Cyber dissidents conference
UPDATE, 4/20, 8:13a: A couple take-aways from yesterday’s conference.
~ Oppressive governments don’t necessarily block access to the web to surmount digital insurgents. Sometimes they create a number of their own opposition blogs or t.v. programs/channels, etc., to try to overwhelm opposition chatter. This was a tactic I recognized from the Obama campaign, which was rumored to have hired 400 bloggers to propagandize.
~ The same tool for good can be used for bad. Example: A government (I forget which) realized protesters were using text messaging to gather, so it sent texts falsely stating snipers had been spotted on rooftops, which kept a particular protest from mounting.
4/19, 9:57a: Coincidentally, I’m in Dallas on the day the George W. Bush Institute is sponsoring a conference on cyber dissidents, people who risk their lives around the world to expose oppressive regimes and attempt to spread freedom via cyberspace. (More than blogging and use of social media on the Internet, this includes text messaging by mobile phones, smuggled USB devices, and other emerging digital media.)
President and Mrs. Bush just welcomed this diverse, brave group….
To accentuate the dire straits of some bloggers, the first speaker, Yoani Sanchez of the Generation Y blog, was thwarted by the Cuban government from addressing the audience by telephone.
Mrs. Bush noted that many of these cyber freedom fighters are women, particularly endangered in countries where women are oppressed.
These heroes are so inspiring to me. We pro-life bloggers in the U.S. are by no means oppressed by comparison. But we know we are on a domestic terrorist watch list. I am aware that Obama’s Department of Justice, among other government agencies, is monitoring my blog.

How do you know that Obama’s dept of justice is monitoring your blog? I believe you, but how do you know?
Another pro-life blogger told me he was being monitored, and I asked moderator Chris to check here. A DOJ crawler swings by here every 20 minutes.
Babalu Blog is quite cool. You read things on there that you just won’t find anywhere else.
Jill, why don’t you just wave hi to the DOJ crawler every twenty minutes? Have them pull up a cyberseat or something.
“A DOJ crawler swings by here every 20 minutes.”
—————————————-
Why only 20 minutes???
Hey, DOJ crawler/lurker…would you like to stay and blog with us?
I am curious what you personally think, not what your superiors think this site is.
Well, hey to the DoJ! Leave a comment every so often. Don’t be strangers! :)
I would assume DOJ stands for Dept of Justice, not Department of Joy or anything like that! NO?
Jill,
Just a reminder about Mia’s restaurant on Lemon Avenue between Oaklawn and Wyecliff.
Someone please educate me.
What is a ‘crawler’?
Is it an automated monitoring technology or is it a real live person like a ‘troll’?
Is something recent or did it predate the B.O. administration?
Is the ‘crawler’ looking for ‘buzz’ words or does he/she/it actually analyze content?
If there are ‘buzz’ words I would like to know what they are so that I can use them as frequently as possible.
yor bro ken
From the jillstanek.com access file earlier today:
wdcsun17.usdoj.gov – – [19/Apr/2010:13:46:15 -0400] “GET /notre-dame/prolife-action.html HTTP/1.1” 200 66463 “-” “Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;)”
wdcsun17.usdoj.gov – – [19/Apr/2010:13:46:15 -0400] “GET /notre-dame/cbr-abortion-no.html HTTP/1.1” 200 98502 “-” “Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;)”
Could be a person, but still trying to figure out how someone operating a Mozilla compatible browser could access distinct pages of html without also requesting all the affiliated files necessary for display. I know how to do that programmatically, and there are other explanations than a crawler – but it’s something I’m still looking into.
BTW – those two HTTP GET’s for unique pages above – they both happened within the same second.
That’s one fast fan if there’s a human on the other end.
I got to go to Cuba a few years ago.
Cuban pastors come thru here occasionally.
The more than equal comrads in Cuba monitor the less than equal comrads to ensure nothing or no one threatens the ‘revolution’.
But they do have universal health care. The less than equla comrads just have to wait longer than the more than equal comrades to receive treatment.
Love Cubans. Love Cuba. Not too fond of the more than equal Cuban comrads.
yor bro ken
yor bro ken
Dear Pro-Lifer,
This scandal needs your urgent attention.
You see, the University of Detroit Mercy – a Catholic institution – has web site links to a pro-abortion group called the National Organization for Women (NOW). It also has a vocal pro-abortion nun on its Board of Trustees, Sister Margaret Farley.
Sign your protest now
Further investigation shows that Dr. Jane Schaberg, Professor of Religious Studies at the same university is a member of NOW and the dissident group Catholics for Free Choice.
But it gets worse.
Referred to as a “feminist biblical scholar,” Prof. Schaberg authored a blasphemous book, first published in 1987, titled: The Illegitimacy of Jesus. The offensive work argues that Jesus was not conceived by the Holy Spirit, but most likely the offspring of a r a p e.
For example, on page 95, the book states: “…Mary, in the tradition Luke inherited, experienced a disaster worse than barrenness: sexual violation.”
Sign your protest now
Your peaceful message will go directly to Fr. Gerard L. Stockhausen, S.J., the president of the University of Detroit Mercy, urging him to correct the scandal.
TFP Student Action has never worked so hard. But there is only so much we can do. We urgently need your help, and we need it right now – – immediately.
Will you help me ramp up this protest?
Your friend,
John Ritchie
Tradition Family Property
Student Action, Director
http://www.tfpstudentaction.net/campaigns/index.php?option=com_chronocontact&chronoformname=protest_1007&Itemid=168
” This was a tactic I recognized from the Obama campaign, which was rumored to have hired 400 bloggers to propagandize.”
This was obvious.
Hey Hal, how are you doing?
How are things at the DoJ?