# Why hasn't the US complete pwned ISIS on the internet **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732 "2015-10-15T16:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732/21 "2015-10-15T21:13:46Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > As opposed to dropping bombs on them, which is totally in line with the principles of a free and democratic nation? Its ok to blow them up, but messing with their internet is beyond the pail? _Pale_. And it’s worth noting that whatever we may be doing, we are not dropping bombs on Romania. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732/22 "2015-10-15T21:15:50Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Surely the U.S. has the capability to monitor traffic on the Internet in various ways, but I’ve never thought about whether the USG has the legal authority to seize electrons that are on their way to Instragram or Twitter. Sure, we could likely use various means to locate where the data came from (like the incident of a guy tweeting a selfie of him in front of an ISIL HQ, not knowing that his GPS coordinates were tagged on the photo, followed by the Air Force dropping bombs on that place hours later), but that’s very different from prohibiting a U.S. business from receiving communications from a person we probably can’t identify with great precision. This is very much the point I’m trying to make. Doing so would require the government to order Facebook and Twitter (or whomever) to categorically deny all access from Syria and Iraq (discounting, of course, IP proxies). Do we really want the government to do that? And in the process of searching for target accounts or IPs, how many US citizens would have their own (innocent) communications compromised? FWIW, this is exactly the kind of problem Edward Snowden exposed and people called him a “hero” for doing so. Are we supposed to say, “Oops, nevermind, we liked it better the way it was before?” ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732/23 "2015-10-15T21:22:14Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But as “big data” problems go that doesn’t seem like too difficult a one to me, it seems quite doable to make sure every IP packet coming out of that region goes through a server in Langely. And how would you accomplish this? The US already tried monitoring all comms coming INTO the country, and it required them to physically splice the fibers at the point where they entered US territory. (And people immediately denounced the government for being an evil Orwellian state.) If you wanted to catch every IP coming OUT of the region, you would have to fly to Syria and install your splices there. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732/24 "2015-10-15T21:25:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > _Pale_. And it’s worth noting that whatever we may be doing, we are not dropping bombs on Romania. This can be fixed. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bones\_Daley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732/25 "2015-10-15T21:33:22Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Its ok to blow them up, but messing with their internet is beyond the pail? > . Messing with their internet may well be on Obama’s bucket list. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732/26 "2015-10-15T21:35:00Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > ISIS’s region of control isn’t that big. And there can’t be that much internet infrastructure there. Dial-up still works - the basic phone line _is_ internet infrastructure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-the-us-complete-pwned-isis-on-the-internet/734732.md?page=1)