Googling Pressure Cookers isn't Safe

[psyang]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...earches/67864/

Michele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which prompts the question: How'd the government know what they were Googling?

[Bill Bumface]

Everyone knows terrorists use Bing. No one ever suspects Bing.

[CaptainCrunch]

Jeez, we all know that searching for certain words (kill) on the internet will set off alarms (Lady) Google collects all their searches and if they trigger those word (Gaga), I'm surprised that more Calpuck (Blowup) members haven't been questioned (Capital Records) before this.

[terminator]

scary world actually.

[PsYcNeT]

Hilarious corrections to the article:

Correction: After confirmation from the FBI that its agents weren't involved in the visit, the headline of this piece was changed to "Visit From the Cops" instead of "the Feds."

Photo: Massachusetts police search a home after the Boston bombings.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Hilarious corrections to the article:

Amazing. I also like the claim that this happens 100 times a day, and yet this is the first person to say something about it? Seems like a really credible story.

[psyang]

One thing that struck me was the photo used in the article:



Here's the description by the wife of what actually happened:

What happened was this: At about 9:00 am, my husband, who happened to be home yesterday, was sitting in the living room with our two dogs when he heard a couple of cars pull up outside. He looked out the window and saw three black SUVs in front of our house; two at the curb in front and one pulled up behind my husband’s Jeep in the driveway, as if to block him from leaving.

Six gentleman in casual clothes emerged from the vehicles and spread out as they walked toward the house, two toward the backyard on one side, two on the other side, two toward the front door.

(emphasis mine)

The story is scary enough on its own - no need to fear monger.

[Peanut]

Hahaha that has to be total BS, right? Like the cops/Feds/govt have the staff and resources to be checking in on every average joe in America googling a pressure cooker. Come on.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by psyang

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...earches/67864/

Considering the information that's come to light in the last 2 months ... does this really prompt the question "how did the government know what they were googling" ??

Is this writer's memory really that short?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Hahaha that has to be total BS, right? Like the cops/Feds/govt have the staff and resources to be checking in on every average joe in America googling a pressure cooker. Come on.

You have no idea how deep FBI resources go in the name of domestic security.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by ozy_flame

you have no idea how deep fbi resources go in the name of domestic security.

You don't know maaaan, you just DONT. FREAKIN. KNOW.

[Regulator75]

I've watched enough competitive cooking shows to know that those pressure cooker and their lids are a pain in the arse to operate and close properly.

Now we know why they never Google how to use them...

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

You don't know maaaan, you just DONT. FREAKIN. KNOW.

Anyone who believes the FBI isnt serious about pressure cookers is a Crockpot

*ducks*

[Northendzone]

lets all google those products tonight at 10 pm MT

[Huntingwhale]

The terrorists have won

[burn_this_city]

I wish they put this much effort into reducing preventable deaths like automobile collisions, gun control, ect. The entire war on terror is such a farce.

[psyang]

Well, it seems Big Brother was the employer, not the NSA...

Suffolk County Criminal Intelligence Detectives received a tip from a Bay Shore based computer company regarding suspicious computer searches conducted by a recently released employee. The former employee’s computer searches took place on this employee’s workplace computer. On that computer, the employee searched the terms ‘pressure cooker bombs’ and ‘backpacks.’

After interviewing the company representatives, Suffolk County Police Detectives visited the subject’s home to ask about the suspicious internet searches. The incident was investigated by Suffolk County Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Detectives and was determined to be non-criminal in nature.

[qiang]

i sure trust the gov has the ability to collect all the info around the Internet

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by qiang

i sure trust the gov has the ability to collect all the info around the Internet

That's why you should use https, so you at least have until the SSL keys expire before they get your data (without extensive computational time).

[gargamel]

I liked this part of the wife's account of what happened...

[T]hey were peppering my husband with questions... Do you have any bombs, they asked. Do you own a pressure cooker? My husband said no, but we have a rice cooker. Can you make a bomb with that? My husband said no, my wife uses it to make quinoa. What the hell is quinoa, they asked. ...