Attention Colorado: (Stasi)State Police wants you to spy on your neighbors

[IChing]

Douglas County Sheriff's Sgt. Kenneth Rost, right, watches a demonstration Monday of the state's new website counterterrorism tool as President Bush appears on TV at the Pentagon. (Post / Brian Brainerd

Colorado counterterrorism officials used the 9/11 anniversary to launch an Internet system that lets ordinary people electronically report "suspicious activity" - ferreting out possible terrorist bombers or plotters in their midst.

The system lets anybody with Internet access send a report and photos (via www.ciac.co.gov) documenting anything that strikes them as suspicious.

Officials said suspicious activity may include "unusual requests for information," "unusual interest in high-risk or symbolic targets," "unusual purchases or thefts," "suspicious or unattended packages," "suspicious persons who appear out of place" or people acquiring weapons, uniforms or fraudulent identification.

A report sent through the system would ping the e-mail of a law enforcement staffer at an intelligence relay station, the Colorado Information Analysis Center, located in Centennial in a secure building looped into federal computer networks.

Multi-agency teams in this "fusion" center, with access to classified data, then would review the report, perhaps running license-plate or other personal- data checks, and could notify the FBI.



It's unclear what happens to names, locations and other information sent to the FBI. Everybody who sends in a tip will get a response, officials said.

Coloradans could abuse the system "to undermine their neighbors or their enemies," said State Patrol Sgt. Jack Cowart,>>>>snip


http://www.denverpost.com/war/ci_4321274

Stasi

The Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS / Ministry for State Security), commonly known as the Stasi (from Staatssicherheit), was the main security (secret police) and intelligence organization of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

The Stasi's influence over almost every aspect of life in the German Democratic Republic cannot be overestimated. Until the mid-1980s, a civilian network of informants called Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (IMs, Unofficial Collaborators) grew within both Germanies, East and West. By the East German collapse in 1989, it is estimated that the Stasi had 91,000 full time employees and 300,000 informants. This means approximately one in fifty East Germans collaborated with the Stasi, one of the highest penetrations of any society by an intelligence gathering organization


During the regime's final days in 1989-90, panicking Stasi officials attempted to shred the files of their documents, both using paper shredders and tearing them by hand when the shredders collapsed under the load. The hastily stored bags of paper pieces were found soon after and confiscated by the new government. In 1995, the German government hired a Zirndorf team to reassemble the documents; 6 years later the three dozen archivists commissioned on the projects were through only 300 bags; they then switched to computer-assisted data recovery to process the remaining 16,000 bags - estimated to contain 33 million pages. <4>

Stasi archives


Mielke and Stasi Officers

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

[fooj]

1. WTF?

"suspicious persons who appear out of place"

[IChing]

2. WTF is what I thought too

The data base itself is remenicent of Stasi techniques.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. You know...

dreadlocks and chee wee.

[IChing]

6. I just sent off your reply to the site.

I found it suspicious

[dkofos]

18. you know that brown guy over there with the turbin

[tridim]

3. I guess there's no chance people will use this to rat out neighbors

they simply don't like.

How long will it take for the first white racist to turn in his black neighbor? I'd guess about a day.

[noonwitch]

12. Some people already abuse hotlines to harrass neighbors and exes

Ask any CPS worker who's been doing the job for a while.

[matcom]

5. notice they have FAUX 'News' on in the background?

:eyes:

[IChing]

7. The photo spoke for itself n/t

[madmusic]

9. Thanks! I missed that.

No surprise in hindsight.

[IChing]

24. Very Orwellian to say the least

What's next, torture in room 101, the thought police?

[Divine Discontent]

36. nice.

real nice... lol

[zreosumgame]

8. I can see it now

dark skinned fellow asks directions to a restroom, suddenly 45 FBI 'agents' leap to wrestle him to the ground, applies choke-hold to 'agressively' and he dies (never mind all those brusies and broken bones, he wil have died of 'drug abuse', in reality those drugs were the steroids the porker cops use to 'bulk up' and shrink their weenies). The story will be he was carrying 'dangerous liquids' he was going to use to destroy the sewage treatment plant down the road (the one with all those nice tax breaks and waivers for polluting). All because he wanted to take a piss.

Almost as sad as the death will be how many morons buy into that...

[Vanje]

10. "Immediately report people who photograph"....National landmarks

Oh, This is practical!


https://www.ciac.co.gov/index.cfmQ.

Excerpt from above website:
What kind of activity should I look for?

A. You should immediately report people who photograph, videotape, sketch, ask detailed questions or seek blueprints for:

Airports
Water supplies
Dams
Bridges
Major highway intersections,
Tunnels
Power plants and substations
Transmission towers
Pipelines
Tank farms
Military installations
Law enforcement agencies
Defense contract sites
Hospitals
Health research facilities
Internet
Phone
Cable
Communications facilities and towers
Capitol, court, and government buildings
Historic structures and national landmarks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stop everyting, Junior Secret Agents! Even as you read this, Theres terrorists with ....CAMERAS.....in our parks and towns ...TAKING PICTURES!....of LANDMARKS and HISTORICAL sites.

[IChing]

11. "Internet & Phone" ?

Think about that one for a second

[Vanje]

23. This is a sham.

www.ciac.co.gov
My first thought was they could use a proof-reader.
But it really is worse than that.
Its a sham, Like Brownies (heck-of-a-job!) FEMA. A veneer. A facade. A front for funneling huge sums of taxpayer money to cronies.

Its a fake.
I doubt theyve even figured out who will read the urgent reports generated by the site.
I bet the emailed reports accumulate in an unread inbox, somewere.
I shit you not!

[InternalDialogue]

41. I was just about to begin sketching the Internet

when I read your post. I just realized I can't do it -- and shouldn't, apparently!

And if I did, my cat would turn me in. That's just how she is.

[B3Nut]

14. Oh boy, that makes me a suspect! ;-)

Why, I have photos in my portfolio of Hoover Dam, sunsets using power lines and towers as graphic elements, bridges...heck just yesterday I made some photographs of a bridge over the Wisconsin River. And I have a bunch of airshow shots and many studies of fighter aircraft on static display.

I guess I'm an evil bad nasty person. Actually, to the cranially-vacuous Republican right, I am...since I'm an artist. :D

Hey Stasi-wannabes: I have two words for you: Fuck off.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[0rganism]

16. Of course, since cameras are embedded in cell phones now...

ANYONE WITH A CELL PHONE NEAR ONE OF THESE SITES IS SUSPECT

[F.Gordon]

34. I am soooooo fucked

:eyes:

Please come visit me when they haul my ass off to gitmo.
:hi:

[MadHound]

13. Do you want to screw this up royally?

Use it, early and often. Put in "tips" about your friendly neighborhood freeper. Or the postman, mayor, off duty cop. Anyone, anytime, just use it. Flood that office with so many "tips" that their system overloads and explodes.

This is blatantly unconstitutional, but in this day and age it will be a tough sell to have the courts declare it so. Therefore the only option left is to monkey wrench the damn thing, to the point that it is worthless. And if you're afraid of your "tip" being traced back to you, lodge it on a public compter, or over an open wifi network. Use the computers at your local school, university, Kinkos or internet cafe. Make this system so overloaded that it is useless.

[MissB]

21. Yep.

[suziedemocrat]

42. Yeah, I've seen Postmen carrying "suspicious packages". n/t

[Rex]

15. Spy on your neighbors, spy on your family, spy on your co-workers

Bush's new Torture Bill would make it legal to arrest and hold people who are considered...what for it...spies. Yes, that is the word they use right next to the word terrorist. Spies. Gee, what are they trying to setup in this country? I just can't imagine. :eyes:

[dkofos]

17. Can we turn in the bUSH misadministration??

[bvar22]

39. YES!!!

But it would be more effective to turn in the Bush* supporters in your neighborhood.
They may have assault rifles and WMD precursors (bleach) in their basement!

[CBGLuthier]

19. Clog the system with garbage

Make the signal to noise ratio so poor that the system will be useless. Report every Jehovah's Witness that comes to your door.

[IChing]

20. That also puts you into the data base

no thanks

[CBGLuthier]

22. use library computers and post anonymously

[originalpckelly]

25. Well crap, I live in Colorado. This will suck.

WHO THE FUCK DOES THIS? We may organize a protest against this, as this is way too over the line!

[IChing]

27. ACLU is fighting this also this bit of news never reached DU

support the ACLU http://www.aclu.org/

[politicat]

26. Whatever... I can't even get the cops to respond when my neighbors...

are drunk and LOUD at three in the morning, or when they're beating the hell out of each other, or when they abuse their dog and let their cats run psycho all over the neighborhood.

Maybe if I report them as a drunken, noisy, abusive, neglectful cell of terrorists....

I have no hope for the various Policing agencies in this state. Ineptitude is their middle name. I have no doubt they will act on false reports, but since they can't even get the addresses on warrants on PROPERTIES THEY ARE SURVEILLING right....

[IChing]

28. I used to live in Denver and we know how those

Denver cops are.
Just turn anyone in, even your loud neighbors then they can go on the national no fly list and never leave.

[politicat]

37. Or... the DPD will arrive at their house with a no knock warrant and

shoot whoever answers the door dead because he's got a TV remote in hand and that might be a weapon.

Oh wait!! They ALREADY do that.

What's changed again??

And we're already on the no fly list -- me and the neighbors. Neighbors had a BATF violation a few years back (nothing huge, just an unregistered weapon that ended up in their house after a hunt and was discovered during a domestic altercation) and we're... (shhh...) Democrats.

(Actually, I am on the Super Secret Security Search list. I don't get body cavity checks (yet) but I do get the grilling and the triple wanding. I don't know why. I no longer fly because I know that neither Aunt Betty's nail nippers nor I am a danger, but people with cell phones and no sense of personal hygiene ARE a danger to my mental health when crowded into something that makes a Tokyo Rush hour train look roomy.)

[IChing]

38. Yeah, horror stories from DPD are too many to document here.

I found this news pretty depressing being from Colorado myself, I still have friends and family there.
I am sorry about your experiences, I don't know why this thread didn't get more votes because if this is a trend
and Colorado is a trend state, it is gonna go national, I think this was a test program that they want to take national.

[annabanana]

29. Every crazy old lady who thinks the neighbors are

looking at her cats "funny" will be clogging up their inbox

This oughta be good..

[eleny]

30. "Coloradans could abuse the system "to undermine their neighbors"

Like people in Afghanistan who turned in their neighbors. This whole deal disgusts me. I'm a Coloradoan and I say "NUTS".

[Hawkeye-X]

31. My neighbors

Are senior citizens. What the hell am I gonna turn them in for? Ordering Canadian drugs?

[eleny]

32. Suspicious packages from Home Shopping Network!

Oh, wait a sec. That could be me! Scratch that idea.

Hmmm... let me get back to you on that. M'kay?

[Hawkeye-X]

33. Never met anyone who buys from HSN

Nice to meet you! :hi:

[brazil]

40. By ordering Canadian drugs...

...your neighbors are depriving Big Pharma of their God-given profits, which is anti-American, and therefore aiding the terrorists. Burn them at the stake!

[RB TexLa]

35. be weary of saying you mind your own business to this

or get a good flame suit. I was told minding your own business when the police want you to spy on your neighbors is the most disgusting thing ever posted on DU.