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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'."
Sounds like the government was trolled.
Could the world's most elaborate April fools be amiss?
Government sues Mario. Nintendo execs in jail...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Wow. At least we know their intel gathering stuff works.... It just can't tell reality from fantasy.
Only the purest of souls seek enlightenment. Everyone else just wants power.
Just recruit Mario Mario and his brother Luigi Mario. They're able to stop any trouble that comes their way.
Oh, you may need to pardon them for their mushroom usage, but it's for a good cause.
... or is terrorism winning?
It certainly feels like evey time we get a false positive we panic.
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?
...that the Princess has been captured again. Good thing Google is up to date on terrorist kidnappings too.
crazy dynamite monkey
I wonder if he was added to the CAPPS II system as a "no fly" person.
John.
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.
When asked for a name, he responded "I. P. Freely".
This links comes from what amounts to a trashy "dc insider" gossip column. Though, this sort of stuff happens all the time. People phone in bogus tips all the time. If they sound legit, they get investigated.
I also object to the articles description of Headhunter as "popular".
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
If the US can so call intelligence community can be fooled into sending out alerts based on a Sega game how hard can it be fore AlQuda to send out false threats to yo-yo with the servalince. Since all this does is tell real people to do things sooner or later they will get tired and ignore the warnings thus allowing for a real threat to go further then it would without the DOS attack. I mean the terrorist aholes should start scaring people left and right, force the threat level up and down. How much risk is there to leak false intelligance.. then not follow through. Sooner or later we will get fed up, let our guard down and whamo they get a free ride. Jebus I really should wash my gray hat its looking darker and darker every day.
"Against what?"
"Every single military installation worldwide!"
"Really? What did it say?"
"'All Your Base Are Belong To Us."
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
The story is so silly it's almost unbelievable.
But then Powell used a Graduate Student's Thesis to justify a war against Iraq in front of the entire world.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
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?
*NSA Laughs and nervously rubs neck*
Yeah, that Splinter Cell is just a silly ol' game too.
NYC sewer system may be target of a disgruntled mafia splinter group, ringleaders believed to be two brothers named Mario and Luigi.
paintball
That would explain the missing WMD's quite nicely :)
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
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.
A relocation expert from sunny Guantanamo Bay will be coming by in a few minutes to assist you in understanding the heretical error in your ways. I hope you're photogenic.
Once this story gets out someone's going to realize that they can disguise an underground movement by naming it after a video game's bad guys. Then the FBI will think it's just a video game clan.
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.
Somebody better tell the US government there's flaming skull guys floating around too (and they look like they're up to no good).
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
We'll, then all the FBI has to do is plug in their Gameshark and enter the following codes...
Hero Is Immortal 24509328 36F055F8
Enemies Are Blind 24109228 36705568
> 'the lead item on the government's daily threat matrix one day last April'
Slight typo, that was supposed to read:
'the lead item on the government's daily threat matrix day one last April'
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
YHBT. YHL. HAND.
*points to GNAA link in parents signature*
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.
Sorry Mario, but our princess is in another castle ...
*DrugCheese rants*
They've already kept steps to keep this dangerous terrorist from getting his hands on a handbook for computer crime.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Try googleing on "Don Emilio Fulci" and you will get two links. One is the story that we saw, and the other is in Italian.
Are we expected to believe that our security agents were able to decode a web page written in Italian? That's just asking us to believe too much.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Which reminds me, never mind this Fulci guy, it's been over 20 years and they still haven't found Carmen Sandiego! Where in the world is she?
I don't see how so many of you conclude that the government doesn't know a real threat from a video game character. A threat can crop up in any one of a gazillion ways. Once made, they have to verify threats before they take them seriously. They did. They determined it was a video game character.
How else does it work? Magic? When a threat comes in, they use telepathic powers to determine that any given name is a real one and not a video game character? A quick google isn't to everyone's liking?
Dumbasses.
Rumors among the jihadi-message boards say that Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have started communicating to each other and their followers "in the open", under code names "Darth Sidious" and "Darth Maul".
The National Security Agency said that comment it will not, but you mustn't underestimate the power of the Emperor.
I'd be more afraid if the government weren't incompetent.
OK they recieved a tip that certainly, if true would be extremely serious, so they took it seriously and this makes you paranoid? It's good to know that our government takes threats seriously until they can be proven not to be serious, as in this case. Makes you lose sleep? well it makes me sleep better.
Holy cow. Calm down. What USA Today printed was a RUMOR- a rumor about a highly classified document. In reality, the story that made it to USA Today probably bears little resemblence to what actually happened in the White House.
You have gone to level three tin-foil-hat alert over a silly rumor.
Second, anything that distracts shrub from coming up with more fun-and-games that turn into PR disasters in Iraq, is good.
"Do not drill any holes in your cat - it will not like it."
-- Nick Davies
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
Fortunately, the FBI is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to buy entertainment systems for all their agents. Police are working round the clock to beat the game and defeat this criminal, the Bush administration is reinstating the draft to illuminate the threat, the government is commissioning programmers to build a ten-story Gameshark, and military units are already being convicted of abusing NPCs
I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
Law enforcement agencies all across the United States are searching for Tommy Vercetti. He is wanted for a string of felonies including (but not limited to) murder, assualt, battery, weapons sales, grand larceny, and above all else Grand Theft Auto.
Informatus Technologicus
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.
While I won't say whether I agree with the war or not, a spontaneous parody is definitely in order.
In A.D. 2003
War was beginning.
Saddam: What happen?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal
Saddam: What!
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you! We met in the '80s!
RUMSFELD: How are you gentlemen!!
RUMSFELD: All your Iraq are belong to U.S.
RUMSFELD: We are on the way to your weapons of mass destruction.
Saddam: What you say!!
RUMSFELD: You have no chance to survive make your time.
RUMSFELD: Ha Ha Ha Ha...
We're talking about the government with supposedly the most intelligence in possession of the most WMDs, the biggest army
I believe that Russia is actually the country documented with the most WMD, their biological reserves are quite vast.
I do not think the US Army is the largest, it was China the last time I checked.
they start a level three alert over a goddamned video game character
Level three alert? I must have missed this important distinction. Further, how do we even know this is true? Looking at the other stories on this web site carrying the story makes you wonder how much of it is just sensational BS.
They'd use all their money to invent a time machine, then go back in time and play the stock market to get the money.
I'm scared of numbers that can't be written as a fraction. It's an irrational fear.
Arthur C. Clarke got it right for once ;)
- Watchful Babbler
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
...WMD.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Come on folks, don't be naive. Just because this guy is a video game character does not make him any less a threat to national security. Do we really need another 9/11-style attack before we wake up? Remember after 9/11 when it turned out that the Sesame Street character Bert (of Ernie and Bert) was working closely with Osama bin Laden? Now I don't know a lot about this Don Emilio guy but I will feel much safer when he is locked away in Guantanamo, or at least huddling in a cave in Pakistan somewhere taunting us with audio tapes while American bombs explode nearby....
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
+1, Ironic. You claim the government is overreacting by shouting in hysterics because someone phoned in a hoax tip which was subsequently proven to be a hoax and dropped. Go outside, take a breath of fresh air, and relax for pity's sake.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
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.
From the (extremely brief) article it sounds like the system put in place to evaluate threats worked. A potential threat was identified somehow, then dismissed once it was turned out to be a nonthreat. Its not like any action beyond evaluation was taken. Even if the "potential threat" in this case was a videogame character, I would prefer to have a human being make that call then let some automated search engine do the screening based on some rules. Whatever automated system they are using is probably only designed to identify potential threats, not evaluate them.
Meanwhile, the real Don Emilio Fulci is laughing his ass off in his secret lair. "All it took was a few million dollars in bribes at Sega to have myself added to a video game, then a careful leak to the FBI. Now no US government agent will dare to say that he suspects Emilio Fulci. BWAHAHAHA!" :^)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
No, the questions were:
1. Does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction that can be used against the United States?
2. Is Iraq planning to use those weapons?
As is plainly evident, even to the man the Bush Administration hired to find the weapons couldn't find them, and I've seen no document saying that Iraq was planning an attack.
I think we all remember Colin Powell circling some stuff on a map, and then holding up a vial saying, "They have this here." Well, where the did "here" go?
What about North Korea? They actually have a nuclear program, and a dictator who has directly threatened the US. What about Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 19 hijackers came from, and home to bin Laden and many terrorist organizations funded by the Saudi Government?
Bush doesn't have any balls. He'll attack a country that has virtually no defense (Afghanistan) or a country that we've been bombing for 10 years (Iraq), but not so much as cut diplomatic ties with the nation that 80% of the 911 terrorists originated from (Saudi Arabia).
I don't think Bush is evil, but he is incompetent and short sighted. Not too great of a choice for President.
Anonymous Ashcroft Coward, your non-sequitur implies that some kind of FBI/CIA "wall" of noncooperation prevents the Dep't of Homeland Security from ruling out cartoons as top terror threats. And you moreover repeat the ridiculous lie from the Justice Department that there's even a "wall" at all, or that Gorelick created one. Where do you get this crap from? Why do you hate America? You hide behind your Anonymous Cowardice like some chickenshit terrorist programmer brainwashing a kid to detonate in a pizza parlor. Why do you hate America?
--
make install -not war
Yeah, those sound like objective, non-politically motivated quotes. I have it on good sources that:
"mozumder cannot tell the difference between a qualitative analysis, and something that was taken out of a book designed to slam bush."
"Muzumder is alltogether willing to abandon common sense, and accept that bush doesn't know anything at all about the rather broad topic of 'policy'"
"Muzumder has an axe to grind, but uses a very soft stone. Consequently, he ends up looking like a jackass."
Just because someone said something, even if it was in print, does not make it so. I never liked Clinton, in fact, I was one of the haters, but I never did anything so foolish as to suggest he was going to suspend national elections, like so many tinfoil hat conservatives did. Why? Because the idea is preposterous on the face of it. Is bush an eloquent speaker? Clearly he is not. Do you believe for one second that he does not have any knowledge of anything that could fall under the heading "policy"? If so, you are the fool, not bush. For an administration to contain a cabinet as diverse in opinion as his does, yet to not consider diverse viewpoints would be rather self-defeating, wouldn't it?
Observation of the Polical scene requires thought, and examination. Quotes from the preface of a book whose entire purpose is to slam Bush do not qualify for the former, nor the latter. Dunce cap for you slappy.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
It's really Japanese video game programmers whom the US military should be afraid of. "Somebody set up us the bomb" read backwards is "Bomb the US, upset somebody!" Looks like they are using a false pretense of a bad translation to hide secret code messages to their allies.
History shows that war on any common noun does not go well. Where are we with the war on drugs? How's that war on poverty going?
For a war to really get traction and be effect it needs to be against a Person or Place, not just a Thing.
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.
...I hear Ashcroft was this close to putting out a worldwide APB on a bald guy in a grey suit who puts his pinky to his mouth when he talks.
He was a little embarassed at first, but Lockheed Martin now has a $10 Million contract to study the feasability of sharks with frickin' laser beams.
Now, my only point was the sheer level of hostility in your post, combined with some use of the retoric (the T-word and implying the anon poster was anti-american) of the pro-Bush, 'My Country Right or Wrong', camp was inspiring. IMO, it illustrates how meaningless those words have become. That people's opinions are discounted by simply calling them 'Unpatriotic' because they dare question the government.
Now, what I find ridiculous about this situation is the two sides of the war. Anti-Bush people who can seem to be unable to criticize anything about Bush except for his intelligence (or lack thereof), and the pro-Bush people who criticize anyone who doesn't agree with Bush as unpatriotic. They've become caricatures all to themselves. How can anyone take either side seriously, I wonder.
Since I'm a Canadian citizen, I can laugh off most silly charges of me being Anti-American. Frankly it's neither an insult or a complement to me. I have even been told that I have no right to speak on these topics. Even throughout the Maher Arar deportation by US authorities (perhaps with the Canadian government's blessings) to Syria to be tortured, some people maintained that no one had the right to say anything about this except for the US government. Can't break this glass house they live in, or the entire world they live in might come crumbling down.
I have my doubts about the justice that Maher will get with the inquiry about his case that's going on. After all, what can you really expect when the RCMP raid a reporter's house after she dug up some secret documents on the case.
I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead.
I am glad that the man in charge of protecting our national security DOES have the balls to act when necessary.
... "No, It's because I de-prioritized counter-terrorism efforts. Bin Ladin has nothing to do with it. In fact I'm in the process of dismantling existing intelligence gathering efforts. For example, I cancelled the investigation on the USS Cole and forced that nosy FBI agent to come home. We booted his ass and he works at the World Trade Center now."
.... WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!! Either that, or big balled dummy knew and was VERY PLEASED.
Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. But memos titled "Bin Ladin determined to strike in the US" tend to elicit some activity. It could generate a question like, "Hey Ashcroft, is this the reason you only fly private charter now????"
Ascroft's response of course would be
The President's Response: "I thought I told you to shut down all those investigations against my old Bin Ladin buddies. You know them and my daddy go way back. They're really ticked that some of our agents are trying to shut down their charities. Make sure that money keeps flowing. It's how they fund their little brother Osama."
Condaleeza Rice: "Mr President, would you like me to read the report to you again????"
President: "No. 11 pages is way too long. Make sure you redact it so if I have to remember it again, it will only be two pages. Just cut out the nine in the middle. Yeah, and get Dick on the phone. I have to figure out how the Iraq war plan is going. Did we end up giving most the oil to Exxon or Shell????"
Of course, the morning of 9/11 your beloved hero was very vigilant in protecting our nation. He knew about the diverted planes BEFORE he left the hotel. He knew about the first strike BEFORE he went into the classroom. A reporter asked him if he knew what was going on in New York, he responded "Yeah, I saw that on TV, that was a pretty bad pilot".
Tick, tock, tick, tock, buzzzz. You can see the engine creaking inside the presidents mind. But he doesn't put two and two together. In fact, along the line he must have issued an order for the Air Force to STAND DOWN. Otherwise, all the jets would have been INTERCEPTED as per standard operating procedure (Google Payne Stewart Plane Crash).
Big ball, no brain Bush goes into a classroom and sits on his ass reading to 2nd graders while our nation it under attack. Than, he is informed that a SECOND plane hits the World Trade Center. Big dummy still hasn't figured it out
Nevertheless, big balled dummey sits in a classroom for another 15 minutes and finishes the goat story. It's so rare that the President is among his intellectual peers. I'm sure he relishes those precious moments.
OK big balled dummy, what do we do. Do you rescind your stand down order that prevented planes from scrambling. Nope, not yet. Plane #3 hasn't struck yet. Don't believe the lies. Do you seriously believe that planes capable of travelling 1500 miles an hour stationed just outside the capital would be unable to intercept the Pentagon airliner????????
Are we stupid??? Is the military this utterly inept???? I don't believe so. If they were, the Soviets would have leveled our nation a LONG time ago.
After all the stupidity on the morning of 9/11, the President makes a brave call to "authorize" shooting down the Pennsylvania plane. How brave he is since he could have prevented the fall of WTC 1, as well as saving the lives of people in the Pentagon. Had he not issued a stand down warning, he could have saved WTC 1 as well.
Who knows, he might have even prevented WTC 7 from mysteriously imploding for no apparent reason.
On to Afghanistan. Does Bush have the Balls to see the Afghan campaign through???? Does he have the balls to put large numbers of boots on the ground to catch his old family friend Osama Bin Ladin??????
Nope. Bush is more concerned with Saddam Hussein. He was obsessed from day one.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!