Via infosecurity-us.com:

Out-Hoover Hoover: FBI wants massive data-mining capability for social media

27 January 2012

The FBI is asking industry for help in developing a far-reaching data-mining application that can gather and analyze intelligence from social media sites.

The FBI wants “to determine the capability of industry to provide an open source and social media alert, mapping, and analysis application”, the agency said in a request for information (RFI).

“The application must have the ability to rapidly assemble critical open source information and intelligence that will allow SIOC [Strategic Information and Operations Center] to quickly vet, identify, and geo-locate breaking events, incidents and emerging threats”, the RFI explained.

The application must be able to provide an “automated search and scrape capability of both social networking sites and open source news sites for breaking events, crisis, and threats.”

The FBI also wants the capability to analyze the social media data to provide early warning; detect credible threats or monitor adversarial situations; locate bad actors or groups and analyze their movements, vulnerabilities, limitations, and possible adverse actions; predict likely developments or future actions taken by bad actors; and develop databases on the information gathered from social media sites.

Nowhere in this detailed RFI, however, does the FBI ask industry to comment on the privacy implications of such massive data collection and storage of social media sites. Nor does the FBI say how it would define the “bad actors” who would be subjected this type of scrutiny.

-End 

I am dismissing the terrorist angle right off the bat, as given perhaps a handful of kook exceptions, most truly determined terrorists are not going to announce their intentions on a public forum.

That brings us to a far larger question which is, what exactly is the government looking to do here?

Having read a great deal of history over the course of my life, I am fully aware that all governments have their totalitarian leanings, and ours is no different.

Historically, governments do not much like dissent, and as they become larger and more powerful, their intolerance of dissent grows right along with them. At first, it is threats and intimidation. Later on, it becomes incarceration, and all too often after that come the gallows, firing squads, or the gas chambers.

Way back in the Usenet days, I formed a theory that government was most likely monitoring what was being posted, and probably recording things that might catch its interest. In the years since and given what I have seen, that theory has been reinforced several times over.

Of course, there is no case to be made that government monitoring public forums is illegal, but the idea that it may ultimately be not a little sinister is not all that much of a stretch.

After all, we are now existing in a surveillance society, and when you factor in the Obama administration’s track record of open hostility when it comes to its detractors, the term ‘bad actor’ could mean just about anything.

You see, it is not the terms themselves, but who gets to define them that ultimately matters.

-Dave

Remember our recent post of the video of the train loaded with Bradley tanks?  There was a lot of speculation on that.  Here’s a CBS news story with video of some kind of military exercise over Los Angeles involving a number of blackhawk helicopters.  Check it out before it disappears! ~LTG

Twenty-five soldiers surprise their loved ones…

I never tire of watching these videos.  And I usually need a tissue by the time I’m done watching them

DCG

Teddy the talking porcupine is back!  He’s got another video out showing his love of Valentine’s Day treats!  And corn isn’t the only thing he likes

You can see other videos of Teddy and his antics here.

DCG

Today, January 29, is the birthday of our beloved fellow who insists on being known as Anonymous.

I do know his identity (DCG too! hehehe), as well as why he must remain anonymous. 

Suffice it to say Anon is an honorable upright man who has good reasons to be discreet.

I hope you’ll have a wonderful birthday today, Anon, and a super year ahead. May God continue to grace you with good health, professional success, and the love of family, a good woman, and friends –  including all your friends here on Fellowship of the Minds.

Happy Birthday, Anon!

~Eowyn

In the name of a woman’s “right to privacy” under the due process clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, the floodgates were opened to legalized abortion. In those 39 years, more than 54 million (54,559,615) tiny human beings were killed.

Have you ever listened to the Roe v Wade arguments?

Sarah Weddington was the young attorney who represented “Jane Roe” (real name Norma McCorvey) before the Supreme Court. The legality of abortion hinges on the unborn not being recognized as a “person” in the U.S. legal system. Not being recognized as “persons” in turn means that the unborn human life has no constitutional right to protection of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

All of that is curious to say the least, given the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that business corporations are “persons” under the law.

During Weddington’s appearance before the Supreme Court in the Roe v Wade hearing, every time when the subject of whether the unborn is a “person” came up, there was laughter in the audience. You can hear the tittering at the 0:33 and 1:00 marks in this audio:

Go to this site for another audio. Laughter can be heard at the 24:00 and 24:10 marks, every time someone said “If it was established that a fetus were a person under the Constitution….”

So my question is:

What is so darn funny about abortion? What is so funny about discussing killing “a fetus” an unborn human being?

Norma McCorvey speaks for pro-life, 2009

In 1994, 21 years after Roe v Wade, “Jane Roe” Norma McCorvey converted to Christianity and expressed remorse for her part in the Supreme Court decision. She began working in the pro-life movement, such as Operation Rescue. In 1998, at age 51, McCorvey was formally received into the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, she declared she was no longer a lesbian.

Sarah Weddington speaks at pro-abortion rally, 2004

Sarah Weddington enjoyed much professional success after Roe v Wade. She was a legislator in the Texas House of Representatives from 1972 to 1977; General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1977; and a special White House advisor in the Carter administration, during which time she helped appoint Ruth Bader Ginsburg to a federal judgeship. Weddington is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Now 67 years old, she remains unrepentant and continues to advocate abortion. In 2004, she was one of the speakers at a March for Women’s Life in Washington, DC.

~Eowyn

H/t beloved Joseph!

~Eowyn

The hummingbird is an albino and the photographer is almost as rare, being only 15 years old.

H/t our beloved IValuTheWorld

~Eowyn

Abide With Me

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need thy presence every passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears not bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Henry Francis Lyte - Lyrics
1793-1847

Born: June 1, 1793, Ednam, Scotland.
Died: November 20, 1847, Nice, France.

Buried: English Cemetery, Nice, France.

Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) and his wife Ann were faithful pastors of a little fishing town in Devonshire England, for 23 years. Although Henry’s health was compromised, he worked tirelessly ministering to his parish, taking care of his family, and writing poems and hymns.

In 1844, Henry was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. Over the next three years his physical condition deteriorated until finally on September 4, 1847, at the age of 54, he stood in the pulpit for the last time to deliver his farewell message.

That same afternoon, after taking a walk on the beach, Henry retired to his room. He emerged about an hour later with a written copy of Abide With Me. He left soon after for a trip to Italy, to get away from the cold, damp coastal weather. While en route to his destination, he mailed a revised copy of Abide With Me to his wife. A few days later while resting in a hotel on the French Riviera, Henry went home to be with Jesus. A fellow clergyman who was with Henry during his final hours reported that Henry’s last words were Peace! Joy!

[faithclipart.com]

“It is better to wear out than to rust out.” Henry Lyte

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.  Psalm 23:4

sage

Modern biochemical analysis supports verse 19, in that through these three sons of Noah was the whole earth populated.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) indicates that all women have descended from a single woman, called mitochondrial Eve.  This does not prove that she was the only woman alive at the time, but is consistent with it.  High mutation rates indicate that this ancestor lived at about the time of the Biblical Eve as well. 

[Carl Wieland, "Mitochondrial Eve and Biblical Eve are looking good:  criticism of young age is premature" TJ 19(1)  2005, p. 57

This video is of Professor of mathematics, John Heffner, on the statistical evidence for the current world population.

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

• This is the first alcohol  that was ever made.  Before the flood – fermentation was impossible.
• John Chrysostom, a church father, writes that Noah’s behavior is defensible: as the first human to taste wine, he would not know its aftereffects: “Through ignorance and inexperience of the proper amount to drink, fell into a drunken stupor”. Wikipedia

Which brings us to verse 22.  Ham seeing “the nakedness of his father.”  A great deal has been written on just what that means.  My preferred method is to take the Scripture literally, and not put things in that aren’t there.  Also – the best way is to use Scripture,  to interpret Scripture.

We will take a short excursion into Leviticus, and see the Law.

7 The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.  Leviticus 18:7-8

Leviticus 18:8, specifically states that uncovering the father’s wife’s nakedness – is equivalent to uncovering the father’s nakedness. Back to Genesis:

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said,

Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Why was the curse on Ham’s youngest son? 

1. The prevailing theory is that Ham simply saw his father’s nakedness.  But that does not explain why the curse was on the youngest son, Canaan.
2. Some like to postulate that Ham committed great immorality, by the act of sodomy on his father.   Scripture does not support this.

Here goes my take on this – supported by Leviticus 18.

Ham committed incest with his mother – and produced the cursed son – Canaan. I’m sure many will object to that idea, but Holy Scripture completely supports it.  Please fire your best shots!!

8 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Genesis 9: 18-29

Many evil people have misappropriated Genesis 9: 26-27,  to justify the enslavement of black people  throughout the centuries.  It is still going on today in Africa, the Middle East, and in some cases – even here.

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us:  Acts 17: 24-27

sage