The U.S. government is making it known that it
can [and does] sift
through all the data packets on the internet, if need be,
using Carnivore and Echelon, hoping to
find some terrorist's malicious email in the process. And if that's what the
three-letter agencies are really up to, I wish them all the best.
However, if they're using Carnivore to go
after orchid salesmen,
that's another matter.
All you have to do is search for the term "Hello to all my friends and
fans in domestic surveillance", using your favorite search engine, and
you'll dig up several pages with more or less the same collection of
"suspicious" words and phrases which are supposedly able to "jam Echelon".
Now of course I know there is probably no great value in publishing semi-suspicious documents
just to see who's reading them. Nor is there much to be gained by wasting someone else's
time (and mine) explaining that I was just listing suspicious words to exercise my right to
free speech. It's like leaving
a honey pot for
the Carnivore system to find (and for me to explain)
someday.
The complete list is on this page. After
going unnoticed for several months, it now gets numerous hits each day. Perhaps this is the result
of the recent interest
in domestic surveillance.
No doubt the Carnivore system is kept busy by widespread discussion of
drug terms but
huge lists of such terms are available all over the internet, even from the
White House web site!
But you know, the citizens of the United States have the right to discuss any and all of these
topics through e-mail, paper mail or telephone conversations, or to search for them on the
internet, as long as no criminal activity is directly involved. That is, as long as the
information is not intended to facilitate the commission of a crime. In any other
country, you might be in big trouble if you merely mentioned a word like "dynamite" in your
e-mail or telephone conversations. Fortunately, in the United States we have the freedom
to communicate with almost any combination of words and phrases, especially if the words and
sentences are not used in a manner which is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, or
defamatory, and as long as these words
and sentences do not encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, or give rise
to civil liability or otherwise violate applicable laws. Nothing on this web site even
approaches that. This web page is presented as a public service, to inform and educate
the American public about a potential threat to our fundamental right of free speech.
I should also mention that the information on this page is
provided for information and educational purposes only.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man and brave,
hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him,
for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
The complete list is on 