Why does the media and government give terrorist ideas??

[Byte 2.0]

Recently I read an article on CNN that told it might be possible for terrorist to attempt to blind airplanes with Lasers.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/09/ter....ap/index.html

U.S. warns of terrorist lasers

Now this.

Six commercial airliners in the past four days have had their cockpits illuminated by laser beams while attempting to land, a government official told CNN Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29/laser.plane/index.html

[Force Flow]

Same thing the RIAA did and the MPAA just did. By announcing to the public what they were doing to stop piracy, they made the public away of what they themselves could do with the services the RIAA and MPAA were going after.

[jamesrpm]

Neither of those organizations are know for their brilliance of thought.

[bigandy]

Originally Posted by Force Flow Same thing the RIAA did and the MPAA just did. By announcing to the public what they were doing to stop piracy, they made the public away of what they themselves could do with the services the RIAA and MPAA were going after.

Not only did they announce what was happening and what they were planning on doing, but they also told everyone where and how to download the music/movies. Duh.

[Panama Red]

Back to the terrorist subject. The dumbest one I've seen was a speech given by some Congressman the other day wherein he all but invited a terrorist attack on our food supply. Made some comment about how vulnerable we are in that area and how he can't understand why someone hasn't taken advantage of that opening yet! What an ididot!

[Byte 2.0]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Back to the terrorist subject. The dumbest one I've seen was a speech given by some Congressman the other day wherein he all but invited a terrorist attack on our food supply. Made some comment about how vulnerable we are in that area and how he can't understand why someone hasn't taken advantage of that opening yet! What an ididot!

On that note, I am going to go eat something, if I don't return you know who to blame.

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by Byte 2.0 Recently I read an article on CNN that told it might be possible for terrorist to attempt to blind airplanes with Lasers. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/09/ter....ap/index.html Now this. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29/laser.plane/index.html

I think the piece done by 60 minutess a few months ago about the lack of security surrounding chemical plants is a GOOD thing. I agree that the media can go too far, but some things need to be pointed out.

[doctorgonzo]

If this is the story the government is pushing, then they aren't trying to give terrorists ideas, they are trying to make them look like idiots.

So terrorists are going to target an airplane moving at over 200 MPH, pitched up on approach, trying to hit the pilot right in the eye with a pen laser pointer? Oh, and they would have to do it at the exact time to disrupt the plane, and hope that the plane isn't on an ILS approach.

Anybody who is foolish enough to actually attempt this would hopefully be caught after the first thousand unsuccessful attempts to down the plane.

As for the food supply issue, I completely agree with Tommy Thompson when he said that the food supply is completely unprotected. It is. Keeping that out of the public's eye isn't going to make the food supply any safer.

There are two ways to approach security. The wrong way is security-through-obscurity. That is the belief that you have to keep security flaws quiet, otherwise the bad guys will get them. Microsoft uses this approach: don't tell anybody of flaws in your OS or apps and they won't be vulnerable. Of course, bad guys probably know about the flaws too (it's their job to find them), and by keeping it quiet you only keep the good guys in the dark.

If you make flaws known to the public, on the other hand, hopefully that will shame or motivate people to actually fix them, because if something bad happens all the blame lies on them. It's no secret that the food supply isn't protected. Anybody with a third of a brain knows that. Hopefully, saying this in public will start people talking about how to solve this problem.

There are exceptions, but in general it is far better to be open about flaws than to keep them secret.

[Panama Red]

Guess we're all entitled to our opinions, DrG. Unfortunately, yours and mine are polar opposites. And these forums are no place to debate the topic, I guess.

[shazam]

Terrorist do not need ideas. They have plenty of there own. This is just goverment hype. It is a way to justify there actions and to show the people they are on top of things.Terrorist do things in very simple ways. Even the 911 actions where not that complicated.

[Byte 2.0]

So terrorists are going to target an airplane moving at over 200 MPH

Well, there have been 7 reported events lately. May be just enough to distract them but it is a disruption.

In September, a Delta Air Lines pilot reported damage to his retina from a laser beam during a landing in Salt Lake City, Utah

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29/laser.plane/index.html

Perhaps, i should have started this one over on forumclick.com but I just had to same something.

At work, CNN is one of the few non work sites I can visit and I am reading on CNN daily now and I am getting sick and feed up at allot of the stuff I read there.
I don't mean the reporters are that bad, except in some cases but things that are happening that people seem to dumb to realize.