INTERNET SAFETY ALERT -- WHOSARAT.COM
Please be advised and let everyone know that the Whosarat.com website has
become a very serious issue with undercover law enforcement tactics.
It is a reverse look up site that will grab the inquirer's web IP address and
add your info to the list of inquiring officers.
The website is owned by a former defense attorney who developed his plan. He
originally sent a flyer to almost every law enforcement agency in the US,
informing them that there is a website coming out known as, "whosarat.com".
He failed to mention he was the owner. He informed all LE agencies that they
should have their undercover personnel go on the site to see if they had been
compromised. Initially, he did not have any intel but as soon as many LE
Officers/Agents in the country began checking the site, he soon had a great list
to add to his site.
If your curious, stay off the site. If you're not on there already, a simple
inquiry from you will easily add you to the site. From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia, Whosarat.com is a controversial website, which, in its words,
allows individuals to "post, share and request any and all information that has
been made public at some point to at least 1 person of the public prior to
posting it on this site pertaining to local, state and federal Informants and
Law Enforcement Officers."
The site was founded in August 2004 by Sean Bucci, who is fighting marijuana
dealing charges. A Boston Herald story quoted him as saying "I'm trying to level
the playing field." His experiences gave him "a deep, deep hate for the system
for the way they handle informants."
The site's extensive disclaimer notes that in part that "All posts made by users
should be considered as inaccurate opinions unless backed by official
documents." It urges members to "Please post informants that are involved with
nonviolent crimes only."
The Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory about the site, warning
law enforcement officers not even to view the site. "Visiting the site could
result in the compromise of government IP addresses. Searching the site
for a particular name could result in that name being cross-indexed to the IP
address of the computer used to make the inquiry. Searching for the names of
officers or informants could compromise those individual's identities. Any
website is capable of collecting IP address and search information from
visitors, but this site is different because it makes visitor information
public."
The site believes it is protected by legal precedents set in connection with
another website, charmichaelcase, which also posts information about informants.
ProEthics, Ltd., an ethics training and consulting firm, named Whosarat.com its
Unethical Website of the Month for August, 2004.
Bottom Line -- DON'T VISIT THE SITE!!!!
