Wednesday, August 15, 2007

System Abuse

Recently I came across an interesting post on Schneier's blog on how people can abuse the system, especially if such systems aren't designed in such a way to avoid such vulnerabilities.

I will just quote as it was in the original article which was also quoted no his post.

" Defense lawyers in a number of other terrorism suspect cases accused informants of solely seeking financial boon by creating so-called terrorists that did not exist.

According to court records, Eldawoody was paid $100,000 over a period of 3 years.

Since Siraj's conviction, Eldawoody has his rent covered and receives a monthly stipend of $3,200.

According to The Washington Post, a police spokesman indicated the direct payments to Eldawoody would likely continue "indefinitely."

With such incentives, critics argue, informants are likely to be created out of thin air to join the "inform-and-cash" industry.

Meanwhile, the Muslim community across the country is feeling the heat of being closely watched.

"This is creating mistrust between our community and law enforcement officials," Ayloush said.

In light of their extensive criminal records, Ayloush added, these individuals would neither qualify as police officers nor as FBI agents, yet they are on the payroll of law enforcement agencies and are allowed to do law enforcement work.

"We all respect hardworking law enforcement agents," Ayloush said. "But mercenary informants? Hardly." "

Original Article: Southern California InFocus: Is Big Brother at your mosque?

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