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Should the U. S. Government Monitor DP For Potential Threats?

Should the U. S. Government Monitor DP For Potential Threats?

  • Total voters
    38
MildSteel said:
I think that if they are doing that, they are wasting time and money on a site like this.
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I've not seen every single post put up since I've been here obviously. But I can say that I've never seen where one poster has threatened another, or where a poster has threatened violence to our government!
 
MildSteel said:
That would be f""""" up.
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Well I mean that's the biggest threat to any government system. People figuring out that they're being duped and pushing for change.
 
Montecresto said:
Well I mean that's the biggest threat to any government system. People figuring out that they're being duped and pushing for change.
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I hear what you are saying. Having said that, I think the biggest threat is people NOT figuring out they are being duped and NOT pushing for change. That is actually the biggest problem.
 
MildSteel said:
I hear what you are saying. Having said that, I think the biggest threat is people NOT figuring out they are being duped and NOT pushing for change. That is actually the biggest problem.
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Well, that's the threat to you and me. But that's no threat to the establishment, it rather serves their ends.
 
paddymcdougall said:
It's a website anyone can sign up for. Now to find out our personal contact info - that should take a warrant. Reading a public website? doubt it needs one.
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Anything beyond casual examination, like use of computer programs to parse out trends and patterns, should require a warrant. A casual encounter with police is fine, but longterm surveillance requires a warrant.
 
Montecresto said:
Well, that's the threat to you and me. But that's no threat to the establishment, it rather serves their ends.
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Its not only you and me, its a threat to the general masses. And actually, it is somewhat of a threat to the establishment because they need some protection from each other.
 
shrubnose said:
The NSA and the FBI have been monitoring the internet for a long time. :roll:
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That is true. But don't you think they are wasting their time if they are monitoring a site like this?
 
MildSteel said:
That is true. But don't you think they are wasting their time if they are monitoring a site like this?
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No I don't. I've seen some comments on this forum that should be looked into.
 
shrubnose said:
No I don't. I've seen some comments on this forum that should be looked into.
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Really? I haven't, but then again, I haven't been posting here that long, nor do I go to some portions of the site. From what I have seen, it is a waste of time.
 
Obviously there are lots of other forums on the internet where the government might find more threats.
 
paddymcdougall said:
It's a website anyone can sign up for. Now to find out our personal contact info - that should take a warrant. Reading a public website? doubt it needs one.
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It doesn't. Anything you post to the public is public domain. What you write here is no more or less private than if you had written an editorial to a newspaper.

MildSteel said:
What would be the value in monitoring a site like this tho? I really don't think there is anything to be gained
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Like this one? Not much. But others? Certainly. When Boko Haram decided to pledge to ISIL, for example, the first public indications were on an African Social media site.
 
MildSteel said:
Anyone can read it, no doubt about that. What would be the value in monitoring a site like this tho? I really don't think there is anything to be gained.
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Nor do I. I suspect that when somebody here goes off talking about when it would be kosher to murder government officials, they are simply trying to show off for fellow extremists and trying to gain Brownie points with their fellow fanatics. They are no more serious than a whoopee cushion.
 
MildSteel said:
Its not only you and me, its a threat to the general masses. And actually, it is somewhat of a threat to the establishment because they need some protection from each other.
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Yeah, to society, everybody is what I meant.
 
MildSteel said:
That is true. But don't you think they are wasting their time if they are monitoring a site like this?
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If all they're looking for is people that might be plotting some sort of violence, joining the Islamic State, planning domestic jihad or something, yes. But keeping an eye on people free from the encumbrances of partisan myopia, people that might be a threat to the status quo, two party corruption, probably not. Such lists could come in handy.
 
Montecresto said:
If all they're looking for is people that might be plotting some sort of violence, joining the Islamic State, planning domestic jihad or something, yes. But keeping an eye on people free from the encumbrances of partisan myopia, people that might be a threat to the status quo, two party corruption, probably not. Such lists could come in handy.
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If so, that is a terrible indictment on the state of our democracy. That means it will be difficult from keeping those with power from misusing such.
 
MildSteel said:
What do you think?
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This is a public forum and therefore not subject to the fourth amendment. Sure but I've never seen anything posited here that I've even been alarmed over. That said, I've been on anther forum based overseas where people were sympathetic to Al Qaeda and in attempts to understand them I would ask them questions and sometimes argue, I'm sure I have an FBI/NSA file.
 
MildSteel said:
What do you think?
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I read somewhere a few years back that they actually insert posters as well to jostle things. I don't why they shouldn't read or even participate, even if that participation has a dishonest front face. All of us could, who knows for sure if some of us aren't just playing parts on here? We don't, we can't know.

I was at a one forum where a woman managed to convince everyone she was a lawyer, giving out advise, being asked advise. Turned out someone met her and found out she was really a high school dropout with schizophrenia. She was convincing most of the time. There near the end, she began to loose it, and that's why someone tracked her down, but gosh, 9 years she pulled it off. It'd be nothing for someone to do a Stephen Colbert in a forum. And for an agent trained to do so, we'd never even suspect.
 
Paschendale said:
Anything beyond casual examination, like use of computer programs to parse out trends and patterns, should require a warrant. A casual encounter with police is fine, but longterm surveillance requires a warrant.
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No. The police are allowed to increase surveillance in an area, just not target a specific person for that increased surveillance without a warrant. This would be an area, not a particular person unless you can show that they are doing it only to a specific site rather than many different types of sites.
 
Montecresto said:
If all they're looking for is people that might be plotting some sort of violence, joining the Islamic State, planning domestic jihad or something, yes. But keeping an eye on people free from the encumbrances of partisan myopia, people that might be a threat to the status quo, two party corruption, probably not. Such lists could come in handy.
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So long as the list contains nothing more that what the general public or members could choose to accumulate, I don't see the problem. If they are gaining access to our non-public, non-member information without a warrant, then I see that as the tipping point.
 
MildSteel said:
What do you think?
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Yes of course, they are most certainly already doing this on a daily basis. Especially in the conservative posters here are held under high scrutiny of course by Obama and his liberal cronies ;)

No but seriously. I think that all message boards foreign and domestic have to at least be macro monitored to identify whether or not a lot of traffic comes with known countries that have many supporters of Isis and muslim terrorism. If websites are visited numerously out of areas under control of Isis or Boko Haram, then the US government would be insane not to monitor that even more closely and they can only find that if they have a macro surveillance of all websites to begin with.
 
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