
9/11 tragedy pager intercepts - denzil_correa
http://911.wikileaks.org/files/index.html
======
Bud
Each successive anniversary of 9/11 is a reminder to us that we need to get
over it, we should have gotten over it long ago, those who planned the act
triumph more greatly with each year that passes with us not getting over it,
and if we don't get over it soon, it will be too late to ever gain back the
liberties and freedoms so cheaply given away on that day.

Just imagine if we were in the late 1950s, and still obsessed with defeating
the Nazis, and remaking our entire society to protect against the threat from
Hitler.

That's where we are today in America. That's how pathetic we are.

~~~
jules
Just to put the events into perspective:

Number of people who died due to Hitler: ~50,000,000

Number of people who died due to terrorist attacks in the US: ~3000

Number of people who die in a car accident in the US EVERY YEAR: ~40,000

Number of children who can be saved EVERY YEAR by bringing US infant mortality
rate down to Slovenia's or Czech Republic's (!!) level: ~11,000

How many lives could be saved by directing anti-terrorist organization's
funding towards preventing car accidents or other preventable causes of death?

~~~
antidoh
"How many lives could be saved by directing anti-terrorist organization's
funding towards preventing car accidents or other preventable causes of
death?"

Yeah, but it's harder for the government to spy and control you using infant
mortality or traffic safety as an excuse. And using tax dollars for improving
infant mortality is socialism, while using tax dollars to grab your balls is
patriotism.

------
purplelobster
2001-09-11 08:46:46 Arch [1612975] D ALPHA PAGE FROM lifeline: alert 8933585
ETS appl nbetpsd27.fi.gs.com ETS RTCE: - Market data inconsistent...Cantor API
problem Trading system offline on nbetpsd27.fi.gs.com, run by etsuser on
nbetpsd27, pid = 24277

"The hijackers flew the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
at 8:46 a.m."

"Cantor Fitzgerald was formerly based in the World Trade Center and was the
company hardest hit by the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed all 658 of
its employees who were in the office at the time (out of 960 who were based
there)."

First signs of trouble was a financial trading API.

~~~
mtkd
These were kicking around some time after it happened. I remember reading the
first Cantor network failure messages then - they brought the tragedy home to
me more than the TV images and statistics had.

They made it human - I could imagine an event, at one of the buildings I'd
worked at, wiping out an entire floor - everyone in it and everything
connected to it - left me cold and reading it again now I feel just the same.

~~~
Monotoko
It's odd that a bot saying "Network Failure" really brings it home more than
live images etc. Maybe it's because we are very technically oriented
individuals, or is it a wider thing?

~~~
yock
Pictures of faces and buildings with which we aren't acquainted likely remain
abstract to most people; however, a remote system that was directly related to
a person's daily work is something concrete. It doesn't take much of an
imagination to go from that server disappearing to realizing that the people
who maintain it's various elements are gone as well.

------
gaving

      % grep -ic "love you" messages_all.txt 
      964
    
      % grep -ic "hate you" messages_all.txt
      2

~~~
jerrya

        m-x list-matching-lines "reboot nt"
        7303 matches for `reboot nt`

------
kurtvarner
I think the easiest way to sift through the text is by searching for specific
words or phrases.

"scared"

 _2001-09-11 09:46:48 Skytel [002384252] D ALPHA on. The White House has been
evacuated. I'm scared do you know what's going on? Robin

2001-09-11 09:49:14 Skytel [007558008] C ALPHA Michelle.Becker@moody.edu|Call
me babe if you can I'm so scared!| Michelle Solar Becker Department Manager,
Donor Communications Moody Bible Institute 820 N.

2001-09-11 10:13:10 Arch [0910241] A ALPHA ||i'm home there is lots of smoke
outside of my window i can't see anything or use my phone i'm really scared
please get help HHeller,IBSG-Cisco|144

2001-09-11 10:38:59 Arch [0949322] C ALPHA jebritt|I AM VERY SCARED ANNE ...
PLEASE COME HOME NOW CALL ME_

"love you"

 _2001-09-11 09:23:40 Arch [1008791] B ALPHA 08-GETTING REALLY NERVOUS. PLS
CALL TO LET ME KNOW YOU'RE SAFE. I LOVE YOU.

2001-09-11 09:28:48 Arch [0939758] D ALPHA 58-THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE. PLEASE
CALL ME. I LOVE YOU, TERRY.

2001-09-11 09:32:37 Skytel [005062181] B ALPHA PLEASE CALL ME AND LET ME KNOW
YOUR OK, I AM AT HOME. I LOVE YOU. SUNSHINE 908 806 6384_

------
ars
BTW this is from 3 years ago.

I know it's 9/11 but does this really need to be posted again?

~~~
ekianjo
I did not come on HN 3 years ago, so yes, relevant for a number of users (and
the majority, probably) since HN has grown significantly over the past few
years.

~~~
ars
Did you read the news 3 years ago? This was all over the news back then.

There are other news sources besides HN......

~~~
ekianjo
NOpe, I do not remember seeing this 3 years ago. I must have missed it
somehow. I do not really understand the issue with having a story in top 30
that does not interest you, however. Do you have to click on all of them to
feel happy and content, or having one you have already seen before ruins your
day ? :)

Besides, the same news viewed 3 years, 5 years, 10 years down the road is not
the same news per se, because it gains a different perspective over time. I
believe it is valuable.

~~~
andrewflnr
It's pretty easy for a story to be on the front page for a while, get
thoroughly discussed, then drop off before you see it, especially if you're,
you know, hacking.

------
bwooce
Misleading title - these are pager intercepts (people still use pagers? Who
knew?)

Text messages would commonly be referring to SMS for mobile phones.

~~~
bdonlan
You'd be surprised how many companies still use pagers for oncall alerts.
After all, they're cheap, the batteries last a long time, the coverage can
often be better than a cell phone, and most importantly you won't accidentally
silence your pager when you silence your cell.

~~~
potatolicious
The biggest reason to use pagers over SMS: pagers have a guarantee for arrival
by the service provider - if the device is on at the other end it _will_ get
through. SMSes have no such guarantees.

------
nhoj
There seems to be some really personal stuff in there. Isn't this a huge
violation of privacy or am I missing something? Any difference between
wikileaks making something like this public and the British tabloids hacking
peoples phones?

~~~
CrankyPants
It's not a violation of privacy if it's leaked by a leftist, it's an inspiring
revolution!

------
siculars
"The following are national US pager intercepts..."

Can someone explain what that means? This is pager data and not sms txt data,
correct?

~~~
bdonlan
Pager data is generally unencrypted and simply broadcast over the entire
coverage area, so anyone with the proper equipment (read: a hacked up pager)
can receive any pages broadcast nearby.

------
buster
2001-09-11 15:12:50 Metrocall [002287221] B ALPHA Frm: Mailer@i3mobile.com
Sub: News Txt: .>Pentagon also hit by plane. - Brought to you by Wireless Week
and i3 Mobile.

I guess it was not Osama after all.

------
minikomi
[http://911.wikileaks.org/files/messages_2001_09_11-09_05_200...](http://911.wikileaks.org/files/messages_2001_09_11-09_05_2001_09_11-09_09.txt)

Seems to be the most action-packed one..

~~~
jerrya
2001-09-11 03:38:34 Skytel [005105954] A ALPHA CALL MY CELL PHONE INSTEAD OF
MY HOUSE PHONE CAUSE I DON'T WANT IT TO RING, AND CRYSTALS BEEN GOING AROUND
SAYING STUFF ABOUT YOU AND ME. I LOVE YOU.

~~~
minikomi
grep "help me" ...

    
    
        2001-09-12 02:47:34 Arch [0282461] D  ALPHA  |help me moans! |Monie, AFC is bombed.. i am covered with debris ..underground..only my one hand is free to type... aaah... jordan hall also bombed...aaaah
    

Also, grep usss.treas.gov is really interesting.. Secret Services messages?

Edit 2: Here's a pastebin of all the SS messages apparently:
<http://pastebin.com/ZhNEtT2Q>

~~~
tlrobinson
It's surprising the Secret Service would use unencrypted pagers...

~~~
dsl
They have pagers for emergency communications and for broadcast (one to many)
communications.

------
lockes5hadow
Seriously?

Does anyone else feel like this is a massive invasion of privacy? How does
this help anyone wikileaks?

------
Teapot
World War 3 was mentioned because it was unclear what was going on. I remember
myself thinking that if anyone overreacts, things can go from bad to worse.
And if that triggers an overreaction response - things _could_ escalate on its
own.

------
bas1l
Interesting. A simple analysis shows that first and second most common words
are "call" and "please".

"evacuated" is mentioned 4758 times (22nd place) "terrorist" is mentioned 3505
times (48th place) "fire" is mentioned 2176 times (96th place) "love" is
mentioned 1671 times (128th place) "john" is mentioned 1393 times (175th
place) "alive" is mentioned 187 times "shit" is mentioned 41 times

See top 500 here: <http://pastebin.com/Fs6nMyJm>

------
sixQuarks
There's so much junk in there. Frustrating to look through.

------
marcamillion
Not to hijack this thread...but as a non-believer in conspiracies, I was
recently discussing with someone about whether or not the towers fell at
9.8m/s.

The claim is that it was 'measured', and determined that both towers fell at
close to that rate.

The implication being that a 'non-intentional' demolition of the towers could
not have caused them to fall at close to the standard rate of bodies in free
fall.

I would love to hear some thoughts on this theory.

~~~
conductor
Well, believer or non-believer, there are many loose ends in the official
theory, and there are many documentary films that are proving a bunch of facts
that boldly indicate that this was a planned inside job.

Just think, wouldn't those who run the world spend just several hundred lives
and two buildings to gain a so profitable war on terror, the Patriot Act, and
a new permanent enemy (the terrorists!) to keep the people in terror and pull
more and more of their rights to "protect them".

~~~
gsibble
One of my greatest issues with 911 conspiracy theories are that people believe
that the government and George W are capable of planning such a brilliant and
perfectly executed false flag attack and then claim that George W. Bush is a
complete moron in the same sentence. You can't have it both ways, lol.

~~~
izmail
Who said George W. Bush was running the show? He was just a puppet. Give the
guy some cocaine and he'll say whatever the hell you want him to say. Think
about it. Who had the biggest geopolitical motive to invade Iraq for its oil
and Afghanistan for its minerals? It's not the people calling shots in front
of you, it's the guys with the money behind them.

------
Achshar
I was wading through them and this seems to be the first reference of attacks
by a person.

[http://911.wikileaks.org/files/messages_2001_09_11-08_50_200...](http://911.wikileaks.org/files/messages_2001_09_11-08_50_2001_09_11-08_54.html#message_78)

The earlier one would probably be the an automated pager by some bot (?) about
Cantor API being offline.

------
wildmXranat
This is a first message on this list, post-incident that was sent by a non-
automated system:

2001-09-11 08:50:25 Arch [0901509] B ALPHA A plane crashed thru the twin
towers. Real bad..BR

And another one right after: 2001-09-11 08:51:37 Arch [1274589] D ALPHA 94-THE
WORLD TRADE CENTER HAS JUST BLOWN UP, WE SEEN THE EXPLOSION OUTSIDE OUR
WINDOWS. TERESA...

------
farnsworth
As someone who has never used a pager, how did you send the text message?
Special system with a keyboard? Type it out on phone keys?

~~~
NeutronBoy
It was usually one way. You'd call the number given to you by the person you
wanted to contact, and it'd go to a call center staffer who would type out
your message. Usually just a name and phone number.

------
itsbits
boring..

