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Videogame Character Threatens National Security?
Watchful Babbler writes "Apparently, 'the lead item on the government's daily threat matrix one day last April' was clear and definite: a reclusive millionaire had formed a terrorist group with the intent of launching chemical weapons attacks on Western cities. The White House was notified and the Director of the FBI briefed as the government raced to find information. But then, according to USNews.com, a White House staffer decided to Google for information on suspected threat Don Emilio Fulci and found him -- in a video game - Sega's action title Headhunter. No word on exactly which sources and methods came up with this gem, but word in the E Ring is that Fulci had issued the cryptic warning, 'You have no chance to survive make your time'."
Of a very knee-jerk reaction to security here in the US... What I dont get is how Grade B (uncorroborated, domestic, single-informant) information winds up at the top of the threat matrix, unless someone was trying to play a joke?
I don't think the Dreamcast game Headhunter was ever released in the US. You can find PAL versions on eBay, and some game websites have old stories on the game, (for example, gamespot.com), but the stories don't indicate a release date, or if the game ever actually came out. Only in Europe and Japan apparently, although the sequel, Headhunter: Redemption is slated for US release on PS2 and XBox
Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
Funny, I googled and got nothing but the news story. Even googling without the quotes doesn't give anything about the game.
Does the US Gov't have hooks into google to prevent "Terrorist" information from being found?
That the government flunkies don't get out enough.
Don't they know that "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy"?
Perhaps we need to coin a new acronym.
How about "DSFR".
Do Some Freaking Reasearch.
-Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
When I just googled, I saw nothing of the like... only 3 results, the usnews article was the top then some french article I didn't bother to read. Anyone know of this character or even the game? I'm not really a Sega person... speaking of which... Sega? When was the last time you saw a Sega? And htis happened last April.... hmm... something fishy.
I can count to 1023 on my hands. Ask me about #132.
When I just googled, I saw nothing of the like... only 3 results, the usnews article was the top then some french article I didn't bother to read.
Anyone know of this character or even the game? I'm not really a Sega person... speaking of which... Sega? When was the last time you saw a Sega? And this happened last April.... hmm... something fishy.
I can count to 1023 on my hands. Ask me about #132.
With their history of it, I can't say I'm surprised.
EVERYDAY IS CATURDAY
Not funny, and I quote:
/struggling to keep a straight face.
"a borderline terrorist threat depending on what someone interprets it to mean."
So, it seems that all you need to do to get a terrorist plot ignored is to frame it with the plot from a popular videogame ...
"Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
Consider the Pentagon folks who looked at this "threat" and suspected sagely (and rightly) that it was too fanciful to be credible.
How closely do they resemble the Pentagon folks who, in early 2000, looked at jet-hijacking scenarios and suspected sagely (and wrongly) that they were too fanciful to be credible?
(See answer in back of book.)
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
People without moral or practical imagination--the types who have gutted our liberties with the Patriot Act, and led us to invade and torture Iraqis--exemplify the kind of simpleminded sorts who shouldn't be allowed to play M-rated video games.
Or run governments.
Arthur C. Clarke got it right for once ;)
In the process of fighting the Secret Service, even with help from the EFF, Steve Jackson Games almost went under.
BTW, I'm not saying that the Steve Jackson case is the same as the FBI's current screw-up. But law enforcement makes mistakes, and sometimes they make big mistakes because they're simply not clued in to popular culture, not to mention computer technology as it is actually used in society.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
On March 1 1990, the offices of Steve Jackson Games, in Austin, Texas, were raided by the U.S. Secret Service as part of a nationwide investigation of data piracy... More than three years later, a federal court awarded damages and attorneys' fees to the game company...
The EFF also has a Top Ten most mis-reported elements of the case:
This instance with Sega's fictional character, though embarassing for the FBI, is certainly preferable to the above.
_________________________
I long for the day when Google stops asking me, "Did you mean: inigo rage"
We're indie. We're working on our 14th game.
An FBI employee recieves a detailed tip about some immenent terrorist threat. Instead of researching first, he makes a calculated judgement that since a specific threat was mentioned, he *might* just go ahead and send the info up and down the pipeline so people can be alert...after all, wouldn't it have been better to have a national bulletin that said "Immeninent attack!" at about 6:00am EST on 9/11/01 than to have a detailed summary four hours later!?
I just don't see how we should be upset about the handling of this event. Yes, its kind of funny. The linked article seems to indicate that everything happened in the timeframe of one day. I mean, don't tell me you expected this guy to recognize some character from a video game?
heh, that will throw them off the trail. lol
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
He did show proof, but as the inspectors pointed out, it wasn't the legal standard of proof they needed. They were shown documents and videos of weapon program destruction, but because specific ammounts, etc. weren't recorded, he got in trouble because he couldn't prove he destroyed exactly 20,000 litres of VX.
But as it turns out, Hussein's scientists probably lied to him about the original estimates anyway.
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
If it was Usenet, someone could just quote your message and add some joke about cruise missles. Then it could be used in court against you. That has already happened to Keith Henson.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Obviously this is equivalent to fighting mp3 downloads by filling p2p networks with fake songs; a form of steganography. The real-life reclusive millionare, Mr. Don Emilio Fulci, has simply asked his fellow conspirators at Sony to make a video game of his terrorist plans. Now he can conduct his planning in the open, and everyone will think that the web pages on which he is plotting the atrocities he's bound to commit and recruiting bored geeks to his terrorist cells, calling them 'clans', are simply innocent, game-related fan sites.
Actually, the US does get intelligence from CNN. CNN is actualy very good at ferreting out information other civilian organizations can't get, and often manages to get information before most of the US gets it... the Marines who went ashore in Somalia damn near killed a CNN camera crew that was there to greet them.
He didn't mention anything from the UK dossier.
9 16 ,00.html
He praised the document. Here's a quote from Powell's speech (On 2/5/03):
I would call my colleagues' attention to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed yesterday which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities.
The paper in question was "Iraq - its infrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation".
Number 10 Downing Street later admited that they plagerized a document from a Graduate Thesis (Search for "Iraq"). This certainly puts the quality of some of the intellegence in question.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,890
I'm not arguing with accuracy of the text itself. But look,
this was Bush's chance to provide inarguable evidence that we should go to War.
Powell was presenting the President's argument for War in Iraq in front of the whole world.
The US is supposed to be the greatest nation in the world. We go to war only as a last resort and only when are arguments are sound and just. Right?
Bush could have convinced the entire world if he had used quality evidence, when a huge percentage of the world (and the US) doubted the reasons for war.
So what does Powell, when presenting this inarguable evidence, cite as a "fine paper"? A document was was largely lifted from a Graduate Student thesis.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."