Faster, better…

Most blog owners routinely examine server logs, or other logs for information about spammers. Spammers use up resources and bandwidth. The blog owner pays for the resources and bandwidth so that legitimate readers and index bots may enjoy the blog content. At DougWeb and PopularWireless I review logs and block IP addresses using up bandwidth during spam attempts.

There is a new kind of bot. It is not a spammer though Wassup and Akismet mark it as a spammer. It is not a search engine scanner like Google.  This new bot examines a blog’s content focusing apparently on political posts and the pages that identify the blogger. The content is analyzed for clients private or government. The bot belongs to an Illinois company, River Glass, Inc.  A log sample:

72.36.94.20 2009-04-26 18:31:24
/doug/2009/04/11/
Referrer: Direct hit
Hostname: rg34.riverglassinc.com

* User Agent: Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.0.1

* SPIDER: Jakarta

* Probably SPAM!(Akismet Spam)

Raw data:

* Visit type: Spammer
* IP: 72.36.94.20
* Hostname: rg34.riverglassinc.com
* Url Requested: /doug/2009/04/regularfolksunitedcom-a-challenge-to-the-black-church/
* User Agent: Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.0.1
* Referrer:
* OS: N/A
* Wassup ID: 81dae8b812259fa41f0c8c1f471093e3
* End timestamp: 2009-04-26 17:11:20 ( 1240765880 )

In reviewing my logs the other day I noticed hits from a bot located at rg34.riverglassinc.com (above) so I went to their site and read up on the company. When I found this paragraph a cold chill ran up my spine.

“Governmental agencies and businesses face three major challenges in acquiring information: extensive, irrelevant information in search results; impossibility of knowing the best places to look for information; and an infinite need for new information and insights. RiverGlass technology continuously scours the Internet or enterprise intranet to discover new information relevant to your needs:

# Locating text-based content relevant to your interest and business context
# Identifying key entities (such as people, places and events) within found content
# Understanding the relationship among those entities as it relates to topics of interest
# Connecting relationships within the data through powerful visualizations and analytical summaries “

On their Government and Intelligence page it says:

“RiverGlass assists the public law enforcement and intelligence sectors by applying our sophisticated machine-learning techniques for culling data from within different legal entities, analyzing disparate data, and addressing the information problems facing intelligence analysts today.”

Now having worked in law enforcement in the past I might have just blown off a site like this; however, the recent flap in the news media about right-wing extremists triggered my otherwise dormant conspiracy theory brain cells.

Who is watching a relatively insignificant Republican blogger primarily focused on local and state politics and topics of personal interest? Moreover, who is worried about what I have to say and why? This company has apparently found my blog because of content it wants to retrieve, analyze, and send to a client. Who is the client?

My logs indicated the bot was primarily interested in articles that I share with readers about politics. The bot also searched WordPress tags like DHS. It really liked my favorite Maryland State candidate’s articles that I quote and refer others to. This is creepy.

I have always considered myself a patriot and a Christian that cares about my community and the people in it. Why I would leave anyone with the impression that I had to be monitored by intelligence analysts puts a cold chill on blogging. It makes me wonder if my blogging is having an effect on my job search? Lately I get to the interview process but never again hear from the potential employer. Aside from making a very bad career choice once in my life I have all the skills and experience to make a superb choice as a new employee. No, this is just paranoia. This couldn’t happen in the United States could it?

Just for grins I encourage bloggers to look through their server logs, Wassup logs, or other detailed reports and look for this bot. Is the bot looking at left-wing sites, right-wing sites, entertainment sites?  Share what you find. A major media news crew might find this an interesting story.

In the meantime,  the bot from this company is now seeing an Error 403 page at my site. The analysts can visit my site from Google like everyone else does and any Analyst concerned about me or my content is welcome to call me on the telephone. I may be at a Tea Party, helping my candidate friend get elected, blogging about a hobby or volunteer interest, volunteering at a homeless shelter, going to church, or looking for work. Please leave a message.

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