Is Reddit Under Secret Surveillance by the Government?

[LJ Ellis]

Is Reddit Under Secret Surveillance by the Government?

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Something is going on at Reddit. What's happening exactly, we may never know.

At the end of their 2014 transparency report, Reddit wrote this [https://www.reddit.com/wiki/transparency/2014]: "As of January 29, 2015, reddit has never received a National Security Letter, an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or any other classified request for user information. If we ever receive such a request, we would seek to let the public know it existed."

However, that statement was missing from their 2015 transparency report that was posted on Thursday [https://www.reddit.com/wiki/transparency/2015].

The statement from 2014 is known as a "warrant canary" and was used as a signal to Reddit users. As long as that "canary" appeared, it meant that Reddit wasn't under any type of secret surveillance. However, now that it's gone, it means things have changed.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman all but confirmed the speculation by refusing to talk [https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/4cqyia/for_your_reading_pleasure_our_2015_transparency/] about it.

Said a Reddit user: "That's the entire point of the canary, he isn't allowed to say anything about it, the fact it was removed means that a gag order has been issued. 100% final, no discussion."

Responded Huffman: "I've been advised not to say anything one way or the other."

Permalink

 

[Eric the Orange]

Ah Reddit, the hotbed of terrorist activity.

But seriously why would the government need a warrant? aren't all Reddit threads open to the public? If they wanted to watch what people are saying they could just read it like anyone else.

 

[Remus]

But reading it would involve work. The gov doesn't operate that way - they need to create a complicated program that watches for key words and phrases. Something like simply reading the forums would be very time consuming and labor intensive. With that in mind, I say "Hello NSA"
bomb
dirtybomb
allah
muhammad
jihad
nuclear
hezbollah
ammonium nitrate

What do these words have in common? They're all words I've never used in complete sentences.
Big Brother is watching, you're welcome.

 

[Fireprufe15]

Ah Reddit, the hotbed of terrorist activity.

But seriously why would the government need a warrant? aren't all Reddit threads open to the public? If they wanted to watch what people are saying they could just read it like anyone else.

There is such a thing as a private subreddit as well as PMs.

 

[VirOath]

Let's wait until after April 1st to see if this is still up. April 1st is the worst day to publish legitimate news.

 

[Elfgore]

Oh no!!! The government will learn of my viewings of funny gifs from infomercials and Jurassic World strats... You monsters! You'll be finally be able to take down the infamous Elfgore!

 

[RedDeadFred]

Let's wait until after April 1st to see if this is still up. April 1st is the worst day to publish legitimate news.

Ah yes, I can see it now. Obama speaks on international television: "it was just a prank, bro."

 

[American Fox]

Thanks for th3 reminder to check on WoW.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Ah Reddit, the hotbed of terrorist activity.

But seriously why would the government need a warrant? aren't all Reddit threads open to the public? If they wanted to watch what people are saying they could just read it like anyone else.

Ah yes, but now they can read reddit while at work and claim they're not slacking off. Ingenious really, they could spend all day on the Titty Drop subreddit and claim they're doing 'research'.

'Sir, I must observe each of these titty drops closely, just in case they're dropping terrorist plans or bomb threats."
"Excellent work Johnson. I want a... detailed report on my desk tomorrow. Tell me everything about the titty drops. Everything."

 

[Neverhoodian]

At this point, the bigger story would be what the government ISN'T snooping on. Let's face it folks, the Fourth Amendment is dead and buried by now.

 

[Riddle78]

...I thought the Internet came about in order to make a legally neutral territory,that no government can muck with? Someone needs to tell the Alphabet Agencies that they're out of their jurisdiction.

 

[Buckets]

I Would imagine all elements of social media are being monitored in some capacity or other. both blatantly and secretly.

 

[The Enquirer]

Ah Reddit, the hotbed of terrorist activity.

But seriously why would the government need a warrant? aren't all Reddit threads open to the public? If they wanted to watch what people are saying they could just read it like anyone else.

The way I read it (heh) is that they're trying to find information about users. Plus, without knowing the inner workings of said hive of scum and villainy, I'd imagine there's a private messaging system or something akin to that.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I don't know much about reddit, but if this is how it actually happened, it's quite a clever system. Huffman gets to say what he wants to without technically breaking the gag order and thereby the law.

I mean, it's quite sad that he HAS to set something like this up just to tell his users if they're being monitored, which it seems like they should have a right to know one way or another. But at least he gets to keep himself out of prison.

 

[Saelune]

If I ever become important enough for people to interview me, I'm gonna just be like "I cannot confirm nor deny" random obvious things, that way when its real, people will not immediately think the bad thing. Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? "I cannot confirm nor deny which I prefer" *slowly sips Coke*

 

[Bertinan]

Pay attention to the date people.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Oh crap, best delete all those terrorist recruiting threads i made. And my terrorist sympathising user profile. And my terrorist bomb ingredients list. Oh and that star-gazing cat one too, just in case they connect it to feline sympathetic towards potentially hostile alien races. Cheers for the heads up. ...And screw you, US government! I'm outta your jurisdiction! *Smugly devours terrorist pasty*

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

What do these words have in common? They're all words I've never used in complete sentences.
Big Brother is watching, you're welcome.

The search engine has been upgraded. It only flags results when those words are used in conjunction with other keywords, in coherent sentences. The NSA was apparently tired of getting trolled by keyword lists.

OT: Why Reddit? Why not 4chan. Now there's a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Perhaps it's the one place on the Internet that even the terrorists are afraid of going to?

 

[Leg End]

Hello NSA.
In other news, the sky is blue.
No but really, in other news so is every imageboard.

Adding that is you express anything remotely close to a libertarian opinion, or even that of a right wing, you're terror watchlist material.

Let's wait until after April 1st to see if this is still up. April 1st is the worst day to publish legitimate news.

Pay attention to the date people.

The transparency report was posted before this date.