The authorities have finally done what they ought to have done in the beginning: deprived the occupiers of the Internet.
David Fry, one of the four remaining militants, said the FBI made it so the occupiers can’t make outgoing calls on their cellphones. Fry said he can receive incoming calls, but that the other three in the refuge appear unable to receive calls on their cellphones. The militants also said they’ve lost access to the internet.
Without the ability to post self-aggrandizing youtube videos of themselves, ridiculous as they made themselves look, the whole thing wouldn’t have been able to snowball to the size it reached. And now it’s down to four who are trying to negotiate complete amnesty for themselves. Guys, you’ve got nothing to bargain with!
I am liking this new age of internet. The era of siege with out depriving food or water or the ability to smoke signal. Just cut the internet and the mongrels may walkout with their tails tucked in the creases of their asses.
I’m wondering why the authorities didn’t immediately cut off comms as soon as it became clear that fucking armed militants were squatting in a government building and threatening violence and death and filming martyr videos (y’know, like terrorists do). Sure, allowing Vanilla ISIS online to panhandle for snacks (come on, who strolls into a fucking armed siege without a packed lunch?) was brilliant fodder for chuckles and memes and dildo-bombing, but you’d think letting armed idiots keep their private lines open would be a tad risky. After all, they could call in more armed idiots or even a redneck airstrike (which I assume would be someone’s kid jumping their trailbike over the police lines and dropping six-packs to dad and his buds).
This whole thing just shows the essential childishness of this group and, in my opinion, the larger conservative movement in this country. They took over this government property because they felt like they had the right, based solely on their awesomeness. When the ring leaders were arrested, they scattered like a bunch of teenagers at a party when the cops show up. and now the last 4 are obstinately sitting their thinking they can somehow negotiate their way out of punishment.
These are not serious people, these are not adult people. These are spoiled rich kids who are learning a valuable lesson on the consequences of their actions.
It should be noted that by watching the outgoing internet feed during the early occupation, the Feds obtained the evidence they needed to keep Bundy, et al, in jail. *Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus* That intelligence/evidence made the Federal prosecutors jobs very easy. The residual idjits have done the same with their false bravado.
Now that there is enough evidence to convict, time to shut them down.
Well, simply occupying the refuge is already arrest-worthy, and there is not exactly any way they can defend themselves from that charge if they are arrested on site. There was ample evidence in week one, no need to wait for week eight or whatever it is.
@4 is absolutely right – the reason why Internet access and cellphone access wasn’t immediately cut off is because the cops wanted to monitor the situation. And what better monitor of the situation than letting these idjits think that they were free to post whatever they wanted to public YouTube and Facebook accounts and let the cops just watch what they were doing?
Honestly other than creating a new martyr for the cause this has worked out as best as it could. Starting another Ruby Ridge is a bad idea – the last time we had one of those we got an Oklahoma City bombing out of it. Letting these guys lead themselves into a trap was the best outcome possible. And the fact that they made themselves and their movement look utterly ridiculous in the process is either part of the plan (in which case, good job FBI) or a nice side-effect.
(Am I annoyed that law enforcement isn’t always this smart when it deals with crooks like these guys? Yeah, I am. But that’s an argument for why they should always be acting this way, not an argument for them to race to the bottom for everyone.)
@2
“but you’d think letting armed idiots keep their private lines open would be a tad risky”
They might not be very private, who’s to say they didn’t get a warrant and wiretaps on everybody going in and out.
I think having access to the Internet, and being able to post to social media, has been, on net, harmful to their cause. They’re laughingstocks to everybody who isn’t already down the Sovereign Citizen/Freeman rabbit hole.
erichoug@3 I agree with your post in general but strongly doubt that few of these folk are sufficiently mature to learn any lessons from their foolishness.
Sorry, that should have read:8
erichoug@3 I agree with your post in general but strongly doubt that *even a few* of these folk are sufficiently mature to learn any lessons from their foolishness.
I think that the authorities kept them on line as long as they did in order to get who they were calling and to track whoever was stupid enough to post supportive messages. Then someone got killed so they decided to shut it down.
Activists need to take note of the tech capabilities shown by the cops here. I guarantee you it will be used against non-violent activists at the convention protests this year.
Qwints #11:
QFT.
Mind you, a lot of activists are already aware. This does not seem to be very new technology that the police is using.
@11
If they know your number it’s sort of a given they can get you disconnected- I’m not sure what the legalities are, wether they’d get a warrant or even need one in certain circumstances.
If it’s a group of thousands of people Ina downtown area, the only way they can really cut everyone’s cellphone is by shutting down all service in a geographic area, like what the Egyptian military did in Tarir Square. I’m not sure if the FBI would be willing to inconvenience a million city-dwellers -let alone conventioneers- just to interdict a non-violent protest (again setting aside the question of legalities).
@4: Good point. It’s usually more productive to intercept a signal & extract intelligence from it than to jam it.
This wasn’t primarily to make the occupiers look silly or even to track their contacts and supporters. The FBI had a much more logical and direct use for letting them have their internet access unimpeded for so long: gathering evidence to use against the occupiers directly. If you look at the complaint filed against these yahoos, it’s full of evidence gleaned from their online statements and videos (especially the latter). What the FBI was really doing was giving them enough rope to hang themselves, which Bundy and his sycophants proceeded to do with great gusto.
They should have started by cutting off their access to beer.
@15
Oh, I don’t think the FBI meant for them to look like idiots, I think that was just baked into the cake. I think there are a lot of lessons for people that would integrate social media into their Direct Actions — possible conclusion: it’s a terrible idea and counterproductive.
Egypt didn’t cut off phones near Tahrir — I was on the phone with my sister rather a lot. Instead, they cut off Internet to Egypt. The whole country.
I wonder if they can still dial 911. I mean, the block is pretty detailed–cutting the services of two and allowing the third only to receive–so it’s very possible that they still have emergency services.