statism watch

So they packed this guy and his wife away for the weekend becausehis twitter feed was analyzing surveillance? Is that what we’re reading here?

Related: Man charged in G20 probe gathered makings for volatile explosives, police charge | Police arrest ‘middle-aged white guy’ in G20 security raid | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Anna Mehler Paperny, The Globe and Mail
June 25, 2010

Byron Sonne and Kristen Peterson make a most unlikely security threat

Byron Sonne and Kristen Peterson are life partners leading very different lives.

Mr. Sonne is a computer expert whose job is to delve deep into the realm of complex electronic security networks; in his spare time, he frequents “hackerspaces” and derides the way people are monitored in their everyday lives.

Ms. Peterson’s world is more creative: A visual artist with multiple degrees under her belt, she has become known for creating multimedia installations that make normal structures — a wall, a doorway — seem like what they’re not.

If he’s the daredevil hacker, she’s the one neighbours see gardening outside, who ensures he comes home on time.

Now both Mr. Sonne and Ms. Peterson are accused of planning ambitious, potentially deadly attacks just as Toronto launches headlong into the largest security undertaking in its history.

The charges police laid out against the couple this week accuse both of collecting ingredients to make powerful explosives commonly associated with terrorist bombings, as well as possessing potato guns with the aim of endangering the public. Mr. Sonne is also accused of mischief and two rare charges of intimidating members of the justice system.

The couple made brief appearances in the same courtroom within 24 hours of each other this week. Bail hearings for each have been pushed back to Saturday to accommodate a continuing police investigation. Uniformed officers have been clustered around their house since Tuesday afternoon, much to the bemusement of neighbours on the treed residential street; they say they know nothing of the couple save for their breathtaking front garden.

But friends of both Mr. Sonne and Ms. Peterson say they’re convinced the charges stem from an innocent prank — an academic experiment gone awry.

Mr. Sonne, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (although his certification has been suspended now that he faces criminal charges), who has worked at Webkinz, nCircle Network Security and FSC Internet, isn’t the only security expert in the family: John Peterson, Ms. Peterson’s father, owned Digital Security Controls Ltd., an electronic security company that was later bought by Tyco International. He holds multiple alarm-system patents.

Mr. Sonne’s views on security and surveillance are no secret: His Twitter feed over the past several days was replete with counter-surveillance tips, taking careful note of flaws in G20 summit security measures as fences and CCTV cameras went up around downtown Toronto. His Flickr account documents, in painstaking photographic detail, cameras, fencing and barricades.

Source | See also under Terror: How many Americans are targeted for assassination? | Suspect in firebombing case granted bail | Police stop car containing ‘weapons’ near G20 summit | UK: Filmmaker Captures Absurdity, Empty Threats Of Police Terror Stop Laws | Judge approves settlement for 9/11 first responders | Man charged in G20 probe gathered makings for volatile explosives, police charge | Sacco and Vanzetti in Ottawa: How Media and Police are Politicizing the RBC Arson Case | Final two ‘Toronto 18′ terror accused found guilty of unwitting participation | Police arrest ‘middle-aged white guy’ in G20 security raid | Faisal Shahzad pleads guilty to attempting to bomb Times Square | US supreme court: Human rights advice, nonviolent aid to banned groups tantamount to ‘terrorism’ | Police push ahead with firebombing investigation | Real IRA plot accused entrapped by MI5 rules judge | Suspect in failed Times Square bombing indicted | Three held in bank firebombing may face terrorism charges | Toronto 18 details emerge as jury sequestered | Air India report: American-style security czar needed to end agency turf wars | LSE Report: Pakistan ISI backs Taliban | Crown begins closing arguments in Toronto 18 trial | Ont. police track suspicious fertilizer purchase | Canada can’t deny suspected terrorists of rights on basis of UN blacklist, lawsuit claims | How Somalia’s civil war became new front in battle against al-Qaida | Accused in Toronto bomb plot not aware: lawyer | Two men arrested at JFK, were attempting to find terror group to join | Karzai’s Afghan peace conference ends with agreement on Taliban amnesty | CIA drone killings trouble UN rights expert | UK: Fresh torture allegations raised over third British man held in Bangladesh | Israeli troops attack ship carrying aid to Gaza killing 16 | 72% of Guantanamo detainees given hearings found to be wrongfully detained | Ottawa RBC firebomb case: I’m not linked to the attack, ex-government worker who rented SUV says | Homegrown terrorist threat to be part of new US National Security Strategy | Top Construction Firm: WTC Destroyed By Controlled Demolition | Jordanian teen to plead guilty in Dallas bomb case | Bank firebomb suspects hung out briefly at Ottawa cafe | Toronto banks review G20 security after Ottawa RBC fire | RBC firebombed as protest, group claims | Judge OKs release of 3 Hutaree members | Motive clause of terrorist act should not have been struck down, court rules in Khawaja appeal | Toronto 18 suspect Asad Ansari testifies in defence | US Hutaree Militia ‘Terror’ Case Update — Members Out on Bail, Case in Shambles | Transport Canada proposes aviation security revamp | Iraq’s new al-Qaeda leader warns Shias | Autistic Boy Charged With Making Terrorist Threats Over Stick-Figure Sketch | US drone attack ‘kills Pakistan insurgents’ | Fahim Ahmad enters surprise guilty plea in latest Toronto 18 terror trial | Taliban behind Times Square plot, says US AG Holder | Afghan authorities beat citizens on ‘whim’: Military inquiry | Bill would strip terror suspects of U.S. citizenship | Canadian Journalists Barred From Gitmo | CIA Drones No Longer Need a Name to Kill | Times Square Bomber Linked With CIA-Controlled Terror Group | Faisal Shahzad on Homeland Security List Since 1999 | U.S. rejects Ottawa’s plea to suppress Khadr interrogation by CSIS agents | Treat Khadr as child soldier: UN envoy | Times Square Eyewitness: Bomb Scare Looked Like Drill | New York terror suspect received calls from Pakistan before buying SUV, charged with using ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’ | Officials seize on Times Square incident to push precrime surveillance network expansion | Frenzied manhunt ends with airplane arrest of New York terror suspect | Potential suspect identified in Times Square bomb plot | Times Square bomb police focus on video of man watching smoking car | ‘Amateurish’ Explosive Found in Parked SUV in Times Square, Suspect Reportedly Recorded | Mumbai gunman convicted of murder in “state-sponsored” terror case | ‘Amateurish’ Explosive Found in Parked SUV in Times Square, Suspect Reportedly Recorded | At Omar Khadr hearing, U.S. officer explains changing battle report | Further details on command and control system used to coordinate 9/11 incident | Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is alive, says spy agency | Omar Khadr turned down plea deal | Toronto 18 star witness grilled (again), accused of egging on gullible youngsters | MI5 ‘misled MPs over 7/7 bombers’, court hears | Tories reintroduce anti-terror act provisions that cross line, former CSIS chief warns | Bombshell: Silverstein Wanted To Demolish Building 7 On 9/11 | Airline pilot cleared of role in 9/11 after ‘nine years of hell’ | Alleged second NYC subway bomb plotter Ahmedzay to plead guilty | CIA chief approved destruction of terrorist waterboarding tapes | Abdelrazik’s bank assets frozen | EnCana bomber letter received by B.C. paper | Pakistan air strike ‘kills 71 civilians’ | Nuclear summit urges anti-terror treaty | Toronto 18 trial hears of ‘jihadi flavour’ paintball | Enriched uranium going back to U.S.: PM | ‘Toronto 18′ man planned widespread terror attacks, jury hears | U.S. officials say Pakistani spy agency released Afghan Taliban insurgents | White House approves assassination of cleric linked to Christmas bomb plot | Harkat defence gets bombshell help from declassified U.S. documents | Eight U.S. militia members enter not guilty pleas, lawyers expect ‘mega trial’ | Alt-Media Predictions Borne Out: FBI Agent Discovered at Center of Alleged Hutaree Conspiracy | Undercover agent helped in probe of Hutaree | Mumbai Terrorist Headley Was US Agent | Raid on ‘unheard of’ Hutaree militia puzzles small town | 9 Hutaree members face federal charges of conspiracy, attempting to use ‘weapons of mass destruction’ | FBI raids in Washtenaw, Lenawee counties tied to Michigan militia group | British military intelligence ‘ran renegade torture unit in Iraq’ | Judge: $575M settlement rejected for 9/11 heroes | Former smuggler, DEA informant who helped plot Mumbai attacks faces life in prison | Government Warned 9/11 Commission ‘Not To Cross The Line’ | Georgia suffering backlash over media-staged Russian attack | Public Safety Canada announces national plan to centralize operations in state of emergency | ‘Security Certificate’ victim Charkaoui to sue Ottawa for $24 million | 9/11 tentative deal for rescue workers reached | French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment | UK Government Ad: Use Cash And Enjoy Privacy? You’re A Terrorist | A Guide to the 9/11 Whistleblowers | Military trials possible for Sept. 11 terror suspects | United States weighs massive expansion of Internet monitoring | Gunman shot and killed after shooting 2 Pentagon police officers | Twelve New England towns demand 9/11 reinvestigation | Croissant causes downtown St. Petersburg terror evacuation | Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet | Obama gives Patriot Act another year with no privacy protections | Arrested Terrorist Leader Exposes Extensive CIA Connections | UK: Government fury as judges attack MI5, security services | CSIS Agents likely contributed to Toronto man’s torture: Inquiry | Washington Times: Architects for 9/11 Truth Present Petition to Congress | Poland releases details on CIA ‘black sites’ | N.Y.C. bomb plot suspect Zazi makes plea deal after mother threatened | Former terror suspect Hassan Almrei wants apology | Nine Months Before Operation Northwoods, Government Leaders Suggested False Flag Terror in the Dominican Republic | The truth about the Mossad | Anthrax mailing probe closed by FBI | Dubai police call on Interpol to help arrest Mossad head | Terror of innocent Britons named as assassins: Why choose us, ask men whose identities were stolen during alleged Israeli hit on Hamas official | Khadr’s lawyers dispute government decision | Ottawa reluctantly asks U.S. for assurances Khadr trial will not use evidence CSIS obtained in violation of rights | Toronto 18 conspirator Shareef Abdelhaleem ‘not entrapped’, despite evident entrapment: judge | Bruce Anderson: We not only have a right to use torture. We have a duty | 5 Muslims jailed for Australian terror plot | Vancouver police shut down several blocks, shopping mall to blow up fishing rod | Explosive chemicals not stolen prior to Olympics after all: RCMP | CIA Tells Congress al-Qaeda to Attack in Three to Six Months | Domestic threats biggest Olympic security concern: expert | Washington DC transit system holds anti-terror drills | Harkat denies knowing al-Qaeda operative | Harkat denies links to terrorism in court | Pakistani Taliban leader reportedly killed in U.S. strike | Yemen rejects rebel’s ceasefire offer; bloodshed continues | Israel denies Gaza war crimes in report to UN | Omar Khadr’s rights were violated: Ruling sees top court clash with Tories | Crotch bomber bill before Congress: Treat all ‘terrorism suspects’ as enemy combatants. Domestically. | UN in secret peace talks with Taliban | ‘Bin Laden’ slams U.S over global warming, dollar, in another unconfirmed tape | Pentagon to Send More Special Forces Troops to Yemen | Crotch Bomber Mutallab’s Visa Approved by State Department | Authorities Quietly Reverse Underwear Bomber Official Story | Bomb plotter blames police in Toronto 18 case | Pie tossing is terrorism, MP says. Seriously. | UK: Airline passengers have ‘no right’ to refuse naked body scanners | ‘Toronto 18′ accused involved in bomb plot through RCMP agent, defence says | Full-body scanner blind to bomb parts | U.S. can’t confirm latest ‘bin Laden’ tape authentic | UK: Photographers protest over terror search laws | UK terror threat raised to ’severe’ | Indian airports on alert after report of hijacking plot | No new Taliban crackdowns for 6 months, Pakistan says | Toronto 18 member pleads no contest in preparation for entrapment defence | FBI ‘fabricated terror emergencies to get phone records’ | The Toronto 18 Publication Ban: Silence affects the core of justice | US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed during questioning | Toronto 18 ‘mastermind’ gets life sentence | Walkom: Mole crucial to terror trial | RCMP hasn’t closed book on missing potential explosive as Olympics loom | Harkat challenge of security certificate goes to court | Toronto 18 ringleader says he’s sorry | Yemen forces ‘kill Al-Qaeda chief’ | RCMP ends search — and Wiebo Ludwig opens his door | UK: Anti-terror stop and search policy ruled illegal by European human rights court | Remain vigilant while travelling, Baird tells Canadians | ‘Toronto 18′ suspect wanted to profit from bombings: witnes | ‘No intention’ to invade Yemen: Obama | Wiebo Ludwig arrested ‘to protect public’: RCMP goes fishing in pipeline bombing case | Killer of CIA agents in Afghanistan called for revenge for Baitullah Mehsud | American cash gives Yemen a reason to join the hunt for al-Qaeda | Obama orders ’strengthened’ no-fly list after bomb plot | Spy links with CIA suicide bomber are problem for Jordan | Most U.S. homegrown terror suspects are young men: study | Convicted 9/11 conspirator not allowed to see evidence, loses appeal | US implements travel profiling: Tougher air screening for ’security-risk’ countries | UK: Full-body scanners being ordered for airports, says Gordon Brown | Britain, U.S. to fund Yemen anti-terror unit | For more see The Memory Hole — Terror

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