Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say • Hacker News Board

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#101

Post by Houshalter » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:40 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #20

nsxwolf wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody teaches anyone about cover during a nuclear strike anymore. In fact, the concept is frequently mocked as cynical Cold War era propaganda.

The mocking isn't unjustifiable though. I mean the turtle/duck and cover is quite pointless, at least in the case of a nuclear strike (unless you're maybe on the far edge of it, in which case a ditch might save you..and that's big might). In the documentary "Iraq: The Untold Story", the creator shows civilian air raid shelters in Baghdad. They were four stories down, with the upper floors all reinforced concrete. Yet…

Have you ever looked at pictures of the aftermath of Hiroshima? People who weren't behind cover survived the immediate blast but got horrifying burns.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#102

Post by chki » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:41 PM UTC

I actually wonder why this warning can be send in the first place. As this unwanted "test" has shown, people have absolutely no idea what to/where to go in that situation. Instead there was a lot of panic. If there is the possibility that you will send out such a message it would be a good idea to give some advice on what to do.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#103

Post by tambienben » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:41 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #28

So either this was a security breach, a human mistake or a psyops/test on a small isolated American population. In the first case, we'll probably only be told about it if they actually make an arrest and the system is patched. The second is an interesting case, we'll come back to. The final one: it was intentional and used to track what happened on the islands, and to also watch that information propagate back to the…

COINTELPRO is a poor comparison. A better example would be Operation Mockingbird (CIA, before the Church Committee & all that that entailed), or Operation Northwoods--to a lesser extent (also before the Church Committee, under JFK).

Its my personally held opinion that Operation Mockingbird never died. I feel that the intelligence arms are the deep state running the show through misinformation campaigns. My personal opinion held in this, the 2nd paragraph, is 100% conjecture. I wouldn't be surprised if it were found to be true, though.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#104

Post by DonHopkins » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:42 PM UTC

Simulacra wrote: post #38

I've read that it was a human error when someone pushed the wrong button. I feel bad for that person.

What do you want to bet we never find out what really happened?

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#105

Post by ghaff » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:43 PM UTC

dboreham wrote: post #8

Pro tip: if you are conducting a drill, refrain from using the words "THIS IS NOT A DRILL".

That was my initial reaction but if this was one of perhaps many pre-populated messages that wasn't meant to go out, you might well not have "THIS IS ONLY A DRILL" strings in those messages.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#106

Post by tambienben » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:43 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #99

tensor wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say he's a conspiracy theorist and then jump to Russia gaining access to the emergency alert system? Seriously? Both these scenarios sound equally probably or improbable to me.

Pranksters hack the emergency alert system on a semi-regular basis. So the plausibility of Russia doing it would be based on whether they would bother or not.

Pranksters=/=Russia.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#107

Post by loooooooooooool » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:44 PM UTC

uabstraction wrote: post #71

djsumdog wrote: post #28

So either this was a security breach, a human mistake or a psyops/test on a small isolated American population. In the first case, we'll probably only be told about it if they actually make an arrest and the system is patched. The second is an interesting case, we'll come back to. The final one: it was intentional and used to track what happened on the islands, and to also watch that information propagate back to the…

I'll go right ahead and call you a conspiracy theorist. If you think The US intelligence community would go out of their way to stir up a panic like this just because CoIntelPro was a thing 50 years ago, with no other evidence or reasonable motives, you must be a UFO chasing loon. If there is anything nefarious here (seems like it), this is the work of a foreign state actor probing our infrastructure for exploitable…

> UFO chasing loon

And what are you? A flat-earther?

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#108

Post by bradfitz » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:44 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #91

intopieces wrote: post #80

If I were going to erode public trust in emergency broadcast systems in order to increase the amount of damage I would do by launching an actual missile, this is how I would do it. A series of false alarms. A similar, if obviously much smaller and less disastrous example, happens at my apartment about 4 times a week: the fire alarms for entire floors of my apartment building are easily triggered by people smoking in…

These systems are being revisited for the first time in a generation. Honest mistake is far more likely.

I don't think user intopieces was taking a stance on whether it was intentional or an accident. Crying wolf is crying wolf either way.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#109

Post by maxerickson » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:45 PM UTC

tambienben wrote: post #106

maxerickson wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pranksters hack the emergency alert system on a semi-regular basis. So the plausibility of Russia doing it would be based on whether they would bother or not.

Pranksters=/=Russia.

I didn't say otherwise. I implied that if pranksters can pull off a hack it is likely that Russia also can.

Re: Alert About Missile Bound for Hawaii Was Sent in Error, Officials Say

#110

Post by rumcajz » Sat, Jan 13, 2018, 8:46 PM UTC

Ok, I hope that the people who got scared shitless by this emergency start doing something against nuclear weapons. It's ludicrous: We can all die any day and ICAN, the people who helped to pass the ban on nuclear weapons and got Nobel prize for it are raising money at a rate of $50 a day.