Hacker Rattles Security Circles

Hacker Rattles Security Circles

Not travel-related, but security-related. Hacker, ostensibly an Iranian software engineer, has hacked into several databases around the world, creating fake credentials and messing with sites' security certificates. Going by the name Comodohacker, he brags about his prowess, which indicates that he's a young buck, not anyone from the secret police or intelligence agencies. He also purports to be an equal-opportunity hacker.

Oh, yeah. The U.S. has already indicated this. Remember that memo that was leaked from DHS? I posted it last year at the Cogblog; can dig up and re-post here. We're all terrorists now, baby, we're all terrorists now.

(Hey, maybe we need a new acronym for that -- WATN. The glossary grows larger by the day!)

Quoting from one article here, and will post further info on that leaked DHS memo after:

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2011/05/drones-becoming-pervasive-inside.html

Definitions of "domestic extremist" the DHS keeps promulgating. First we had this one in 2009:

“Domestic Extremism Lexicon” is dated March 26 [2009]—shortly before the flap over the right-wing extremism memo broke out. According to a spokesperson for DHS, the memo was recalled “within minutes” of being issued, though the spokesperson declined to offer any details on the reasons for its withdrawal.

“This is just one of a series of these reports that have been leaking recently,” Mike German, policy counsel at the ACLU's Washington DC legislative office, told The Daily Beast. “I guess I can understand the interest in making sure there is some common understanding of the terms they're using. The problem with it obviously is the terms and descriptions are so overly broad that many people who are simply advocating for issues they believe in, or don't even advocate but just hold opinions that are described here, would be greatly offended at being called an extremist and having their views being monitored by the government.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-30/who-you-calling-an-extremist/full/

And then we had this one, from an account published November 23, 2010:

'The memo, which actually takes the form of an administrative directive, appears to be the product of undated but recent high level meetings between Napolitano, John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA),and one or more of Obama’s national security advisors. This document officially addresses those who are opposed to, or engaged in the disruption of the implementation of the enhanced airport screening procedures as “domestic extremists.”'

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30286

And quoting a Glenn Greenwald column:

'Just to underscore the climate of lawless initmidation that has been created: before WikiLeaks was on many people's radars (i.e., before the Apache video release), I wrote about the war being waged on them by the Pentagon, interviewed Assange, and urged people to donate money to them. In response, numerous people asked -- both in comments and via email -- whether they would be in danger, could incur legal liability for providing material support to Terrorism or some other crime, if they donated to WikiLeaks. Those were American citizens expressing that fear over an organization which had never been remotely charged with any wrongdoing.'

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/06/wikileaks/index.html

Yes, I know about these. PDs around the country are salivating over these. Some already have them, like in Texas.

Sorry, I know I shouldn't, but this had me laughing out loud!