Re: Welcome! You're now on the official DHS watchlist

["Solem, Vik P." <Vik.Solem () TUFTS EDU>]

When I read a story about this topic, I wonder if the story is simply true or if it is designed to sound simple enough 
for a news byte (mis-spelling intended).

Is someone really looking at a list of people whose email contain a simple list of keywords, or is that list contained 
in a few hundred lines of a 500,000 line program with a complex parsing algorithm that does the scanning?

I used to believe that latter was typically the case, but I have noticed a trend in our national government.  With the 
renewal of the USA PATRIOT act, the continued use of the  no-fly list (classified secret), and the passing of the NDAA. 
 We can see that the federal government seeks to monitor without any accountability, block people from traveling 
without having to tell them why (ever), and to do so with the power of the military operating within our borders.  hmm 
- if I disappear after I post this will somebody tell my family? ;^)

-Vik

Vik Solem, CISSP, Sr. Applications Risk Consultant
Tufts University, Information Security, vik.solem () tufts edu / 617-627-4326
InfoSec Team: information_security () tufts edu / 617-627-6070



On May 28, 2012, at 18:54 , Gene Spafford wrote:

> I resent this kind of broadly-based, no-real-reason monitoring.   I suggest we all use some of the words, chosen at 
> random, in our social media postings.  
>
> On May 28, 2012, at 6:42 PM, randy marchany wrote:
>
> > Thanks to my buddy, Bryce Galbraith for this link. If you take a look at the Cybersecurity section, all of us have 
> > used these words in emails since it's our job. The link pretty much says what the topic is.
> >
> > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2150281/REVEALED-Hundreds-words-avoid-using-online-dont-want-government-spying-you.html
> >
> > To my fellow conspirators who want a pork sandwich in Mexico, I salute you! This'll make sense when you read the 
> > article. :-)
> >
> > -r.