The Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on for a month. And it seems the FBI and NYPD have had help tracking protesters' moves thanks to a conservative computer security expert who gained access to one of the group's internal mailing lists, and then handed over information on the group's plans to the authorities as well as corporations targeted by protesters.

Since the Occupy Wall Street protest began on September 17, New York security consultant Thomas Ryan has been waging a campaign to infiltrate and discredit the movement. Ryan says he's done contract work for the U.S. Army and he brags on his blog that he leads "a team called Black Cell, a team of the most-highly trained and capable physical, threat and cyber security professionals in the world." But over the past few weeks, he and his computer security buddies have been spending time covertly attending Occupy Wall Street meetings, monitoring organizers' social media accounts, and hanging out with protesters in Lower Manhattan."

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[-] 1 points by dantes44 (431) from Alexandria, VA 13 years ago

So? What is there to hide?

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[-] 1 points by equazcion (688) from New York, NY 13 years ago

Nothing, though the FBI getting hold of an organization's mailing list is stepping more than a bit over the line. Just 'cause I don't hide things doesn't mean everyone's contact info should be handed over to the authorities.

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[-] 1 points by thebeastchasingitstail (1912) 13 years ago

Actually you're right. All the protests are announced beforehand. All the FBI has to do is monitor Twitter. This "elite cyber security" dick wasted his time.

If these scary anarchistic-socialist-communist-jihadist revolutionaries were actually planning anything anarchal, jihadist or revolutionary, would they be using a fucking Google group to do it? Not if they're really as deviously brilliant & scary as Breitbart wants you to believe.

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink