FBI Datamined Grocery Stores With Help From Credit Companies

[BadgerKid]

"Recent media reports indicate that in 2005-06, the FBI went trawling through grocery store records in order to track down Iranian terror cells. They hoped to locate 'Middle-Eastern terrorists' through the purchase of specific food items. Many of these items, though, are not sold through big-box supermarket chains, and the majority of mom and pop ethnic markets do not have the detailed computer purchase histories that Safeway or Whole Foods have. What the the FBI seems to have done is instead put together a list of everyone who shopped at a Middle Eastern food market. All signs point to the credit card companies providing this data, and not the individual stores. If so, this could be the tip of a (potentially illegal) data-mining iceberg."

Via Slashdot (http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/11/09/1441224.shtml)
and links therein

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I'm wondering if this has played a role in finding oneself on the Do-Not-Fly list (I'm not on it).

[Blackhatjack]

1. The amount of datamining we already know about is staggering... n/t

[BadgerKid]

6. Just as those we don't or won't, I'm sure. (n/t)

[no_hypocrisy]

2. So I'm on a list of the FBI because I love humas and pita bread.

[Ellen Forradalom]

9. My thought exactly.

Me too.

[here_is_to_hope]

19. Did you mean "hummus"?

Because, well, you know.
Hamas adoration will def get you on the no-fly list...:hi:

[no_hypocrisy]

22. Thank you, one of those days where spelling is not my strong suit.

[Newsjock]

3. What about Americans who buy falafel?

Just sayin', Loofah Boy.

[formercia]

4. 187 million useless records

I doubt if real terrorists use credit cards.

Was that a terrorist falafel?

Better check Home Depot to see who is been buying bags of sand because dedicated Middle Eastern terrorists don't use toilet paper.

While your at it, check plumbing companies to see if they have had to unplug toilets filled with sand.

[Ganja Ninja]

5. The great falafel hunt.

Just how much falafel does Bill'o consume or does he have a al Qaeda cell hiding in his basement. Inquiring minds want to know.

[Botany]

7. Food of Mass Destruction

[grasswire]

20. that looks mouth watering

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

[bridgit]

8. Everybody Quick Do Not Call Your Congress-Person Hide Your CousCous...

imo that the FBI seeks such knowledge by way of such means only indicates, instead, just how 'bland stale white bread & mayonnaise' that whole dept really is = cold dead viper-like fingers flipping past page after page of product placement, all that salary base and yet the FBI/DHS remain to the detriment of this nation so mind numbingly disassociated

[BanzaiBonnie]

10. Well, I guess they have my name

I only shop the ME food stores a half dozen times a year, but I do so my name is on the list.

[Ian David]

11. Our household went through a hummus-and-pita phase last year.

We must be terra-ists!

[Gormy Cuss]

12. "do not have the detailed...purchase histories that Safeway or Whole Foods have.."

In other words, they've already mined those sources.

I wish that I lived in a country where average citizens thought that their credit card purchases were a private matter, unaccessible to LE without a court order.

[shenmue]

13. Well, if they were looking for an order for hundreds of people at once...

That might indicate something other than a dinner party. Who knows?

[htuttle]

14. They were looking for Iranians by tracking falafel purchases?

Falafel is a Lebanese food.

This is like searching for Frenchmen by tracking sauerkraut purchases...

[formercia]

17. aaaaaaaach du leiber!

das jig is up. :rofl:

[WinkyDink]

18. Well, if one is in Alsace.......

[formercia]

21. Didn't you know?

The secret Hezbullah code phrase:

A falafel a day keeps the Mossad away.

[tinrobot]

15. I guess Bill O'Reilly is on the list...

He loves falafels.

[riverdeep]

16. This is what happens when we live in a full surveillance society.

Combined with a fear mongering administration.