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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, June 30, 2006

Is your internet usage being tracked?

After the reports of the various warrantless spy programs and secret NSA rooms along AT&T's internet backbone in San Francisco and St. Louis, I think the answer is very probably.

I'm not tech enough to know if this is hooey, but a blog at Wired has a way to trace the routers your internet traffic goes through.

Mine went through AT&T Dallas, so I guess I'm gonna have to be more careful when I talk about "car bombs" in Iraq and "President Bush"'s policies, or the "gift" I'm bringing to my friends "wedding." (Hellooooo, Mr. NSA-man.)

(Slow news afternoon. It looks like the long weekend has already started in Washington.)

posted by mikevotes at 5:33 PM

6 Comments:

  • some people will do anything for traffic :)
    Next thing you know Canada will be organising border raids.

    By Blogger Cartledge, at 6:29 PM  

  • So is this bogus? I really don't know.

    Or were you referring to my NSA bait? If so, I'd really be just as happy if they didn't drop by. I was trying to make the point about the excessive triggers they probably have for monitoring.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 6:52 PM  

  • I really don't know. I tried the trace route - which is through Seattle from here. Nothing on it.
    As to the technology, they can certainly do those things, but it's still a blunt instrument.
    However much technology they employ, and the better it is, the more real people are needed to sift it.
    You can bet they aren't agents from the Corps. The attrition rate is so high among them that word would be out in days.
    You ordinary agent is not best pleased at being used as a spy. So that leaves lots of government agents which is equally unlikely.
    I remain skeptical, not of the attempt but the value.

    By Blogger Cartledge, at 7:56 PM  

  • I see the whole thing as a matter of algorhythms. For anything like this to work on a mass scale, you would need something pretty discriminating to weed it all down.

    But, if anybody has the capability it's the US government. And, quite frankly, I don't view my privacy being invaded by a machine, but not rising to the view of a human as distinct.

    I am still being suspected and scanned.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:19 PM  

  • This is the intrusion that really pisses me off. Forget the surfing- I wonder...are we all typing trip words (dissent)? Are we getting, singled out & channeled?

    Hell, they've turned me into a conspiracy nut. Actually, those two words together are nearly an oxymoron these days.

    By Blogger Chuck, at 10:02 PM  

  • Well, conspiracy has been effectively associated with "discredited," but that's not really the only proper use of the word.

    "Conspiracy to defraud" for instance.

    But as a more general response, I got a tin foil hat up on the shelf with a whole lotta miles on it.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:30 PM  

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