Spies on line says the BBC

[stardustaquarion]

It is for real folks :eek:

It will not surprise me if cyber spies are not only in the middle east, I mean all around us? ;)

here is the article

By Jon Donnison
BBC News, Gaza

In a busy internet cafe in the centre of Gaza City, lots of people, mostly young, are typing and clicking away.

Some of them are engrossed in the world of Facebook. "I use it 10 hours a day," says Mohammed who owns the shop. "I have over 200 Facebook friends."

But Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, believes the population's love of social networking websites is making it easier for Israel to recruit spies.

Israel has long maintained networks of informers in the West Bank and Gaza in its effort to derail the activities of militant groups.

Historically, collaborators have often been killed if discovered, and this week Hamas announced it would execute anyone caught acting as an agent for Israel.

rest of the article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8585775.stm

[irishspirit]

I would love to say that this is a shock, but I cannot....

[Kari Lynn]

Indeed, this is not surprising. Has been going on for a long time. Any specific word triggers them to watch us. As well as certain persons and groups are watched more than others. Privacy is an illusion.

[Productivemind]

I stopped worrying about being watched about a year ago. The way I see it is that anyone looking for truth is on "the list", especially those of us who share what we find with others. It's a shame that the ones who are paid to seek out those who would do harm to others are overlooked, while those of us who are peaceful are targeted. I had an frightening experience a couple of weeks ago on facebook. I had been posting several replies to my friends' news feeds, when someone unknown to me (but was a friend of one of my friends) responded directly to me. Curious as to who this person was, I looked at his profile. Red flags shot up like fireworks when I saw his employer was Haliburton. He asked me if I had been researching the family of Obama. My response was that I indeed had, and added that I had also researched, Bush/Cheney/Haliburton/KBR, etc. After that, he sent me a message that was to me a veiled threat. I know these folks have hired guns all over the world, but I couldn't imagine why someone insignificant like myself would be a threat to them. I later realized that anytime we expose who these people are, their reaction is to shut us down. Long story short, I closed out that facebook profile and started a new one, now being very careful of what I say. Eyes are everywhere.

[Ahkenaten]

Check it out, the news was not publicized much in the US but it was in Australia - Facebook was started by a young wise guy with venture capital from the CIA. This appeared in the news in Australia years ago. The so-called "social networking" sites could better be called "social nitwit" sites because those who join implicitly agree under Facebook's terms of use, to share all their personal information including private information, with Facebook - and with....???? Anyway, Facebook like many things is not as benign as it seems. From my point of view it is a continuation of IBM Corp's work during WWII for the Nazis when, using punch cards, they tabulated the population of Germany with holes in the cards for family members, political affiliations, etc. In this way the SS had help triangulating not only individuals of interest - but their entire familiar and social networks. I say why make it easier for them by joining Facebook. Once you join, there is no opting out.

[Mulder]

I know that all social networking/dating sites are heavily data-mined. Almost all the big ones have servers in the USA - so you have zero privacy anyway. The kind of things I do to confuse the trackers is to use a proxy IP address, to use false names, false birthdays & always a free email - sometimes different emails for different dating or networking accounts, and a photo thats not 100% clear (e.g. with hat & sunglasses) to avoid face recognition. There are ways to get through all these defences,(e.g.. tap your internet connection) but I think it would be a lot of work & they wouldn't bother for most people.

[Humble Janitor]

So what? The internet has been exploding in usage for years now. So, some moron wants to send me an ad based on what I like? I'll block it. I don't care what people are doing because it's not like I have anything to hide.