

How the Colombian army sent a hidden message to hostages using a pop song - kposehn
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/7/7483235/the-code-colombian-army-morsecode-hostages

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shutupalready
It's a great feel-good story, but the whole thing is just _intelligence
theater_ , à la Bruce Schneier's _security theater_.

That is, the coded message serves no intelligence or military objective. It
sounds to me like the government concocted this idea because they felt they
should be doing something, anything, no matter how useless( * ).

What's a hostage supposed to conclude from hearing, "19 people rescued. You’re
next. Don’t lose hope". Should I run? Run now? Hide in the jungle? Run when
the rescue starts? Stay put? Fight during the rescue? Don't fight? If you
asked 10 different people what _specific_ action you're supposed to take based
on this message, you'd get 10 different answers.

If this message had any tangible effect, why aren't there any first hand
accounts from the hostages explaining what they did _differently_ as a result
of hearing the message?

So 3 million people heard this song, yet the only ones who understood it were
some of the hostages? Not one of the several thousand militants and no one in
the public decoded it? This just proves the point that it's un-actionable.
Case (1): Lots of people got it besides the hostages, but there's nothing to
blow the whistle on. It's not as if the message says, "Raid at dawn". Case
(2): Nobody got it, which also implies that the message had no effect.

( * )If the government claimed that the message was simply a way to make the
hostages keep up hope, then OK (though it still seems like a lot of expense
for little gain). But they're trying to make it sound like a big intelligence
or military coup, which it is not.

~~~
iamcreasy
>19 people rescued. You're next. Don't lose hope.

Me : I think it should mean, you might be the next to be rescued.

>If this message had any tangible effect, why aren't there any first hand
accounts from the hostages explaining what they did differently as a result of
hearing the message?

From the article : In his military psychological evaluation, Col. Espejo says
that the soldier spoke of hearing "the code hidden in the song," and revealed
how the message was passed from soldier to soldier. The song was even enjoyed
by the FARC, who were oblivious to its secret message. "It makes me very happy
to think of the hostages listening to our song," Ortiz says.

From the article : Someone who is a hostage, for over a decade, would think
there is still hope. But I too find the article lacking in this.

> who understood it were some of the hostages? This just proves the point that
> it's un-actionable.

From the article : Operation Chameleon — a sixth-month operation that involved
300 government soldiers and secret raids. Because the FARC shoots hostages
dead at the first sight of a military invasion.

From the article : Espejo reasoned, "The FARC were peasants from the fields,
they wouldn’t know [Morse].

> But they're trying to make it sound like a big intelligence or military
> coup, which it is not.

Me : No, they are not. It's an extension of Operation Chameleon - That's what
I think.

> If the government claimed that the message was simply a way to make the
> hostages keep up hope, then OK.

Me : Exactly, but it's an understatement. For those who are suffering, this
news would mean a world to them.

~~~
shutupalready
> Me : I think it should mean, you might be the next to be rescued.

But what _specifically_ would you have done differently if you were a hostage
and had received this message? Don't answer, "I'd keep up hope." "Not losing
hope" is not an action.

The message has no particular call to action. That's my main point. My second
point is that even if you named some specific action you'd take, someone else
would have had a different idea because it's so vague.

A compassionate message could mean the world to a hostage. That's true. But a
compassionate message and a _useful_ message are not the same thing.

~~~
iamcreasy
As far as I understand, this messages was used in conjunction with Operation
Chameleon. On it's own this message wasn't supposed to do anything, but it had
to be discrete because this operation was clandestine.

The goal was to give them hope. That's the point. To let them know that there
is help on the way, but there in't no accurate account by how far.

The `action` here is the Operation Chameleon, which is a secret.

------
lrm242
The morse is subtle but if you listen closely you can hear it. Set the
Soundcloud player to 1:25 or so and you'll hear singing as they finish up the
chorus. As the chorus completes at about 1:31 the singing stops and
instruments play. Listen closely, and try to remember what morse sounds like
in the movies. It's there in the background, and once you hear it it's
obvious. Don't listen to the drums or tambourine, it's not there in the beat.
It's "behind" the beat as if a background instrument was playing.

(edit: it also kicks in again around 2:30 and 3:30. So the start times are at
approximately 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30.)

Outstanding.

~~~
ufo
The lyrics make it even getter: "...escute este mensaje hermano - beep beep
beep beep beep..."

~~~
nmc
As the article points out, this translates to:

 _" Listen to this message, brother"_

------
biot
Though I don't _know_ morse code (beyond S-O-S), I know _of_ morse code and
roughly what it ought to sound like. I really wish the article had started out
with the SoundCloud player, saying "Listen to this first... notice anything
peculiar about the song?" since because I knew it contains morse code, I
instantly recognized it in the chorus. I wonder if I would have been as
oblivious to its inclusion as the FARC members had I not been made aware
beforehand.

It reminds me of Evanescence's "My Immortal" song where people have speculated
there's a hidden message in it. Take a listen and see if you can hear it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo)

~~~
joshschreuder
If you're listening to the Evanescence song, the supposed morse code is right
at the end of the song.

I did a bit of reading and one of the band's co-founders said it isn't morse
code but rather a preset synth effect on the keyboard they were using (see
here:
[http://www.netmusiccountdown.com/inc/news_article.php?id=610...](http://www.netmusiccountdown.com/inc/news_article.php?id=6106))

~~~
biot
It's also in one other place that I can detect, though you may need to play it
with sufficient volume to hear it. That you only heard it at the end lends
credibility to the effectiveness of hiding morse code in a song.

------
bbayles
Clever! It reminds me of another story of broadcasting information such that
only interested parties will receive it.

In 1997, during an auction of wireless spectrum by the FCC, some of the
participants colluded by stealthily signaling the geographic region of the
licenses they most valued. They made the last few digits of their bids (in
dollars), which were visible to all, the area codes of those regions.

~~~
iamcreasy
Interesting, can you link any article?

~~~
bbayles
The Economist describes the incident here:
[http://www.economist.com/node/149797](http://www.economist.com/node/149797)

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blahedo
This is a fantastic example of steganography in action, in a context _other_
than hiding info in low-order bits of images.

~~~
kposehn
I know, right? It found it rather fascinating immediately.

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monitron
I think I hear an additional bit of trickery that the article didn't mention:
the morse signal keeps oscillating between the left and right stereo channels,
which on headphones or a nice speaker system make it sound more like artsy
synth and less like a coded message.

If the illustration in the article is accurate, the hostages are probably
listening on a monophonic radio or one with limited stereo separation, which
would make the code easier to pick out and understand.

------
seandhi
This is a pretty great story. I was in Bogotá in July of 2008 just after
Ingrid Betancourt and several other hostages were rescued. In the face of such
jubilation of their rescue, there was a small demonstration in Plaza de
Bolívar to remind everyone that there were still people who needed help.
[https://www.dropbox.com/sc/93d9g1ycgxamg3o/AAD4g5xPPyT3R-AWJ...](https://www.dropbox.com/sc/93d9g1ycgxamg3o/AAD4g5xPPyT3R-AWJxG_JEr9a)

It is inspiring seeing the steps that the government took, the planning, the
rescue, and the demonstration of genuine care for all involved.

------
gabrielblack
It's very important to keep prisoners' morale high, so this initiative is very
commendable.

But this isn't a new idea, there are a lot of pop songs with embedded morse
code messages, for example, this Slipknots' song:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_I_Forget_%28song%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_I_Forget_%28song%29)

A tutorial:

[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dmitrismirnov/MorseMusic.html](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dmitrismirnov/MorseMusic.html)

Anyway, there are more creative methods to insert coded messages in radio
shows, for example, some years ago, the italian police confiscated a
commercial radio in Naple. That radio was controlled by a mafia family and
used to send message to the inmates of Poggioreale prison. They used fake
"inscription" related to the songs transmitted:

[http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2007/06_Giugno/1...](http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2007/06_Giugno/12/napoli_radio_camorra.html)

------
curiously
I wonder if anyone would've picked it up? You would have to listen to the song
over and over. Then figure out morse code and what letter each signal
represented.

~~~
philwelch
If you know Morse code already it's probably something you can work out in
real time in your head.

~~~
gonzo
If you know Morse code already, you just hear it.

