{Important Update/Edit REVISED: It has come to my attention that although well-intentioned, a computer science graduate may have misread an ip address. I have sent him an email. Uhm, I do not know the procedure here. If this is a mistake, I promise to do the right thing. Whether that means the whole entry should be deleted, or a retraction will suffice. The source of this info responds- see below.}
Have ye heard about the scandal where AT&T has been linked to NSA spy rooms? A friend has filled me in on an interesting find concerning Arianna Huffington's former website whose name evolved into Debate Both Sides. It appears that this website is being monitored by the Department of Defense.
CentralOps.Net offers "advanced online internet utilities." They basically allow the amateur, internet sleuth greater tools than the "whois lookup and domain name search."
Right now, one can go to the first named utility search engine for domains and ip's and easily recreate the steps taken by my friend, who figured out that the DoD seems to be watching DebateBothSides.com.
DBS is a free for all in which civilised rules enforced on most internet forums do not apply there. One cannot have an attack thread in the title or the first post. Yet, after that, it can become a wild, wild, west saloon. Their only other rules appear to be to leave other's family out of the stew, and well, one can go there and see for themselves. Perhaps such an atmosphere has led to the Patriot Act being applied. There are a bunch of crazy people there. David Ben Ariel is just one of the many posters there who authorities may feel inclined to keep an eye on.
Robb Ottenhoff is the founder of Ottenhoff Consulting.
He is a systems security expert and is adept in systems administration, operations management and Internet-based software development.
Before he embarked on a career in the Internet industry, Robb worked in the retail and non-profit sectors, designing and implementing computer systems, as well as staff and volunteer training programs. He also served as a Computer Security Officer in the United States Air Force at the Air Force Flight Test Center in California.
In the early days of the Internet (circa 1995), Robb was one of the original development team members of the now famous GeoCities, which remains one of the world's most successful Internet community sites. After his time with GeoCities, Robb spun off the GeoCities web development division and created Bold New World in 1996. He served on its Board of Directors and as its Chief Technology Officer from 1996 to 2002. In 2002, with over 8 years of exprience working with Internet technologies -- and a unique approach to bulding customized technology solutions in a results-focused, customer-oriented environment -- he launched Ottenhoff Consulting.
According to Debate Both Sides, they are "hosted and maintained by Ottenhoff Consulting."
The rest of this post will provide you with screenshots from the internet utility aids mentioned in the intro. All of them except for two were obtained through CentralOps.Net. By chance the ptb's wish to scrub that information, copies have been made. Scrubbing will only show that this info is perhaps more damaging than it at first appears. I recommend they take their lumps.
Check out the name servers.
One whois result gives AT&T for that ip. Now that perhaps could leave someone scratching their head, but that would just be an itch.
Through centralops.net, the motherlode surprise was found. That a domain is associated to AT&T doesn't prove anything. It may raise some suspicions, but that is all.
However, check out the bottom ip# for this next screenshot.
My friend walked me through this. I had a funny feeling where this was leading to. My gut instinct was correct.