01-16-2004, 01:19 AM
One has to wonder how well thought out the act is. Unless I'm unaware of some crucial clause, the whole idea is about as air tight as a condom in a meat grinder. Unless real terrorists use unencrypted electronic communications and have acute Bond Villain Syndrome, monitoring normal chat channels for key words and phrases would only waste time and money. Nobody who's part of an organized plot to blow up a lot of people is going to explicitly state they will in an email to somebody, let alone explain how, and where (which is about the only way the authorities would have to track somebody down if they didn't use a pc in their home).
Hell, even the 80's knew that. I saw an episode of The A-Team today where they told eachother the type of mission they were gonna be on, where it was going down, and who should do what, just with a call to a radio talk show. Did they say what it was explicitly? Or even use a single word that might arouse suspicion (like "mission" or "explosion")? Nope. So what is it about literal string checks that makes people feel secure? If I was gonna blow stuff up with a posse of like-minded psychopaths, I would get them to join me for an evening movie, dinner, or perhaps a pint at a pub. Does that set off alarm bells for any of you? Didn't think so. The plans would be brought up, but nobody would hear them because of the high ambient noise level. I didn't even have to send encrypted messages or blatently obvious code words.
I also don't see how you can keep dissent down except from fear of retaliation, simply by mentioning this act exists, and is being used.
Hell, even the 80's knew that. I saw an episode of The A-Team today where they told eachother the type of mission they were gonna be on, where it was going down, and who should do what, just with a call to a radio talk show. Did they say what it was explicitly? Or even use a single word that might arouse suspicion (like "mission" or "explosion")? Nope. So what is it about literal string checks that makes people feel secure? If I was gonna blow stuff up with a posse of like-minded psychopaths, I would get them to join me for an evening movie, dinner, or perhaps a pint at a pub. Does that set off alarm bells for any of you? Didn't think so. The plans would be brought up, but nobody would hear them because of the high ambient noise level. I didn't even have to send encrypted messages or blatently obvious code words.
I also don't see how you can keep dissent down except from fear of retaliation, simply by mentioning this act exists, and is being used.