
Would-Be Suicide Bomber Killed by Unexpected SMS From Mobile Carrier - shashashasha
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/sms-suicide-bomber/
======
maukdaddy
Coming soon to America:

Wireless carriers SMS all their customers 5 hours before any major event that
might be a terrorist target!

~~~
borism
terrorists disable vibrate, enable auto-answer and start using voltage going
into speaker as detonators...

...now automated periodic calls are mandatory in America.

~~~
karanr
terrorists give up on cellphones, go back to pagers... police now randomly
searches doctors for bombs.

~~~
alexqgb
First they came for the cell phones, and I did nothing. Then they came for the
pagers. Still I did nothing. At last they came for the walkie-talkies, yet I
continued doing nothing.

All I thought was "What's any of this got to do with me? I'm just a pigeon!"

~~~
Groxx
As long as you're not driving a bus, we're fine.

~~~
Groxx
* sigh __* not many Mo Willems fans here, I guess.

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jacquesm
This is a re-run from yesterday:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2147409>

~~~
charlief
Any theories as to why the popularity is orders of magnitude higher today? The
title, the source? people's mood? Egypt? It is Friday so more people slacking?
Time it was posted yesterday vs today (prime time)?

~~~
rms
There's lots of random fluctuation with this kind of thing; I wouldn't
attribute anything overly specific to it.

~~~
charlief
I'd say a mix of something fundamental and something random. Probably the same
can be said for a product's virality... or just about anything.

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stcredzero
Remember this lesson when you design your protocols -- use challenge/response!
Ensure that you're immune from replay attacks and counterfeit signals.

~~~
VBprogrammer
There is probably an app for that.

~~~
stcredzero
Actually, I'm working on a library that takes care of that for you and more.

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myth_drannon
Some background on the story :
[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2044838-1,00.h...](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2044838-1,00.html)

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bretthopper
Am I crazy or was this story already on HN? I can't find it for the life of me
though.

~~~
jacquesm
No, you're absolutely right: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2147409>

Good thing too, finding out you're going crazy can't be fun ;)

Sanity restored?

~~~
bretthopper
Thank you. The sad thing is neither Google nor Search HN found that.

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twidlit
There's a Twilio idea here somewhere...

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meadhikari
If true, the SMS might be the only time that a wireless carrier’s SMS message
has ever been useful.

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tzs
Nice story, but it makes no sense. Why would a suicide bomber use a bomb that
is triggered by SMS?

~~~
adamhowell
I may be wrong, but I believe it's so the suicide bomber can't back out at the
last minute. They have a spotter that makes sure they're in position then
blows them up.

~~~
cryptoz
I might be missing something, but if that's the case then you can't call them
suicide bombers! If they are not actually the ones in control of their own
death, it's not suicide.

~~~
hugh3
I don't think so -- if you choose to strap a bomb to yourself which you know
someone else will detonate, then it's suicide.

I am, however, with Fox News on disliking the terminology "suicide bomber"
just because it puts the emphasis on the death of the murderer rather than the
innocent folks whom he murders. The suicide aspect is really the least
important aspect of the act.

~~~
Someone
_if you choose to strap a bomb to yourself which you know someone else will
detonate, then it's suicide._

I wish things were that simple. There are several variations that makes this
logic less convincing, from social pressure ('all families must make
sacrifices') to outright catch-22 ('if you do not do it, we will kill you and
your family').

Especially in the latter case, I wouldn't call this suicide.

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dhughes
I've read conflicting accounts from different news articles.

Some articles state the bomber's handler sends a text message to the bomber to
say when to detonate the bomb, to maximize terror, but this situation seems
like the text message actually triggers the device which seems very precarious
and conflicts with the handler theory.

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Misha_B
Reminds me of this one here: LIVING ON ZIONIST TIME
<http://www.darwinawards.com/newsletter/199911.txt>

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jwcacces
Why does a suicide bomber need a remote control?

~~~
burgerbrain
The bomber needs a remote control so that they can detonate the bomb that they
strapped to someone else.

In many (most?) cases, the 'suicide bomber' is being coerced into
participating, and can't actually be trusted to fully follow through. The real
bomber, the person making and orchestrating the bombings, needs the remote
control so that they have control over the detonation.

~~~
ry0ohki
Why use a real person then, why not just drop a phone in a crowd and then set
it off when your safely away?

~~~
burgerbrain
Because the bombs aren't in phone form-factor, they're big vests packed with
nails and shit, just set off by phones. People tend to notice when you walk
into the middle of a crowd, drop a large bag, then walk away. Now, in
situations where they _can_ pull that off, say crowded busses..., I'm sure
they employ that tactic.

Also, I imagine there is a heavier emotional impact associated with 'suicide'
bombings.

~~~
hugh3
And because the whole point of a suicide bomb is to send yourself to heaven
immediately for killing infidels in the name of Allah. Why would you want to
carry on living when you could be hanging around in paradise?

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niyazpk
Can they sue the Mobile Carrier for this?

Will the terrorists form an anti-spam team?

Will the TSA ban mobile phones in airports and flights?

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whoeverest
Suicide bummer.

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mfukar
I suppose a Darwin award is in order..

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knieveltech
In Mother Russia, SMS bombs YOU!

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zmn
I honestly believed for a split second that this was an Onion article

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leechisung
This is like what people see in the movies!!

