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See the original image at guardian.co.uk —

Security Services want personal data from Facebook

guardian.co.uk — Ministers say terrorists and other criminals are using free websites as a way of concealing their communications.

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  • mattsidesinger, on 10/15/2008, -2/+113No they are not. You can't invade every site with that lame excuse. Stop it.
    • avasol, on 10/16/2008, -0/+17They're saying;
      People that disagree with the current Administration sometimes use FaceBook. These people must be located, put on the terrorlist, so that they can be whisked away, before their opinion "infects" others.

      The question that should be asked is, what defines a person as a terrorist?

      ***** it let's just put a star on everyone that wants a change and herd them into camps that serve magic koolaid.



      • cJw314, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Shouldn't be long now, avasol.
      • Cwo655321, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1its not the administrations fault, its facebooks. If they want info on you all they have to do is ask for it there's no way that motherzucker will turn them down.
    • DoogieHowitzer, on 10/16/2008, -1/+1If you're right, and they're using it as an excuse to spy on their own law abiding citizens, I couldn't agree more that its a sick tactic. That said, would you want social networking sites to help law enforcement if known terrorists happened to have had a profile on their site? I would. Given how popular these sites are, I'd be surprised if none of them had active profiles.
      • rashawty, on 10/16/2008, -0/+8Actually i wouldn't want the website to help law enforcement. This is how it starts, they invade your privacy but tell you it's for your safety and that as long as you abide by the law you have nothing to worry about. If they want info from websites they need to present it to a judge convince him that they have probably cause and check the suspect and only the suspect.

        I know privacy in England is greatly diminished than what we are used to in America (at least it used to be) but things like this are the governments way of whittling away rights without people noticing.

        Go read 1984, it's where we are headed.
    • Meekus, on 10/16/2008, -1/+8Good bye liberty. We tried to keep you. But, we the people, do not seem to care enough about you to hold on any longer. We had fun together. But it is for the greater good that we must part ways now.
    • Lockhart, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Next, they're gonna say that they want "personal data" from Bangbros because the website might be harboring weapons of mass destruction.
      • graemee, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Wang's of Massive Depth.
      • Modulo, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1tsk, Weapons of Ass Destruction or... WADs. Know your terminology people.
    • graemee, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2They just don't want to pay for it, like the media outlets. After all Facebook owns everything you post - FOREVER
  • imacommi, on 10/15/2008, -1/+49Perfect example of Government trying to get their hands on everything. HANDS OFF!
    • pbol01, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Government isn't a bad thing, but bad politicians are a cancer that destroy the institutions that were put in place to serve the people. Government is the people for the people.
      But with unempathetic people like George and Dick in power all things get deranged.
      Any person with just half a brain would realize that peoples privacy is their own, and can only be accessed by the public, if the individual does evil. And this can only be decided by the courts.
      Today you can't even fly without renouncing your rights to privacy, what the hell is that?
    • priegog, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2NO TOUCHING!
      /arrested development
  • redcolumbine, on 10/15/2008, -0/+21It would almost be amusing to think of these clueless public serpents sifting through screens and screens of vapid chatspeak if it weren't for the true "usefulness" of such surveillance: To harass dissenters.
    • hopefuel, on 10/22/2008, -0/+4trouble is in reality it's somewhat less clueless employees, contractors and consultants working for the private IT services industry. Getting paid a fortune in tax pounds. Just wait six months for them to get drunk and lose an unencrypted disk/flash drive/laptop/PDA with all your personal data on it.

      The amount of central databases that the UK gvt is compiling right now is of serious concern, especially with their shockingly appalling track record of tech projects/programmes.

      NO2ID etcetc.


  • MariusAgricola, on 10/15/2008, -0/+35This is a typical tactic. Their claim, as always, is that [insert criminal]s use [insert new-fangled technology] for nearly anonymous communication. What's interesting in a perverse sort of way, is that they start off with the specter of terrorism and end up in the usual place: pedophiles, drug traffickers, and kidnappers, which have nothing to do with terrorism.

    Of course, there's a reason that social networking sites don't mandate the collection of certain information (especially information that can be easily traced back to the creator): liability. If that personally-identifiable information falls into the wrong hands (see World Bank Hacked for more details), then Facebook, et al, could be held liable for the misuse of the information that might occur. Are UK citizens willing to pick up the tab on such lawsuits?
  • Jimmyb207, on 10/15/2008, -0/+4That the government for you. If it's good for the people, it's bad for them. So they do the only thing they know how to do which is Demonize and Destroy. There...no more pesky mass communication sites that will quickly disperse the truth and foil their evil plans.
  • PersonalJesus, on 10/15/2008, -2/+6And that is why I deleted my Facebook account months ago. Of course it took me hours to delete every message and comment. I even went as far as making up a fake name, then "closing" the account permanently (sort of).

    I don't want them to keep my information forever. I don't trust the internets.
    • stealthspc, on 10/16/2008, -1/+7Then get off it?
    • fugularity, on 10/16/2008, -0/+3Please, you can't ever fully delete your facebook account, it isn't even worth trying.
      • rootsm3, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Well you can deactivate it but everything you ever did on the site is there forever.

      • Exekutor, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1there's a technique that involves deactivating it and creating a new account with the same email. It makes the account invalid, but the information still is there an can be traced back
      • piranhaa, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Deactivating and creating the account with the same email is useless. My brother tried creating an account for his friend under his own email (don't ask me why), it "deleted" his first account and he freaked. He emailed facebook asking to restore it and sure enough, within 24 hours, his entire account was restored..

        Also, I noticed when they moved everything to the new (and improved?) Facebook, that there are a lot of events from years ago that came back: Status updates, etc.

        I stay clear of posting anything REAL now. I'm currently in Importing and Exporting of Latex, while repairing bowling balls on the side for Banger Bowling. I'm married to Halle Barry and work for Vandelay Industries..
    • knowitman, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1What makes you think that your messages and account information still isn't being stored?
  • Bith8654, on 10/15/2008, -0/+49Sounds like one of the ministers knows a really hot girl who has her pictures set to private.
  • wheresmclean, on 10/16/2008, -0/+14Facebook stalking to a whole new level.
  • lelia1, on 10/16/2008, -2/+9Beware of anything you post online
    • Mujokan, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Personally I'm more worried about obsessives and mentally-ill people than the government.

      But misuse of anti-terror legislation still sucks.
    • Meocross, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Because they are watching every move you make.
    • Envenom, on 10/17/2008, -0/+1Why beware? Do you have something to hide?
  • netneutrality, on 10/16/2008, -0/+12The article says "The plan will need international cooperation since many of the new CSPs are based abroad, notably in the US". Exactly. There are millions of little forums scattered all over the Web, which are everywhere geographically. Suddenly every one of them is supposed to comply with arbitrary new rules made up by the British security services to collect everyone's name and address? No? Just Facebook, MySpace, MSN, and Bebo then? And what will that accomplish besides sending criminals elsewhere or making them enter fake data?

    Answer: nothing. It'll just be a huge load of arbitrary rules and infrastructure destined to waste time and huge amounts of money.

    Why can't there be at least some politicians in the world who aren't flaming idiots when it comes to basic understanding of the Internet?
    • ElcyionCoire, on 10/16/2008, -0/+6What it does is set a precedent that will allow them to continue to spy on their countries citizens w/o any chance of defending your privacy. It's just another step on your privacy towards an Orwellian state.
      • rashawty, on 10/16/2008, -0/+3Not only does it set a precedent but if this succeeds other countries are going to want to jump on the bandwagon. What better way to "protect us" than spy on us.
  • uHaveASmallDigg, on 10/16/2008, -0/+42You were poked by big brother.
  • pocodiablo1, on 10/16/2008, -2/+19You have been invited to join the group "durka durka muhammed jihad"
  • uncertainty, on 10/16/2008, -0/+6At least they're asking for it. The US government has probably already taken it.
    But if the government doesn't have it, then some advertising agency does. My favorite part of facebook's privacy policy is, "Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, [or] to protect our interests or property..."
  • Ryan121, on 10/16/2008, -1/+10By doing this then we're just proving that the terrorists have won.
    • Meocross, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Oh they have won alright, to the point that they dont have to lift a finger on the downfall of this nation.
  • exspasticcomics, on 10/16/2008, -1/+2agent 'jim' would like to be added as your friend. agent 'ted' is a member of the brittany spears fan club. agent 'fred' has just added the band gwar as a friend on his myspace.
  • m7even, on 10/16/2008, -1/+11Osama bin laden has facebook?! *add*
  • fugularity, on 10/16/2008, -8/+1Hey guys, I just figured I'd let you know I sliced the cheddar something really righteous over here in the corner.
  • ylikone, on 10/16/2008, -0/+9This new generation of terrorist doesn't mind having their profile up on facebook with some even going so far as to leave their profile completely open. US forces now just have to scan facebook and lookup tell-tale signs such as status "is back from a bombing" or wall posts like "remember scheduled monthly meeting for electing next suicide bomber volunteer".
  • aftern9ne, on 10/16/2008, -4/+3Screw you, Britain!
  • esteskid, on 10/16/2008, -0/+9In other news: Any mother ***** on the street can buy a stolen pay as you go phone and terrorists are using them to plot against us! Must ban pay as you go phones!
  • LurkingOnDigg, on 10/16/2008, -0/+21I guess the days of planning my terrorist threats on Facebook are over.
  • drakenlot, on 10/16/2008, -0/+8They should tell the truth.

    They want to see all of the pictures of half-naked, drunk college chicks slumped over their beds.

    You know... for research...
    • Mujokan, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1*half-naked, drunk terrorist chicks
    • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Well if you add up all the damages drunken college girls have caused over the years, both directly (breaking *****) and indirectly (getting pregnant and eventually welfare) they have probably done more damage than all the terrorists combined.
  • Denneval, on 10/16/2008, -0/+11Yes, as I had suspected, Al Queda have been using the ZOMBIES and Friends For Sale applications as mediums for terrorist operations.

    Nothing says terrorism more than "Cody just bought Courtney for $1001593! Owned!"
  • fszymanski, on 10/16/2008, -0/+4This is bull**** with the government expanding interest in terrorists, they can change the laws to do what they please. When ever they want to do something they can just say theres a terrorist on that site. So this meens with in the next few years they can track everything we do with us knowing and theres nothing we can do about it. Whos the real terrorist?
    • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Oh don't worry, I'm sure the government will create an agency soon enough to find terrorists IN the government...
  • Solkre, on 10/16/2008, -0/+6This is *****. Do terrorists play WoW? Should we give over all WoW logs and voicechats?
  • pstroll, on 10/16/2008, -0/+13I thought the terrorists were still use Quake 3. They type their messages out in rail gun morse code.
  • tobyloc, on 10/16/2008, -0/+5What kind of argument is this? If supposed 'bad' people are using 'x' to communicate with other 'bad' people then the government must be able to monitor, watch and record all events by everyone using 'x'? If terrorists meet in each other's houses then surely it's logical that the government can spy inside anyone's houses? If 'they' talk over the phone the government must be able to monitor all phone calls? Jacqui Smith is so thoughtless and frightening, with apparently no idea of the consequences of eroding privacy, every idea she comes up with sends shivers down my spine, god help us all.
  • KenSPT, on 10/16/2008, -0/+15I've been saying for years that Facebook is a threat. On a daily basis I'm being threatened to be bitten by zombies, chomped by vampires, and poked by 45 year old single women from Wisconsin.
  • andyb747, on 10/16/2008, -1/+9Welcome To China! - please leave your privacy rights and any other rights including human rights at the door or they will be confiscated.

    -Thank you-
    • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2They say thank you at the end?! They're so respectful!
  • neom, on 10/16/2008, -0/+11Pardon my ignorance... If I where a global terrorist, plotting to destroy the UK.. I'd probably just create an email account with some weird russian email provider? Unless that's not contrived enough.

    I can just see the invite now "IF 100,000 PEOPLE JOIN THIS GROUP WE WONT BLOW UP BIG BEN."
    • evo8ftw, on 10/16/2008, -1/+1win
    • Mujokan, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Just frigging PGP everything.
    • Meocross, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Expect email records to be the governments next target, if they arent already.
      • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2I thought they already did, or is that just the U.S.?
  • xsecretfiles, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1If they are, I'm not befriending them that's for sure.........
  • aimhelix, on 10/16/2008, -0/+5***** off! I suggest the government makes their own facebook profile and make their own friends. No cheating friend whores..
  • kravex, on 10/16/2008, -0/+3The joke is that they have no understanding of how much data this is, how long do they think it will take to look through 1 days worth of data from all these site?

    The politicians say things like this and the government IT departments face palm.
    • oninbonin, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1And then they go back to their Word 97 document they are creating on their NT 4.0 OS. haha! Serious though, the US govt is still using ancient software, I work with some of them.
    • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2They will probably just use some software that detects key words or something.
  • Sublex, on 10/16/2008, -0/+13***** no.

    If the Government wants access, they'll have to sign up and send a friend request.
    • dynelol, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1You'll get one with the pointing Uncle Sam.
      • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1And if you reject it, the government tells the court you clearly aren't "friends with America" and the court gives permission to spy on you.
  • quaffapint, on 10/16/2008, -0/+4Does that really come to a shock to anyone? They can listen in to phone calls - they're bound to get to your clear text messages as well...:P

    Just use free encrypted message sending, such as on http://www.whisperbot.com , or use something like PGP secure emails.
  • dynelol, on 10/16/2008, -0/+4They're in for a really ***** boring time. FaceBook and MySpace are *****.
  • Technoidatx, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Facebook is a datamine
  • hasslinthehoff, on 10/16/2008, -0/+14Shut down the internet. Terrorists might be using it possibly.
  • MemoryDump, on 10/16/2008, -1/+10the government just can't stand the fact that they can't control the internet... screw off.. leave us alone.. start your own internet
  • Icetype, on 10/16/2008, -1/+5Because nobody said it yet, 1984 up in this bitch.
  • tufftugg, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1 It seems the American and British Government is concerned about all the Terrorist communication going on in the U.S and Britain.. Shouldn't all information about each citizen of these counties, be available to everyone in the World, so we can watch out for all these Terrorist that are there?
  • cJw314, on 10/16/2008, -3/+2In before "1984 up in this bitch"!!!


    :edit: ...damn. :/edit:
  • connieLingus, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1professional terrorists, using facebook?? ha...i lol in their general directions.

    i am pretty sure that REAL terrorists grabbed a copy of PGP and are securely plotting their despicable plots bathed in the comfort of 2048-bit encryption
  • protogenxl, on 10/16/2008, -6/+1Hey, Hey check this out It's me in an 80's Movie

    http://www.keebler.net/blog/wp-content/images/2005 ...
  • evo8ftw, on 10/16/2008, -2/+1oh noes not the facebooks
  • hamface, on 10/16/2008, -3/+2Dr. Paul WOULD NOT STAND FOR THIS. Dr. Paul WOULD STAND FOR SOMETHING RADICALLY DIFFERENT.
    • Bith8654, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1Cool, next time Ron Paul runs for Prime minister, elect him.
  • unluckier, on 10/16/2008, -0/+1If you put something on a public web site (e.g. Facebook, Myspace), then you MUST assume that everything on there is public. If you use actual personal information in your profile, and you think your data is safe there because your profile is flagged as "private" or whatnot, you've got a lot to learn about privacy!
  • harrisbradley, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Go poke yourself Big Brother
  • Meocross, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Terrorists are using Yahoo messenger!
    Terrorists are also hiding in the google forums!
    Terrorists are using 4chan!
    Terrorists are now using Online games as their hideout!
    Terrorists are using p2p for transfers!
    Terrorists are now using ipod nanos as the tools for world destruction.
    • neurobox, on 10/16/2008, -0/+2Terrorists are on Digg voting independent and plotting to radicalize others with their anti-globalist rhetoric and propaganda!

      Welcome to the extremist fringe :P
  • maclauk, on 10/16/2008, -0/+3Time to start using onion routers like TOR. To all of you who are able : go and set up some more TOR servers and see Big Brother try to trace that lot.... Also get a PayAsYouGo mobile using cash and don't turn it on in your home, your work or anywhere else you regularly go and can easily be identified.

    OK, not so practical for most of us, but plainly easy for the real bad guys who have a bit of knowledge. So government again brilliantly finds a way to monitor the average member of the public and completely fails to do any good in tackling serious crime or terrorism.

    BTW, this is derived from an EU directive from 2006.... read it here :

    http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do? ...

    and here :

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_da ...
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