Visitors to a popular ‘prepper’ website which advises people on how to prepare for potential disasters and civil emergencies were spied on by the FBI by means of a cookie that tracked their web activity, according to an analysis conducted by SurvivalBlog.com.

“It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers,” states a post on the SurvivalBlog.com website.

The analysis performed by the website found that the FBI’s primary source of interest was web users who had visited a video upload website associated with alleged intellectual copyright theft, such as MegaUpload. Once users visited these websites, they were assigned an FBI cookie which allowed the feds to track which websites users visited, including SurvivalBlog.com.

However, the analysis also showed that some of the cookies were being assigned to users who had connected directly with the SurvivalBlog website.

“So if they had kept this practice up long enough and if you visited us enough times then the FBI’s computers would have given you a cookie. This has been verified with sniffer software,” states the website.

SurvivalBlog has since switched its primary servers to be hosted in Sweden, preventing the FBI from accessing the data. However, the whole episode proves that the feds are spying on so-called ‘preppers’ by tracking the websites they visit.

Despite being the subject of a major National Geographic series entitled Doomsday Preppers, members of the ‘prepper’ community have been treated with increasing suspicion by US authorities.

Last month we reported on the case of David Sarti, a familiar face in the prepper community who features prominently in the National Geographic show. Sarti was declared mentally defective and put on an FBI list preventing him from purchasing guns after an enforced stay in hospital after Sarti had complained of breathing difficulties.

Sarti was also told that his second amendment rights had been stripped and that he would have to hand in all the guns he currently owns. Sarti is currently fighting to have his name taken off the list that outlaws him from buying guns.

In a related development, under the auspices of its Communities Against Terrorism program, the FBI has characterized the bulk purchase of food, a common trait of the ‘prepper’ community, as a suspicious activity possibly indicative of terrorism.

A flyer aimed at Military Surplus stores encourages owners to report people who “make bulk purchases of items to include….meals ready to eat”. According to the flyer, the FBI advises store owners to demand ID’s from all new customers, as well as asking them questions about their purchase and being aware of “suspicious statements”.

Despite the fact that the federal government itself is purchasing bulk food supplies at record levels, efforts by citizens to do the same are being scrutinuized by authorities.