e-ignite

Guardian Unlimited recently reported that the FBI have prevented yet another terrorist attack by monitoring communications – this time, it was a chat room. The exact quote was that FBI agents have been monitoring a chatroom “frequented by terrorists”… but how do they know that?

Part of me suspects that this is all propaganda. How can you prove that any terrorist plot was actually uncovered? The FBI aren’t renound for giving out fully accurate information. Was there actually an arrest made? These are questions that you need to ask yourself.

In truth, there probably was some arrest made, and in all likliehood, there may actually have been some form of attack discussed on this occasion. However, I seriously doubt that an advanced, fully planned and iminent threat was defused. This kind of story is being used as propaganda to make people think “oh, it’s lucky they were monitoring that”. What you don’t hear as often from the FBI are headlines like the following:

Thousands of innocent web users have privacy taken from them. No threats found but personal details discovered and logged.

Why do these stories keep appearing? In a word: Propaganda. I don’t think much of the current stance on Terrorism by several nations – in my personal opinion, the percieved threat is far worse than the actual threat. The reason for this is the constant stories that we’re bombarded with about “cracked plots” and “busted terror cells”. It is my opinion that there are more and more stories surfacing about electronic communications monitoring breaking terror campaigns. Realistically, an advanced terror group (those who cause the real threat) will be aware of these monitoring techniques and will take steps to avoid them – any “terror threats” caught by this monitoring are unlikely to be real plans with real cause for concern with members of the public.

So the next time you read a story like this, ask yourself a question: Is this news or propaganda?