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I know a guy that was working for a defense contractor in the 2000s that searched his military ranked boss's name on Google and told me he was told the next day

I know a guy that was working for a defense contractor in the 2000s that searched his military ranked boss's name on Google and told me he was told the next day not to do that anymore.

drcoopster 5y ago
I'll be the part of the story he didn't tell you is more interesting.
dmoy 5y ago
I mean yea, everything you do at work in a defense contractor is keylogged. They don't need to ask Google, they know what you're doing on their network.
- tehjoker 5y ago
  He said he did it from home though. I always wondered if he was making it up or not, but this was the Bush era (not that that much has changed).
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    VPN or company managed device? Seems like something a vaguely savvy user would keep in mind though.
    - tehjoker 5y ago
      I think it was a home device, I don't think this guy was super savvy though.
  - tyingq 5y ago
    I'm assuming he landed somewhere after the search that his bosses had logs for, like maybe a bio page on some .mil domain. Back in the 2000's, you still got a referrer header that included not just "google.com", but also the search query parameters. So if you followed https://www.google.com/search?q=my+asshole+boss+joe+schmoe https://www.google.com/search?q=my+asshole+boss+joe+schmoe to get to the .mil hosted bio page, they got to see that.
    - tehjoker 5y ago
      That seems plausible, but as this story was related to me over a decade ago, I can't remember if he said he clicked on anything in particular.
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    It's not made up. They monitor key sites including social media and those peddling in sensitive information. EO12333 makes warrantless searches legal for anyone with a clearance. It's also a convenient cover for why they need this extra-judicial domestic surveillance apparatus.
hwers 5y ago
I'm not disputing the idea that he was told this but that's a weird thing to be told just for googling someones name. Maybe he was just curious about his background and wanted to read his wikipedia page.

I know a guy that was working for a defense contractor in the 2000s that searched his military ranked boss's name on Google and told me he was told the next day not to do that anymore.

drcoopster 5y ago

I'll be the part of the story he didn't tell you is more interesting.

dmoy 5y ago

I mean yea, everything you do at work in a defense contractor is keylogged. They don't need to ask Google, they know what you're doing on their network.

tehjoker 5y ago
He said he did it from home though. I always wondered if he was making it up or not, but this was the Bush era (not that that much has changed).
- lostlogin 5y ago
  VPN or company managed device? Seems like something a vaguely savvy user would keep in mind though.
  - tehjoker 5y ago
    I think it was a home device, I don't think this guy was super savvy though.
- tyingq 5y ago
  I'm assuming he landed somewhere after the search that his bosses had logs for, like maybe a bio page on some .mil domain. Back in the 2000's, you still got a referrer header that included not just "google.com", but also the search query parameters. So if you followed https://www.google.com/search?q=my+asshole+boss+joe+schmoe https://www.google.com/search?q=my+asshole+boss+joe+schmoe to get to the .mil hosted bio page, they got to see that.
  - tehjoker 5y ago
    That seems plausible, but as this story was related to me over a decade ago, I can't remember if he said he clicked on anything in particular.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  It's not made up. They monitor key sites including social media and those peddling in sensitive information. EO12333 makes warrantless searches legal for anyone with a clearance. It's also a convenient cover for why they need this extra-judicial domestic surveillance apparatus.

hwers 5y ago

I'm not disputing the idea that he was told this but that's a weird thing to be told just for googling someones name. Maybe he was just curious about his background and wanted to read his wikipedia page.