A New Zealand man suspected of fighting for ISIS in Syria accidentally revealed his location, because he simply forgot to turn off geotagging. Mark John Taylor, also known as Abu Abdul Rahman or Mohammad Daniel, realized his mistakes and turned off Twitter location services - while also deleting 45 tweets - but screenshots were already captured. The account in question, @M_Taylor_Kiwi, has been suspended.
Using Taylor's own tweets, iBrabo, a Canadian open source intelligence research firm, was able to track the militant's locations from Kafar Roma, into the desert, and into the Al Tabqah ISIS safe haven. As Taylor posted messages such as: "I've abandoned all international laws and only practice Islamic shariah laws! NZ laws are the worst of time. Sorry Johny, here to stay in IS," he was also revealing what house he was staying in.
"Taylor eager for the fame of being a violent jihadist took to Twitter to get attention for his exploits," iBrabo noted in a statement. "His statements and Twitter missteps have solidified his involvement with ISIS and will provide the evidence should he ever try to return to New Zealand."
