Update: The material appears to have been developed with grants from DOJ, not directly by DOJ.
Ten years ago, the Bush Administration pushed a new program, Terrorism Information and Prevention System (Operation TIPS), designed to entice Americans to snitch on their neighbors. From Reason magazine:
TIPS in essence deputizes 1 million Americans in 10 cities as government informants. (That’s just the beginning for its August debut — the program will be expanded next year.) The announcement names “American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and others” as potential members of this proud army of snoops and busybodies. A Washington Times story on the program points out that a common denominator for at least a couple of those categories is that their “jobs allow them access to private homes.”
This was before Congress created the Department of Homeland Security, which put the nix on Operation TIPS.
But.
In 2008, the Denver Post reported that there were 181 “Terrorism Liaison Officers” in Colorado.
“The problem is, you’re drafting individuals whose job isn’t law enforcement to spy on ordinary Americans and report their activities to the government,” said John Verdi, director of the open-government project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Now Public Intelligence reports that the Obama FBI has initiated a program called “Communities Against Terrorism.” PI has copies of 25 flyers “produced by the FBI and the Department of Justice [that] are distributed to local businesses in a variety of industries to promote suspicious activity reporting. The flyers are not released publicly, though several have been published in the past by news media and various law enforcement agencies around the country (emphasis added).”
For “Internet Cafes” the suspicious behavior includes just about anything you might do to try to ensure privacy in a public venue. Oddly enough, logging into your ISP account (AOL, Comcast) is considered “suspicious.” So is gaming. VoIP. Encryption.
Excuse me: why wouldn’t you try to protect your privacy when using an Internet Cafe? And why wouldn’t you check your email or “phone home”?
It gets worse. You are suspicious if you use the computer to:
- Download content of extreme/radical nature with violent themes. (By whose definition?)
- Gather information … or obtain photos, maps or diagrams of transportation, sporting venues, or populated locations. (Trying to figure out where free parking might be found near a stadium?)
- Purchase chemicals, acids, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, fertilizer, etc. (Just go ahead and make us give a fingerprint every time we buy something already!)
- Download or transfer files with “how-to” content such as … [a long list]
Spot this behavior? Then those businesses are to
- Gather information about individuals without drawing attention to yourself
- Identify license plates, vehicle description, names used, languages spoken, ethnicity, etc
There are tip sheets for retail stores that may be even worse. They include the suggestion that retail firms “Require valid ID from all new customers.” (I was joking about the fingerprint, in case you didn’t realize that. But I didn’t realize paying cash for something made you a potential terrorist, whether at an electronics store or tattoo parlor – pdf or a surplus store). Ditto requesting a specific room or location in a hotel/motel. (We always request first floor when we are traveling by motorcycle. My dad always requests a handicapped access room.)
The generalizations in these documents overwhelm the common sense points that are occasionally made, such as thinking that “unusual odors or liquids seeping from a guest room” or the discovery of “weapons, ammunition, and explosives” in a guest room or dumpster would be suspicious. Doesn’t mean you are a terrorist, but I’d sure be reporting that to my boss if I worked at a hotel or motel. Without a memo from the FBI.
Irony alert: here’s the footer:
It is important to remember that just because someone’s speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different; it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.
Why are these documents not publicly available on the FBI website? Why is the Obama Administration quietly soliciting Main Street to spy on its customers? And why is the mainstream media stone cold silent?
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com