FBI: Terrorists Can Operate Airport Webcams, You Know

from the well-duh dept

A new "assessment" from the FBI and the Homeland Security Department suggests that airport webcams are the latest public menace, and may be used by terrorists to plan their attacks on the nation's airports (via The Raw Feed). The warning was triggered after a link to an Alaskan airport webcam was posted to an unspecified "extremist website," raising concerns among the feds that terrorists were using the cameras to track "security measures, guard shift changes, and pedestrian and vehicular traffic patterns." No specific instance of webcam use by actual terrorists was given, and the warning is "precautionary", says the feds. As with the recent Google Earth terrorism worries, terrorists are going to get the information they need whether or not these technologies exist. We're guessing that a group seriously considering an attack isn't going to rely solely on grainy 100 yard views of tarmacs, but it's nice to know the FBI and Homeland Security have realized that public access webcams shouldn't be aimed at secure airport facilities. Still, we might be safer if we just shut this whole Internet thing off.