My V2010ISU files released

BLOG POST posted on January 14, 2011 by infil00p

I knew I was a person of interest when I was harassed by the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, namely Constable Georges El-Azzi and Sgt. Grant. However, I had no clue that I made it to the short list of individuals who were attempting to acquire fraudulent accreditation passes, or that the RCMP, for a lack of a better term, was afraid that I was an "Evil Hacker", but it's true. I received 80 pages of various printouts from Facebook from a group called the IIF, which seemed to be a part of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit - Joint Intelligence Group.

Their main concerns were my travel plans for 2008 and 2009, which involved going to the Chaos Communications Congress, and Hacking at Random. It also involved Toorcamp, however nothing about my three hour stint at the border crossing at Blaine appeared, while all the details of my time at Montreal Trudeau Airport are right here.

It's true that I wanted to do research on the passes, but mainly because of the RFID privacy implications that happened at previous Olympic games. Am I dumb enough to try to enter with false accreditation to the Olympics? No. Do I want to prove that the emperor has no clothes, and that Olympic Security is a farce? Honestly, I think other people have done that with some of the research that I have done.

The documents make numerous references to the fact that I'm technically savvy, and that I go to Hacker Cons. In fact, when the paperwork isn't reading "ZOMG ANARCHISTS", it's reading "ZOMG SCARY HAXOR". This seems to come from my Twitter feed, where I post about technology while I'm slacking off. What I find interesting is the last page where they talk about the "Vancouver Hackers Society" (it's Vancouver Hack Space Society) . It then talks about Makerfaire in San Mateo, and then is completely blank, except with the section of the privacy act that says it's redacted.

I first become a person of interest, because I used to volunteer for the Spartacus Books collective, and at one point was on the Board of Directors of the Society that actually owns the business license. The first page I saw was this hokey Google Map printout of Spartacus, and documents indicating that I was a person of interest because I worked at the "Anarchist Bookstore" visited by many other persons of interest. At this time, it should be clear that every member of the Spartacus Books collective probably has a file with the Vancouver 2010 ISU, and should request it. I will have details below on the process.

Anyway, the IIF seems to have done most of the work, and they looked at my old blog (being taken down due to move of services to Canada post-WikiLeaks) where I naively indicate that I'm going to Toorcamp, DEFCON and HAR. I also talk about the Anarchist Bookfair circuit, and it's clear that the Anarchist Bookfairs had V2010ISU agents at them as well based on the briefing file, and the other blog post. In fact, I believe the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair had a known RCMP mole, and I do suspect that there were people at the last Edmonton Anarchist Bookfair that I attended as well ("Hello, Officer Bikerstache"). All this talk of Anarchism (including my old "Venture Anarchism" blog post, where I mock Venture Capitalism and Venture Communism) has landed me on a list of Anarchists that is in some RCMP database. I can think of other people who are on this list, but I can't confirm it because it's redacted.

Eventually, after reading my Twitter feed via Facebook a few times, and after all the harassment, they read the blog post where I say that I'm not going to do anything illegal because I didn't want to be in jail when my daughter was born. They also seemed frustrated that they couldn't pin anything on me, although I'm certain that they tried.

Lessons Learned:

We learned the following things from this exercise:

• VISU did have dedicated staff that read Facebook and blogs. They failed at reading Twitter reliably.
• VISU did do surveillance of Spartacus Books, and got my name from a Business Registry
• IIF is a group/activity that is dedicated to finding information on the Internet
• The RCMP does not redact Facebook Screenshots (I redacted my Facebook friends on that page, including my Grandma)
• Cst. El-Azzi sat outside my work for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS waiting for me to get out so he could harass me
• Social Media people who parachute in out of nowhere and don't have a long history are not to be trusted, since they provide more material for the IIF
• Everyone, especially members of APC, NOII, ORN, the Spartacus Books collective, the Purple Thistle and whoever had to attach their name to 12th and Clark should do a request, since you are being watched by the RCMP
• Everyone involved in the G20 should also file requests. It is extremely likely that the IIF has grown more sophisticated and is tracking all social media, and may even be launching attacks against sites and accounts.
• You should ALWAYS have a secret plan

About the Publication

Because this is the first Privacy Act response of its type from any of the ISUs, I decided that I would do a WikiLeaks-style thing, and talk to people that could get me more media exposure. I contacted the BCCLA and let them know of the profiling of activists based on where they buy books, and I contacted Bob Mackin of 24 Hours. I also tried to contact as many members of the Olympic Resistance Network that I possibly could before publishing the documents. The reason for this was to get as much media attention as possible and to highlight how little it took to get on this list, and that ProFunc still exists now in a different form.

Now, here's the FAQ on these documents:

What about your privacy?

The RCMP already know who I am, and are probably sharing this information with the United States. The US Government already knows that I support WikiLeaks because I'm not afraid to tweet about it. The RCMP also got a lot of facts wrong, or kept them very ambiguous (like what my legal name actually is). You can find out where I work by using Google, since I work for a software company in Gastown. I didn't post my correct phone number, and I redacted my address, even though I'm moving in a few weeks. I do tweet about being a radical parent, but I won't blog about it here.

Why didn't you just talk to the police?

DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE! The reason I'm able to write this post today is because I didn't talk to the police. I told them I didn't want to talk and I kept on walking. I walked into Nestors Market because it was recently open, the staff and security at the time were more likely to recognize me, and not recognize Cst. El-Azzi, who was in plainclothes and was harassing me. He would either have to leave or blow his cover due to the fact that to the Security Guard, he was an asshole harassing a customer.

WTF? Why did you have Facebook?

Because I was suckered into it like most other people. I still have a Facebook account, except that it is blank and I use it to go to certain parties. What I didn't like was the Facebook Group "2010 Olympic Convergence" or being invited to various Anti-Olympic Events. I always put down "maybe", since I knew that Law Enforcement read it. I thought that they'd be more savvy and that they would be reading Twitter. Including my statements of "FUCK @v2010isu" and "FUCK YOU BUD MERCER". They didn't check Twitter until the end of the Olympics, most of them stuck to Facebook.

How do I get my files?

Most people call this an FOIA request, like we live in the US or something. The fact is that BC ones are FOIs and the Federal ones are called ATIPs, which is short for "Access to Information and Privacy". You can get an ATIP request, and get general information on a topic. For example, I recently requested information on the V2010ISU-JIG's investigation of the Olympic Resistance Network and no2010.com, as well as "What is IIF and the use of IIF by the V2010ISU-JIG". Each of these requests cost $5.00 and depending on the website, you can either use credit cards, or you have to find the main website and fill out the ATIP form, which is an RTF file made in Microsoft Word in the 1990s, or print off a PDF and write it yourself and send a money order or cheque.

For the RCMP, they have their own web form. For standard ATIP, this is known to take forever. I haven't had an ATIP file come back yet. For the Privacy Act, it is free, but each version of it is different. For CSIS, you simply have to provide a Date of Birth, and your full legal name, as well as your signature and the relevant Info Bank. I haven't gotten my CSIS file back yet. For the RCMP, they require a photocopy of your Drivers Licence or Passport (I used a copy of my passport), and they prefer that you use their web form, which is better than the CBSA or CSIS, which requires the same crappy PDF/RTF combo.

Source Material (including SHA1 sums for verification):

Due to the fact that these are scanned graphics, and I did a quick job of it, they are bigger than they should be. I sectioned off the parts that are relevant. I didn't know that the RCMP and other groups can give electronic copies, so I'll try that instead. It might make things easier.

• spartacus_map.pdf – Tactical Info on Spartacus Books – 1.5 MB – SHA1: a2b64d0902085af5d682e27dac9f08ab99b0939b
• anarchist_list.pdf – A list of Anarchists, all redacted except for me – 7.3 MB – SHA1: df870b09794e2c833ce060c5cc45bd0beee981b9
• anarchists.pdf – A blog post I wrote, talks about the Vancouver Anarchist Bookfair – 709 KB – SHA1: d92c15bc6c63012ab44453fb822ba0aa60312552
• briefing.pdf – My briefing document – 5.8 MB – SHA1: e5c0f808190d91432784662e00ccb3899fd202ef
• cbsa.pdf – My misadventures with the CBSA at Trudeau Airport – 3.7 MB – SHA1: 0e0c0998ddaf901949f357d5a512ed3b474508e5
• cover_sheet.pdf – The cover sheet where they say they excluded information “as part of an investigation” – 2.6 MB – SHA1: c5f68eeee2c6875834c2ae2d771daece238cc5be
• final_analysis.pdf – The final analysis which appears to be the end of VISU investigating me for now – 6.5 MB – SHA1: 5c6bc55ba0c455fb55d97ed4d5d834d4ba56644c
• iif.pdf – An example of the work of the IIF – 1.4 MB – SHA1: 0bf6c07ef257728fbc51c5edefc3be7acd061b88
• jig_report.pdf – A JIG report indicating that I am linked with ORN and APC – 3.1 MB – SHA1: e8a1ff3d91438f15340a473f01c53c95a8c991a0
• random_anarchist.pdf – What the RCMP thinks of Anarchists in less than three sentences – 1.3 MB – SHA1: f1f9841d36555d71749d2dd70566c20916050c5c
• report.pdf – The report attached to my file. Note that the date corresponds to the Security Panel at Harbour Center – 14 MB – SHA1: 913f9950693aead1db88f85d122810d6165a2a4e
• visit.pdfThe details of all my visits with VISU from the point of view of Cst. El-Azzi – 7.8 MB – SHA1: 1322eb41c3640116005c3616e667c2f8cfdade52
• full_privacy_request.pdf – Everything I got back – 84 MB – SHA1: 65bd5df3bde842d9f4ccb60ccfb9219e21913458