Facebook Helps Israel Blacklist Air Travellers 478
Jeremiah Cornelius writes "According to a report by the Associated Press, protesters have been stopped in their tracks after Facebook aided Israel in cracking down on the group of activists from the UK, France, and Belgium who planned their event using the popular social networking site. Facebook allowed government agents to track the activists activities and then create a black-list of people who participated in the planning of the protests. The black-listed group was then forwarded to airlines with instructions to prevent the activists from boarding air flights to Israel. Over 200 activists were prevented from flying after being added to the airlines terrorism watch list, according the the AP report. Was Julian Assange correct, when he warned that Facebook was a giant, 'appalling spy machine'?"
Its been done before (Score:5, Insightful)
Facebook is in routine use by various "authorities " to profile people. So why not the Israelis?
And in other news. Bears shit in woods.
Facebook is a public forumn (Score:4, Insightful)
Most groups in Facebook are public by default. They are also public to those who belong to the group. So they didn't have to do any super-spy type thing. It's the users of the group who left themselves out in the open.
Oh, big wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
At least they didn't just let the protesters get there and gun them down. This is surprisingly restrained behaviour from the Israeli government.
"Facebook aided"? (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a difference between facebook actively aiding Israel officials, and those officials viewing the members of a facebook group. Maybe not planning activities in a publicly-viewable setting would have helped these people?
Police, officials, whatever, viewing publicly-accessible information posted on social media sites is a Good Thing, occasionally. If you don't _want_ it viewed, don't post it publicly [and please note, I don't mean, don't post it online. Some medium of privacy should be expected, and the summary and my [brief] skim of TFA didn't say this was privacy violation in any way].
Doesn't say that Facebook helped Israel directly. (Score:5, Insightful)
disruptions, and told their friends."
Sounds like they bragged in public, using their own names. And nothing more.
It's shit like this, Slashdot...
Re:Facebook - Owned By A Jew. (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe you should look into the work of some Jews like Noam Chomsky, in case you think being a Jew inherently makes you a supporter of Israels policies.
Equating being a Jew with being pro Israel comes off as racist.
Re:Facebook - Owned By A Jew. (Score:1, Insightful)
How come this is not modded informative but -1?
Since the end of WW2, saying negative things about Jews will get you in trouble. Luckily for him the worst punishment here is a downmod.
Re:Its been done before (Score:5, Insightful)
Rogue state (Score:0, Insightful)
They SHOT and KILLED 8 protestors on a boat in international waters, they even shot protestors across the border in Syria recently, so I think these protestors stopped at the airport got off lightly.
Really, it's just a murderous state, USA should NOT be paying it $2.5 billion a year to them, the CIA should be blocking all those donations from Israeli linked companies to US politicians, and USA should be extracting itself from links to that regime.
It doesn't need the bases there anymore, it can't afford to subsidise them when it can't pay its bills at home, and the way they funnel money into the US political machine is against the law too. Yet nothing is done about it, the money flows into politics, so the politicians turn a blind eye to what Israel does and just keeps sending them the check each year.
No questions asked too, unlike other countries the money isn't traceable. It magically disappears into Israels military machine, and Israeli linked USA companies magically have a lot of money to spend in political donations.
Re:Doesn't say that Facebook helped Israel directl (Score:2, Insightful)
"These people announced on their Internet sites that they planned to come here and cause disruptions, and told their friends."
Sounds like they bragged in public, using their own names. And nothing more.
What's the difference between this and what happened during the 1960's when people wanted to see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak and were turned away?
Re:Its been done before (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't say that Facebook helped Israel directl (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Rogue state (Score:0, Insightful)
Gaza flotilla - first, it was 9, second, it was largely justified
(http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/07/us-israel-turkey-flotilla-idUSTRE76666820110707)
Syria - the protesters were shot *after* crossing a cease-fire line, while already on Israeli soil.
In particular, only after warning shouting warnings, warning shots, and masses of non-lethal tear gas.
The fence referred to in the article is the one on the Israeli side (obviously, there are two fences on each
border - one for each country)
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13660311)
About the money - nobody's paying anyone. The money remains in the States, eventually.
Also, might be irritating, but where do those 2.5 B$ come from? Wealthy Jews who are paying taxes,
maybe? Shouldn't it be their right to decide what to do with this money ?
Also, 2.5 B$ seems like a good price to pay for technology and field experience developed by
Israel when fighting Hamas and Hezbollah, probably saving the lives of thousands of soldiers in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
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Two last points to think about -
(1) Jews are the World's largest punch-bag for the last two thousand years. First it was killing Jesus, then killing children
to make food (?!), then simply being too wealthy, then causing the great depression, and now stealing the land of Palestinians
(which did not exist as a separate entity from the Arab world before 1967, see wikipedia).
I wonder if in 200 years this story with the Palestinians would sound as ridiculous as the christian-children-for-matzos sounds today.
(2) I wonder why nobody seems to fly to Syria to protest the ongoing ethnic cleansing (Alawis against the rest) or the lack of democratic elections. Or for that matter to Iran (where homosexuality, how wonderful, does not exist) or Saudi Arabia (where women are not allowed to drive).
It's so close. The prices are probably very similar. ... Maybe because the state that everyone hates so much allows protests against its own existence by some of its own citizens.
Mind you, without risking getting shot* and raped, possibly in this order.
* - No, does not apply to Gaza Flotilla Raid. Read second paragraph of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid.
Re:Its been done before (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll admit - I have two standards. I've become more aware of it in recent times. Some rogue nation does "x" against it's citizens, and I judge it as terrible. Then the US does something similar, and I judge it as a PITA.
In this case, I see Israel doing something that I would condemn the US for, but I don't condemn Israel as harshly.
Hmmm. Why is that? I'm not a Zionist. Could be, my military background. If Israel is to survive, then they had better use everything at their disposal, and use it efficiently. On the other hand, the US isn't fighting for it's very survival, so the same actions would be less forgiveable, I guess.
Yeah, I have double standards. Unfortunately, a lot of people deny having their own double standards. And, least of all, can they be expected to understand those double standards.
In reality, we've all admitted that "there's no privacy on the internet". All governments are busy data mining Facebook, and all the rest of the web. This should have been expected. Just like we've discovered that electronically aiding protestors in Arabic countries can, in some instances, expose those protestors to the government. It's to be expected. That doesn't make it right - just expected.
Re:Rogue state (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oh, big wow. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Oh, big wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
Then by your logic the Americans should get out of the parts of the country that were won by conquests, which is most of the country including the original 13 colonies.
I'm not even going to start on the European countries, or the precious Arabs.
Get over it. Israel won it's wars fair and square. If the Arabs won a single war do you think for a minute that there wouldn't have been a holocaust that would make the Nazi's look like amateurs?
Re:Its been done before (Score:4, Insightful)
I would say that if Israel is going to survive in the long run they need to get their act together and not be a general pain in the butt for all their neighbors. Especially now since the US has an economic situation that's not very promising. What if the economic aid that the US provides Israel disappears?
If Israel wants to survive.... I hope they are going to realize that this is not the way to get there. They have stopped 200 activists this one time. Yay!!! Great for them. Do you think these protesters are going to use Facebook again? Will it stop the next group? And do you want to stop those groups?
Israel has one big problem, and that is not Palestine or Hamas. It is their mindset that they still don't realise that they need to give some space to the Palestinians. And the more they restrict them, the more resistance they will face. Actions like this show that they don't have a real vision where they want to go in the future, if they really want to have a future there.
Re:Oh, big wow. (Score:3, Insightful)
The country was created and given to them by a UN resolution. Also you neglect to mention that the parts that were "stolen" in wars of conquest, was actually stolen from the "conquestadors"(Jordan, Egypt, Syria). If they hadn't started a war of conquest against Israel, their land would not have been stolen. Unfortunately for them, due to their lame military which could not beat Israel even when they outnumbered, outgunned out surrounded her, they did not gain any territory, but instead lost it. Whining about how the person who's wallet you were intending to steal, instead beat you up, and took your wallet is pretty low.
(It should perhaps be pointed out that all countries having agreed to a peace treaty have gotten their land back).
Re:Not surprising (Score:1, Insightful)
You do not need facebook, you need a life!
I suppose we need to get off your lawn while we're at it.
Seriously dude, last decade it was "You don't need Myspace, you need a life" before that it was "You don't need email, you need a life" and before that it was "You don't need the internet, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need AOL, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need video games, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need TV, you need a life" and before that it was "You don't need a radio, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need telegraph, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need the post office, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need books, you need a life" and before that it was "you don't need the theater, you need a life" and before that it was...
We get it. You don't like it, and so you tell everybody who does use it that they "need a life". Here's an idea, how about instead of Trolling the forums, you go out and follow your own advice for a change?
Re:Facebook - Owned By A Jew. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oh, big wow. (Score:3, Insightful)
At least they didn't just let the protesters get there and gun them down. This is surprisingly restrained behaviour from the Israeli government.
You mean like an Arab government?
Re:Its been done before (Score:5, Insightful)
No those inbred tribals gave refuge to Al queda after the CIA helped form Al queda to drive out the Soviets, and then left them there. If we spent a little time and money there rebuilding, and teaching them 30 years ago, then Al Queda wouldn't have turned against us(or wouldn't have had as much local support as they did)
If you want to bring peace to someone. You have to be prepared to spend 50 years there. We have to stay in Afgahnistan and iraq for another 40 years. Or they will fall into absolute chaos for 10 years.
Re:Doesn't say that Facebook helped Israel directl (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like they bragged in public, using their own names. And nothing more.
It's shit like this, Slashdot...
o_O ...And this is is the part where I say you're a moron if you believe I don't use YOUR name, Paul, to brag in public about my anti-copyright protests.
Well, perhaps I don't use your name; Maybe someone else does, and I use some other's name... In reality, without Facebook's Help, how would they verify that the IP addresses posting as Susan Someone really belongs to Susan, and not Jane?
Are you suggesting that they just took the names and added them to the no-fly list without identity verification? Is this not even more outrageous?
Go ahead. Continue to ignore the ease of which I can now use your name online to falsely incriminate you... If you are not outraged now, then maybe you will be when you can't fly, ride a train, get a driver's license, or vote because of something I said or did using your name?
Re:Oh, big wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wars of conquest are prosecuted by aggressors. Every war Israel has been involved in has either been started by Arabs (War of Independence, Yom Kippur, War of Attrition), in response to being denied access to the Suez Canal, blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba and attacks from the Gaza Strip(Sinai War, Six day War) . The only reason Israel exists today is due to these defensive wars. The only land they occupy has been used as bases by aggressors.
The Palestinians started the war after Palestine was partitioned by the UN. They lost the war and are still fighting using terrorist techniques. Hamas does not even recognize Israel's right to exist and one of it's founding tenants is to destroy Israel.
Yes there are major issues that Israel needs to address; Jewish settlements in the West Bank, return of refugees, etc. On the other hand, suicide bombers and rocket attacks do not garner my sympathy for the Palestinians. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip voted for Hamas and are getting what they voted for. Peace will only come when Hamas accepts Israel's right to exist and stops terrorist violence.
Just for your information I am a Gentile from Canada and have no religious reason for supporting Israel. Perhaps you should look at the history of Israel before making baseless assumptions.
Re:Facebook - Owned By A Jew. (Score:2, Insightful)
By 'working' do you mean the stripping away of people's civil, moral and legal rights?
If so, I concur.
Re:Its been done before (Score:2, Insightful)
"China, Russia or other non-western countries" are not surrounded by countries that have attacked them five times in the last sixty years. They are not bombarded with rockets from a neighbouring country. No country has stated that their goal is to wipe them from the face of the earth. All of these things are happening to Israel.
Palestinians will get no sympathy from me when with one hand they point at Israel being an oppressive regime and lob rockets with the other. Stop attacking Israel and Israel will stop attacking you. When the West Bank and the Gaza Strip can say they are a peaceful country then I will be for Israel backing off. Until then Israel is fighting for survival. Palestinians are not fighting for survival; they are fighting for the destruction of Israel.
Re:Its been done before (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Facebook - Owned By A Jew. (Score:3, Insightful)
I support my favorite football team. I guess that means I'm on the football team.
I support women's rights. I guess that makes me a woman.
I support Canada's independence. I guess that makes me Canadian.
I support the troops. I guess that makes me a soldier.
Do I need to go on?
Re:Oh, big wow. (Score:3, Insightful)
You mean like the governments of Arab nations like Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran..? Were you even watching the news this year?
Re:Its been done before (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Facebook - Owned By A Jew. (Score:4, Insightful)
You are a victim of the Terry Gilliamesque, "Brazil"-style coverage of world events.
Suicide bombing in, the modern era, was introduced and maintained for a couple decades by Hindu Tamil separatists, in Sri Lanka.
The "suicide belt" and "suicide vest" - as well as the use of young women as bombers and blast decoys originate here, and are far more institutionalised and part of ongoing strategy by the Tamil Tigers.