Apr 06
18
Security, Movie Plots, Terrorism….
Bruce Schneier is one of the worlds top experts on cryptology. He has run a newsletter for some years that, among other things, identifies bad ideas in government and business that relate to or are supposed to address security…. He asks difficult questions……
In his most recent newsletter, he suggests that the fear mongering taking place nowadays under the guise of Homeland Security is like the plot from Hollywood movies….. so why not have a competition to see who can come up with the scariest hypothesis for a terrorist attack – wait for it – as a premise for a Hollywood movie…. With the prize being that the winner gets to talk to a producer in Hollywood…..
But if we're going to worry about unlikely attacks, why can't they
be exciting and innovative ones? If Americans are going to be scared,
shouldn't they be scared of things that are really scary? “Blowing up
the Super Bowl” is a movie plot to be sure, but it's not a very good movie. Let's kick this up a notch.
It is in this spirit I announce the (possibly First) Movie-Plot
Threat Contest. Entrants are invited to submit the most unlikely, yet
still plausible, terrorist attack scenarios they can come up with.
Your goal: cause terror. Make the American people notice. Inflict
lasting damage on the U.S. economy. Change the political landscape, or
the culture. The more grandiose the goal, the better.
Assume an attacker profile on the order of 9/11: 20 to 30 unskilled
people, and about $500,000 with which to buy skills, equipment, etc.
I imagine that Bruce has a substantially geeky readership, but let me tell you they should all be looking for jobs in Hollywood. Check out the web site….. and here is one example that I loved! This guy should be writing for the Scary Movie franchise….
Terrorists discover the musical note that will make all listeners
release their bowels. Taking over the production of American Idol by
use of sleeper agents planted in Hollywood to lend it a liberal bias
and make people sympathic to [Nazi|Soviet|Islamofascist] (delete as
appropriate).
Through this, they engineer that the final edition finishing song
incorporates the note, thereby sending the entire American populace
rushing to their toilets and flushing at the same time. This depletes
the resevoirs to such an extent that millions suffer from dehydration
and its' associated illnesses. In the ensuing madness, the Terrorists
take over the white house.
The only people who can save America are the hippie tree huggers in
Oregon who don't own televisions and have routed rainwater collectors
to their toilet cisterns. But! Will they have the moral fortitude to
stand up for their country and defend it when the SUV owning
consumerist Americans they hate need them so badly?