1 Attachment(s)
The Cell Phone/Web Page effect
I started to post this on the Saddam’s Execution thread because the use of the cell phone & the internet to reach a broad audience jumped out at me, but it seemed like it belonged in a different category.
Remember everybody preaching the "CNN Effect" at the CTCs just last year? Networked camera/video cell phones are everywhere over here. Our guys are using them, their guys are using them (although their guys are better at it then our guys). They are far cheaper and more available then back in the States. $200 here a very capable tri-band video cell phone and you get what would cost $500-$700 back home. The network for sending stuff is close (and remarkably cheap)
A little bit of movie maker savvy, or Adobe photo shop, access to you tube, or a well connected hub and your message gets out. Where it goes from there is anybody's bet.
It beats the pants off of a state sponsored media, or even profit driven media - no QA /QC, but it grabs the initial impression.
Just about everybody over here is a collector - its just a question of who they are collecting for and why they are doing it.
There is an IO fight at the low tactical levels, capture the right image and get it to a site that has allot of links, and it will get out. Very smart to post to the web first – it goes to the audience its really targeting in a very private manner – with little to no adult supervision or peer context competition. The cable TV/major mainstream media outlet must also then consider to carry it, even if its late – it will still get some ratings from the older crowd who get their news primarily from FOX/Al Jazeera/CNN/BBC and the like.
Not every bad guy over here carries a RPG or detonates an IED. Was that cell phone video of Saddam supposed to be covert? Maybe. Maybe he was lowering his hand so he could get a glass of chai. It could be that there are several cell phone videos out there - it would not surprise me. You bring somebody to a meeting here and an American pulls out a Sony Cybershot camera- the Iraqi will pull out a very slick Nokia - in this environment who has the better tech?
I'm attaching a proposal I sent up through the CoC. Guess what - its not something I came up with - the IA did - they just can't resource it to the degree I think would get the most out of LTIOV info (although they do share video at weekly meetings) - hence I asked for $$$ (in a pretty .ppt form). Guess what else - they say this is nothing new, the bad guys are already doing it, and are resourced better then our guys.
I also want to pass on a great read I picked up as a ref. from a T.X. Hammes article - "Linked: The New Science of Networks" by Albert'Laszlo Barabasi will teach you allot about networks and the Internet. I don't know if Kilcullen had included the Internet in his "know your turf" statement, but the enemy is using it as a psychological mobility corridor.
Links to cell phone vulnerabilities
Jedburgh - I think its a rotational thing - call it a groundhog shaped bell curve:rolleyes:
I went googling for stuff along the lines of what Slapout had discussed. 2 sites stuck out the first is about cell phone vulnerabilities, the second is about how make them vulnerable.
I also looked for some stuff on VOIP since that is a growing medium.
Reading how easy it is convinces me the bad guys are ahead of us in yet another area:mad:
Cell phones and techno-cultural vulnerabilities
Hi Rob,
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob Thornton
Jedburgh - I think its a rotational thing - call it a groundhog shaped bell curve:rolleyes:
But just think about all the really cool changes that could be made to pre-deployment training! Nokia would love it -new phone fashions :eek:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob Thornton
Reading how easy it is convinces me the bad guys are ahead of us in yet another area:mad:
Well, to my mind this just means that it's time for the US to go back to an old tradition of giving some "criminals" the option of going to jail or joining the forces. Think about it....
Judge: Son, you've been found guilty of phone phreakin'. That's a 5 year stretch at Attica. But, since it's your first offense, I'll give you an option...
On another note, I just finished reading your proposal. It's simple, straight forward, workable and to the point. I really think it would work which is why I suspect that it would never get accepted by the military bureaucracy. If you get a run around with getting it implemented, try sending the proposal out to RadioShack.
Marc
Would you believe a shooting cell phone
I knew about this some years ago know it is on, well go to the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FaIEJSYwIs