Armed groups shun electronic media to counter U.S. high-tech surveillance

[ECH1969]

No mobile phones, no landlines, no Internet – that is the message anti-U.S. rebels have recently received from their commanders.

The message is believed to have even spread in neighboring states as part of the package of instructions foreign fighters receive before heading to Iraq. “You are not to use electronic communication or even land lines when communicating,” said a leaflet which the groups distributed recently.

The instructions are apparently a response to what are described as ‘moderate successes’ U.S. troops have achieved in the past few weeks in their fight to flush out rebel cells. Internet material, mobile messages and phone calls which the rebels use are now the U.S. military’s major source of intelligence.

“The U.S. army has carried out successful raids in the light of the tips obtained from the Internet and mobile phones,” said a source close to a major armed group involved in fighting the Americans. “Therefore we have decided to rely on oral or written messages,” he said.

Link

[kskiska]

1. So I guess there's no need to tap our phones now?

Never mind.

[dipsydoodle]

2. So is all down to

pidgeon post for long distance and a length of string with a baked bean can at each end for short distance ?

[anitar1]

8. Thanks for the laugh. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

12. I guess semaphore

in arabic would really throw them. :rofl:

[ekelly]

3. I smell propaganda

as a punishment for "leaking" the NSA wiretap program.

Now, suddenly, the bad guys have figured out that were monitoring their communications?

Does anyone here really believe that they didn't know that BEFORE the program was made public news?

This is bullshit.

[Kagemusha]

7. There are actual, real terrorists in the world too you know.

And they tend to be a lot more pragmatic because their lives depend on it.

[Journeyman]

4. Wasn't the Evil Empire defeated in "Star Wars" by primitive folk? . . .

Wasn't that the premise of those fuzzy critters with the round ears? I wasn't a big fan but I seem to recall I read that years ago. Anyone with a better remembrance than I?

[superconnected]

5. Propaganda to make us think spying on us is working on terrorism.

nothing more.

[leftchick]

6. Oh I get it! These folks are so frigging stupid they never thought of this

before the Wiretap story was LEAKED! It is all the wistleblower LEAKERS faults. What BS! :puke:

[Ezlivin]

9. Petty Officer Pulver, this is a non-secure line

We used to add "this is a non-secure|secure line" to every received phone call when I was in the Navy (70s - 80s).

One phone call to the Navy would have tipped off ANYBODY that there are secure lines and there are non-secure lines. A logical person would conclude that all non-military lines had to be non-secure.

The terrorists certainly make mistakes, but quickly learn. Once they start communicating without using our technology we're sunk: We have very poor human intelligence on the ground.

[dusmcj]

10. Du-uh. nt

[leveymg]

11. Lets hope there's no civil war. We'd all be in DU Withdrawal Sickness

And they would be dying of Freep Deprivation.

Freep Deprivation - ya, that's our secret weapon X.B-) :evilgrin: :+

[MrPrax]

13. "said a leaflet"...

Anybody can make a leaflet and hand it out to the press in Kabul and say it's from whatever 'boogeyman de jure' they fancy at the time.

If it has been an effective program, they would have been crowing about it months ago to boost McChimpy Puke's numbers--this sounds like a counter-intelligence.

I am sure that it is a given in any insurgency that the 'enemy' is also monitoring the internet, scanning cels and tapping calls, etc

[damntexdem]

14. Oh, good -- this will allow the Administration to concentrate ...

its listening on its real enemies -- us! ;-)

It certainly does make clear who the real targets are of unconstitutional NSA eavesdropping and database building.