Dick Cheney Had Implanted Defibrillator Altered To Prevent Terrorist Attack

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Dick Cheney Had Implanted Defibrillator Altered To Prevent Terrorist Attack

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 19, 2013 @02:32AM from the didn't-want-to-wake-up-his-heart-by-accident dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Washington Post, 'Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he once feared that terrorists could use the electrical device that had been implanted near his heart to kill him and had his doctor disable its wireless function. Cheney has a history of heart trouble, suffering the first of five heart attacks at age 37. ... In an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, Cheney says doctors replaced an implanted defibrillator near his heart in 2007. The device can detect irregular heartbeats and control them with electrical jolts. Cheney says that he and his doctor, cardiologist Jonathan Reiner, turned off the device's wireless function in case a terrorist tried to send his heart a fatal shock.' More at CBS News."

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Terrorist? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-19 02:36 · Score: 2, Insightful

How can anyone who kills Dick Cheney be a terrorist?
1. Re:Terrorist? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-10-19 02:37 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Terror is a strategy, not a value judgment.
  Don't let the propagandists redefine words to suit their purposes.
  I'd much rather be terrorised from time to time - indeed, England was for quite a while, and my father almost got killed in one bomb blast - than be aerial bombarded back to the Middle Ages.
2. Re:Terrorist? by couchslug · 2013-10-19 03:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Precisely. There is only "war" of different kinds and at varying levels.
  "Terror" is pretty effective though. Nations which lose hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed to socially acceptable causes (smoking, obesity, auto crashes) can easily be terrified into implementing structurally toxic changes by the trivial loss of a few thousand killed in one small location. I wouldn't want to be under a massive bombardment either, but once upon a time nations knew they could take massive casualties yet not only survive but triumph.
  Give the Mamayev Kurgan monument some thought. Stalingrad cost more Soviet dead than the US lost in all its wars, but they refused to lose. Commies or not, they had balls.
  
  --
  "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
3. Re:Terrorist? by Skiron · 2013-10-19 04:13 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Stalingrad cost more Soviet dead than the US lost in all its wars, but they refused to lose. Commies or not, they had balls.
  Well, in essence, it was Hitler's fault. The original plan was to take the Ural oil fields and the German machine was unstoppable it doing it - until Hitler decided on a detour to take Stalingrad on the way (he thought it would destroy the Russian hearts and resistance) ~ bad move.
  
  If he didn't do the detour, I think the outcome of WWII would have been different.
  
  Mind you, that doesn't take away what the people of Stalingrad did to resist and destroy the German eastern front.
4. Re:Terrorist? by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-10-19 04:36 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Agreed: such a targetted attack would only be "terrorism" when the word is redefined by propagandists.
Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by houstonbofh · 2013-10-19 02:38 · Score: 5, Insightful

Frankly, anyone who understands how insecure wireless is should be terrified of having a built in personal "off switch." I would do the same thing, and so would a lot of slashdot.
Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-10-19 02:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

Frankly, anyone who understands how fragile the human body is should be terrified of walking outdoors, etc.
Murders don't happen all the time simply because most people aren't psychopathic cunts. But, in Cheney's case, it takes one to know one.
Paranoid? Nope, he's merely one noid. by waddgodd · 2013-10-19 02:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

Okay, given Cheney's historical level of paranoia (this is nothing compared to some of his hijinks as SECNAV), I can TOTALLY see Cheney not understanding something and therefore assuming it's going to be used by people out to get him. Both "not understanding something" and "worried about trivial crap" are WELL within Cheney's persona. Having said that, whose wise idea was it to make a defibrilator that can be remotely accessed wirelessly in the first place? If nerd history has taught us anything, it's vulnerable shit eventually gets broken into, and wireless protocols are by definition vulnerable.

--
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you
Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by ShanghaiBill · 2013-10-19 02:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

By attacking America on 9/11, Al Qaeda hoped to lure America into a foolish overreaction that would alienate the West from the Islamic world, weaken America's will, and help spread Al Qaeda's message of extremism and violence. Few people helped them achieve these goals more than Dick Cheney did. So why would they want to kill him?
Re:It's a weird experience by ColdWetDog · 2013-10-19 03:03 · Score: 3, Insightful

Do you crinkle in fear each time a car comes at you from the opposite direction? Every time you get on a plane?
Lots of potentially dangerous actions in your life, many other people can terminate it accidentally or on purpose. Hell, that dodgy iPhone charger you bought off of eBay - do you really trust it?

--
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Danger still there by naasking · 2013-10-19 03:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

Disabling wifi doesn't remove the danger. Directed energy weapons, like RF guns, can still target and disrupt the device in various ways since it contains electronics.

--
Higher Logics: where programming meets science.
Re:It's a weird experience by mysidia · 2013-10-19 03:34 · Score: 3, Insightful

Do you crinkle in fear each time a car comes at you from the opposite direction? Every time you get on a plane?

Lots of potentially dangerous actions in your life, many other people can terminate it accidentally or on purpose.
At least if a car going the opposite direction crashes into you, or the airplane pilot crashes the plane their life and property is in serious jeapordy as well.
Re:Will not happen by mbone · 2013-10-19 03:35 · Score: 3, Insightful

Killing a politician with subtle electronic sabotage is not appealing to terrorists. It is not dramatic. It is quiet. Terrorists would rather blow a city block with TNT to kill a politician. Killing somebody using defibrillator suits spies or other government agents.
And my guess is that that is what he was really worried about.
Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by Dunbal · 2013-10-19 04:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

I have a pacemaker/defibrillator, and I really couldn't give a shit. Besides, my tech says that my model requires a magnetic field in order to pull a magnet inside the device and make a contact so that the wifi is turned on. Without someone sticking that round thing on my chest, no one can talk to the machine. Honestly if strange people go around putting heavy chunks of metal on my chest without my permission I think wifi is the least of my worries.

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Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Re:Paranoid? Nope, he's merely one noid. by Ihlosi · 2013-10-19 04:02 · Score: 3, Insightful

Having said that, whose wise idea was it to make a defibrilator that can be remotely accessed wirelessly in the first place?
Probably someone who thought that sticking a cable through your chest to change the things configuration is an even worse idea.