Info Apocalypse: Facebook Crackdown, Police Wardriving, No Privacy In A Digital Millenium
If you’ve been following along over the past few months, you’ve read about
institutionalized electronic surveillance (and how to protect yourself), a public relations cover-up, fabricated news stories, where spyware comes from, collectors using cute Facebook decoys, and social networking being used against its users – there’s a good chance that you won’t be surprised to find some corroborating stories, though these two reveal just how far a police state can go when social networking takes the guesswork out of a crackdown and just how hopelessly insecure many users of technology happen to be.
Who Invited The Police?
Andrew Poole, who was celebrating his 30th birthday, claimed police riot vans turned up before any music was played.
But police said it had been advertised on the internet as an all-night party.
Mr Poole, a coach driver from Sowton, said 15 family and friends had come to the event, where they were watched by a police helicopter for about 15 minutes.
- Police helicopter sent to rave
at BBC News
The Register reports that Mr. Poole had “advertised on Facebook as an ‘all-night’ affair in case his guests wanted to stay the night” – no doubt his advertisement included the location, date, and time information which the police needed to find (and shut down) his event: information which Mr. Poole freely and knowingly proffered.
The moral of the story: An open invitation is a sure way to get closed down.
Australian Police Wardriving For Wi-Fi
Detective Inspector Bruce van der Graaf, head of the NSW Police Computer Crimes Unit, said he was watching the Queensland Police operation with interest.
“Apart from notifying people that their wireless is unsecure I don’t know what else would be achieved by it but if their trial is fruitful we’d always participate in something that works,” he said.
- The great WiFi robbery: police to patrol down your street
by Asher Moses for The Sydney Morning Herald
Police are effectively accessing citizens’ networks without their permission (though, much like an open door, an unsecured Wi-Fi router does express a certain laissez-faire sentiment).
Whether the police decide to exercise this opportunity to enforce intellectual property rights on behalf of corporations remains to be seen – perhaps movie studios and recording studios will pick up the slack.
Your information cannot be used against you until you give it away.
