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Spam Text Prematurely Blows Up Suicide Bomber
Hugh Pickens writes "A suicide bomber's plan to detonate explosives in Central Moscow on New Year's Eve was foiled when she received an unexpected spam text message that caused her deadly payload to blow up too early. A message wishing her a happy new year came hours before the unnamed woman was to set off her suicide belt near Red Square, an act of terrorism that could have killed hundreds of people. Islamist terrorists in Russia often use mobile phones as detonators. The bomber's handler, who is usually watching his charge, sends the bomber a text message to set off the explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties."
Made me think of Achmed and his 'premature detonation.'
Sad to think this is how people need to express their world view, happy when it turns out like this for them.
I can see the spam now:
"B10w ur load urly?" Buy M3dic4l V1a6ra!!!
Who would have ever thought that Spam would save a life?
At least now they can't say that spam never killed anyone.
I doubt it was that sophisticated; they probably just hooked up the wires for the ringer or vibrator to a detonator instead.
Either that or they care so little about the suicide bombers that they didn't bother doing the extra work to prevent this.
"You've Got Fail"
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why stop at Islam?
In Soviet Russia, spam blocks you.
Indeed - any fundie is a danger, no matter what invisible sky being they believe in
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Bombs don't kill people. People kill people.
If you block text messages off in an area, only outlaws will have text messages.
end satire.
No pun intended ;)
God forbid. Cutting off communications in an area would also be the perfect way to quell descent or to turn an organized protest into a discrediting (for the protesters) riot. And/or disappear people whilst stopping them from telling others they're being arrested.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
The "story" is a little light on details. The suicide bomber has no name and no location is given, other than she was in a "safe house". Why wasn't this news four weeks ago, when it was New Year's? Why do they think it was an errant text message that set the bomb off and not just a defective trigger (after all, the phone should have been destroyed in the blast)?
I expect to see this on Snopes shortly.
Worse than that. Virtually any cheapass phone allows you to set specific ring/vibration combinations for specific numbers. Set the trigger number to "vibrate", connect the vibration motor driver to the detonation stage, and set the default to "silent". Should take 25 seconds or so. Maybe a few minutes if VZ designed the interface...
It seems rather dangerous to have it set off with any incoming SMS. You'd think they could've invested in the time to hook it to at least only respond to a particular number.
jaymz
Ok, this will only work a few times, and soon the terrorists would find other ways to detonate....
Every now and then the phone company can randomly send a text message. Or, since the bomb is probably tied to the speaker, just send half a ring. just something small. And do it more often near holidays or major events where people gather (like, before the superbowl, send everyone a text message)
No need to send to EVERYONE, just everyone in areas where people gather...
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
All it would take is a day's prep, an extra chip and 10 minutes of work to make it only blow up if, say, the message contains 5 a's. Tie the text out to something to check for the right 1's and 0's. This was shoddy workmanship.
You're talking about rudimentary programming for people who haven't even figured out that they could take the bomb off before detonating it. Gotta walk before you can run.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
I suspect you answered your own question. It took time to figure all this stuff out, going through records and such, and that's why it's only now being reported on.
Indeed - any fundie is a danger, no matter what invisible sky being they believe in
My impression is that there's a lot more justification (and impetus) for forcible world domination in the Q'uran than there is in the Bible.
Not that that stopped the Western European powers from using it as a justification. But I suspect it was more a pretense for most of those leaders, than it was anything driven by a desire to be good Christians.
Tastes fine, saves lives.
</humor>
Quite frankly this has a darker story. The handler can't trust the person to push their own button, so the handler does it remotely without the persons consent. That would imply that a number of people have failed to do what they have been psychologically coerced to believe what their duty, when its not something they really wanted to do in the first place. Feelings of despair and insignificance are easily played upon by psychotic individuals.
This story is hilarious! I'm gonna text it to all my terrorist friends right now!
Because 90% of women bombers are forced to do it. the scumbag Islamic terrorists either start killing their children, or threaten to kill their kids to make the woman do the deed. In fact a cellphone detonator means she could not be trusted to blow herself up so her Islamic torturer needed to have control of her death to make them happy.
All you flag wavers saying "dumb bitch" are uninformed as to how Utterly Disgraceful and lack of Honor these Islamic Terrorists are.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Islam isn't the problem. Religion isn't the problem. Force is the problem. Coercion. Violence. Theft. Fraud. In the absence of force, religion is harmless. In the absence of force, everything is harmless.
Force is the true root of all evil, because without force, there can be no evil. It's not logically possible, because force is what defines evil from beginning to end.
Instead of focusing on beliefs, culture, and trying to divide people into "teams" who are supposedly enemies, we should be looking precisely at where and how force is employed, and by whom. This is where the evil is, and this is what needs to stop. Islam doesn't need to stop. Religion doesn't need to stop. FORCE NEEDS TO STOP.
Now, how many of us are man enough to admit that for every human being murdered by a suicide bomber, governments have caused thousands of times more death and destruction? There's a reason why government wants you to believe that the problem is "Islam", rather than force alone.
Depends how you read them. If you are looking for 'signs' in either one that you are to force domination over another you will find it in either text...well ANY lard text anyways. You could find sign in Moby Dick telling you to do what ever it is your looking to do.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Yeah, Islam is more into stoning women who were raped.
Abusing underage girls and claiming cultural/religious license to do so.
Executing people like Theo van Gogh in the street for saying anything negative about Islam.
Kidnapping and torturing people including aid workers until finally taping their slow, agonizing decapitation.
Yeah, Islam has quite a moral high ground there too.
Religion is evil.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
If it's for religious reasons, and it usually is, then they are forbidden from committing suicide upon punishment of going to hell. Because they are dead, it's a sin that cannot be forgiven. The loophole exists that they aren't killing themselves if someone else does the actual button pressing. These guys take loopholes way more seriously than the character optimization board at WotC and they've had thousands of years to figure this shit out. The consequences are greater, sure, but they've got it figured out.
The murders, apparently, are kosher / halal / unicode error. Better than that, actually, by martyring yourself whilst killing the holy enemies of your chosen one then you are assured -- fucking assured -- that you get to escape this oppressed life and move to a perfect beautiful one (albeit a hilarious parody of adolescent fantasy) in paradise, with the blessing of your chosen one.
I know, it assumes facts not in evidence. I'm a Secular Humanist so don't try saying but there's no God because I already know that, I'm just saying that that's their mentality.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
If you're a suicide bomber, then can't you be trusted with your own detonator?
Really? You really have to ask if someone whose bright plan is to strap explosives to themselves is level-headed enough to be trusted the with detonator?
And you're capable of building a bomb with a remote detonator, then why would you be a suicide bomber (and not just a "drop it and run" bomber)?
It is very rare that a suicide bomber is also the bomb maker. They are usually some idealistic kid or even mentally handicapped person that the bomb maker or cell takes advantage of and convinces to go blow themselves up. The remote detonator takes away that deciding moment of whether they can really press the button and allows for remote detonation in the case they are ID'd and shot. The use of a suicide bomber makes a statement and display about the "dedication" to the cause and has a larger psychological impact. It also does not leave open the chance for the drop-off guy to get picked up and interrogated.
However, if the story is at all true, it leads to the usual conclusion:
If you (the bomber's handler) want something done properly, you just have to do it yourself.
Bombs don't kill people. People kill people.
If you block text messages off in an area, only outlaws will have text messages.
end satire.
End the madness, we need strong bomb-control laws!
Even better, lets ban bombs!
I was in Red Square on New Years Eve attending the festivities. There was no way the bomber could have made it in before midnight due to the massive police and military presence (to get in I went through 3 checkpoints where I lost my alcohol and bottled water). However, after midnight they dropped the security and a bomber could have made quite an impact at any of the several stages surrounding the downtown area that were still packed with people (the streets were closed off to cars so everyone was just walking around). This spam text was a lucky break for the Russians, things could have gone much worse.
No, suicide bombers are usually college educated middle class people. I know that makes for a more confusing narrative than "Unstable, idealistic, and poor," but it is true.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_bomber#Profile_of_attackers
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I am supposed to be upset that a sociopath that is trying to maim and kill other people dies by their own ineptitude?
To laugh as a sociopath is gunned down by the firing squad seems to place you squarely on the same path as he. Whos to say that with the right justification you might not find yourself in his place, in the name of eliminating others like him?