to gain 15 minutes off fame or cause some sort of ruckus at the border in order to be 'leet' with their friends.