The group's grievances were largely unspecific; Dr. Lombard said she suspected that Mr. Djotodia simply felt that rebellion might be a simple path to political power.
But other officials disputed that, saying the information was unspecific but had been collected from several sources.
While Microsoft's own tools are capable of spotting a tampered download, Pitts says the unspecific error code can actually lead a user back into danger.
Some scholars of China's leadership say his unspecific calls for democracy and people power actually fit comfortably within a Communist Party committed to absolute rule.
Many state and local law enforcement officials said such unspecific warnings served little purpose, since they had remained on high alert since Sept. 11, and tended to create panic in communities that were already under intense strain.
"In a rush to manufacture a legacy, President Clinton's Labor Department hurriedly issued sweeping regulations to give the federal government unprecedented power to go into virtually every workplace in America and fine employers for not meeting vague and unspecific new ergonomic regulations," said Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the assistant majority Leader.
In a tweet last week, after saying that Republicans and Democrats have a reason to fear 2010 — the kind of rumbling, ominous, yet unspecific warning that is typical of Beck — he wrote, "Tell yr friends & C U a week from Sat in The Villages, FL.
But in many cases, experts say, contracts are unspecific and collectors do not fully understand the legal risks.
It is, he says, in effect "site unspecific".
With more than 300 ships around the globe, Navy officials here have said, this was too unspecific to have served as a basis for changing threat levels in the Persian Gulf area, despite the upsurge of passion in the Arab world after the violent clashes in Israel and the Palestinian lands.
