I know this should be obvious, but maybe to some it is not
How The CIA Monitors The Internet
The CIA recently revealed that it has set up an "Open Source Center" that trolls the Internet for useful information. For several years after September 11, 2001 the CIA was urged to do this. They invited people who ran open source analysis web sites (like StrategyPage) down to Langley to explain how this was done. And the message most of these visiting lecturers gave was basically the same; the information is out there, you just have to go take it and use it.
It was also pointed out that there are already marketing and BI (Business Intelligence, or corporate espionage) operations using what the CIA eventually built for their Open Source Center; software to gather all this information, filter and organize it, and then turn it over to analysts to be sorted out, or, in many cases, translated more accurately. That last bit was necessary because machine translation software can automatically translate all those tweets and postings so that stuff can be identified and put in a data base. But in order to get really useful (to the CIA) intelligence, you need skilled linguists and analysts to double check, and also find out if the selecting and sorting software needs to be tweaked (it often does).
This massive, real-time combing of social media and open (to anyone) message traffic has yielded a much more accurate and timely analysis of political, religious, cultural and military trends worldwide. It has also made the deployment of agents and other scarce resources (reconnaissance and electronic eavesdropping satellites, aircraft and ships) more effective.
The impetus for the Open Source Center actually came from within the CIA, but it was the post September 11, 2001 urgency, and obvious examples of civilian organizations using open source material, that got the CIA brass (and sufficient cash) on board. Once the Open Source Center began to show results (that happened quickly), it was easier to admit that this sort of thing had been going on for a long time. From the beginning, the CIA depended a lot on simply reading (and clipping) foreign newspapers, plus having agents wander about in foreign nations and report on what was being heard on "the street." But this is more time consuming and collects less data than the Open Source Center. Moreover, by having all this open source data in a database, it is possible to use widely available (or custom made) analysis software to extract all sorts of useful, but not initially obvious, information.
The Open Source Center still uses agents on the spot, collecting what "the street" is saying. But now these reports get into a database, where they undergo further analysis, and comparison to what the "Internet street" is saying. Often these two "streets" are not saying the same thing, which is also valuable information. In many parts of the world, only a small portion of the population is on the Internet. With the proliferation of cell phones that can access the Internet, this is changing. But you have to track this in order to know what these different branches are going.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20111110.aspx
It is happening more and more
Flash Mob Shoplifts at Silver Spring 7-Eleven
About 50 people simultaneously shoplifted from a Silver Spring, Md., 7-Eleven Saturday night.
Officers arriving at the store in the 12200 block of Tech Road after 11:20 p.m. saw several people gathered in surrounding parking lots and on side streets, police said. They began to disperse when police arrived.
The shoplifters -- described as teens and young adults -- took items including snacks and drinks, police said
Police stopped a group of six people ages 16-18 near Tech Road and Broadbirch Drive. Each had items from the 7-Eleven but no receipts, police said.
Detectives are investigating whether the shoplifters had attended a birthday party in the area, police said.
In August, a flash mob of dozens of young people entered a 7-Eleven in Germantown and took items without paying, police said.
Flash mob crime in the county has prompted lawmakers to consider teen loitering legislation and a teen curfew.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Flash-Mob-Knocks-Over-Silver-Spring-7-Eleven-134286103.html
It is not that they settled for anything
Feds fail to get conviction on homemade zip gun, settle for ammo charge
MOBILE, Alabama — Law enforcement officials were not quite sure what to make of the homemade gun that was in Richard Douglas Durham’s bag when Alabama State Troopers pulled him over in May on his way to a motorcycle club meeting in Mobile.
It had a handle wrapped in leather straps protruding from the front of a leather glove and a cylindrical, metal tube coming out the other side. It had no trigger.
Baldwin County prosecutors first charged the 44-year-old Brewton man with possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Authorities also charged him with possession of brass knuckles, but that didn’t apply, either, since Durham did not have them concealed on his body.
Eventually, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took the case to federal prosecutors in Mobile. ATF agents found 2 possible violations related to the gun: possession of an unregistered “destructive device” and possession of a firearm without a serial number.
But prosecutors failed to convince the jury that the defendant knew the bore was too big or did not have a serial number.
In fact, Assistant Federal Defender Fred Tiemann argued at his client’s federal trial in Mobile last week, Durham did not even know he had a gun. The cylindrical tube was concealed in the glove and closed off with electrical tape when the defendant received it, Tiemann said.
“It wasn’t a typical firearm. It wasn’t an obvious firearm. It had never been fired,” Tiemann said in an interview. “I’d never seen a homemade gun before. I’d never had a client charged with a homemade gun before.”
Investigators said the weapon, known by the slang term “zip gun,” resembles other firearms put together in basements and garages using readily available materials. It was fully functional, according to ATF lab tests. Pushing the handle would trigger the fire mechanism and launch pellets from a shotgun shell through the tube.
“I’ve seen them over the years, but not too often,” said Mike Messinger, the resident agent in charge of the ATF in Mobile. “I haven’t seen one constructed like that.”
Troopers pulled Durham’s motorcycle over on May 16 on Interstate 65 in Baldwin County as he was on his way to a meeting of the Pistoleros. Tiemann said an acquaintance gave Durham the device.
“He didn’t fool with it, so he didn’t know what it was,” Tiemann said.
The man who gave Durham the weapon was never charged. Investigators said that they tried but failed to locate him.
Tiemann said his client believes that the man who gave him the gun set him up. The trooper denied that, testifying that he pulled the motorcycle over after Durham failed to signal a lane change. Finding the gun and ammo was just a coincidence, he testified.
Because of a 1993 conviction for receiving stolen property, Durham can’t legally have a gun. But that law requires prosecutors to prove the gun was manufactured elsewhere and crossed state lines to establish federal jurisdiction, and investigators could not determine where the homemade gun was made, leaving them to pursue the registration and serial number charges.
Although the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on those counts, Durham was not in the clear. Prosecutors did get a conviction on a third charge: possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. Testimony indicated that troopers found 2 shells from a 12-gauge shotgun in Durham’s bag and another shell inside one of the fingers of the glove.
U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose will sentence Durham in March; he faces about 3 years in prison under advisory guidelines.
http://blog.al.com/live/2011/11/feds_fail_to_get_conviction_on.html
Obama issues 5 pardons, 1 prison commutation
President Barack Obama on Monday pardoned five people convicted of charges ranging from intent to distribute marijuana to running an illegal gambling business.
And he issued his first commutation, ordering the release of a woman next month after serving 10 years on a 22-year sentence for cocaine distribution.
The actions mark Obama's third set of pardons. He pardoned eight people earlier this year, and issued nine pardons in December 2010.
None of those pardoned was well-known, as was the case with the president's previous orders. The cases date back to 1984, when Martin Kaprelian of Park Ridge, Ill., was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce, and other related charges.
Obama commuted the 2001 prison sentence of Eugenia Marie Jennings of Alton, Ill. Jennings was convicted in 2001 for distributing cocaine, and sentenced to 22 years in prison. The president ordered her to be released next month, but kept intact her eight years of supervised release.
Others who received pardons:
_ Lesley Claywood Berry Jr. of Loretto, Ky., sentenced in 1988 to three years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana.
_ Dennis George Bulin of Wesley Chapel, Fla., sentenced in 1987 to five years of probation and a $20,000 fine for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 pounds of marijuana.
_ Ricky Dale Collett of Annville, Ky., sentenced in 2002 to one year of probation for aiding and abetting in the manufacture of 61 marijuana plants.
_ Thomas Paul Ledford of Jonesborough, Tenn., sentenced in 1995 to one year of probation for conducting and directing an illegal gambling business.
http://wtop.com/?nid=289&sid=2642209
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