Yay! I'm now officially a terrorist!

[thewayne]

"A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called 'Communities Against Terrorism,' lists the use of 'anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address' as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using 'software to hide encrypted data in digital photos' or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone 'overly concerned about privacy' or attempting to 'shield the screen from view of others' should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities. ... The use of PGP, VPNs, Tor or any of the many other technologies for anonymity and privacy online are directly targeted by the flyer, which is distributed to businesses in an effort to promote the reporting of these activities."

I use VPN every day to remote in to work as does my wife. Makes me tempted to use steganography to embed my name and email address on every photo that I post online.

A comment on Slashdot related the story of a Reagan/Bush drug war flyer that people acting weird were probably on drugs and someone not acting weird was probably on drugs but covering it up very well.

Welcome to 100% of the country being a suspected terrorist. I guess privacy is now RIP.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/02/1719221/do-you-like-online-privacy-you-may-be-a-terrorist