Text Message Brands Quebec Man a Terror Suspect 451
An anonymous reader writes "Saad Allami likely never expected that a simple text message of encouragement would have turned his life upside down. But as seen in a similar case of absurd overreaction by authorities, a simple text message is all it takes to have yourself branded as a terrorist. From the article: 'The Quebec man says he was arrested by provincial police while picking up his seven-year-old son at school. A team of police officers stormed into his home, telling his wife she was married to a terrorist. And his work colleagues were detained for hours at the U.S. border because of their connection to him.'"
What was it? (Score:4, Insightful)
What were the contents of the text message? That seems like sort of a key point.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Blowing Away the Customer
Developing Passionate and Dedicated Employees
Continuously Striving for Perfection
Bottom Line Performance
Is this out of a terrorist handbook?
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Funny)
I think that must have been done by a non-native English speaker. It's just a mistaken idiom; the correct "core value" is "Cleaning Out the Customer".
Re:What was it? (Score:4, Funny)
The first draft said "Blowing the customer". It was a few years before anyone realized the mistake -- it being a casino in Nevada and all.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Funny)
Blowing the customer. That's got to be a Nevada casino? No?
Re: (Score:3)
I think it's a reference to the complementary buffet...
Re: (Score:3)
If you mean violent liquid diarrhea, than that just depends where you went on the strip. Most are ok.
On another note, I don't think the premise in your sig works. Otherwise I would have brought peace to the Middle East a long time ago.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's precisely part of the problem. Security isn't about CYA it's about catching bad guys and not arresting innocent people (the latter seems to be forgotten a lot). And this CYA behavior is being reinforced by "management" rather than discouraged. So if somebody find a battery on the ground near a building and suggests "it looks suspicious" then all the way up the line people are thinking "IT'S A BOMB DESTROY IT" without any justification or disagreement.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't paper over our intelligence failures. The title of the memo to the President of the US was "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the US." Bin Laden was, at that time, the head of an organization that had already carried out terrorist attacks against the United States in Kenya, as well as the bombing of the USS Cole. He wasn't a sales manager in Montreal.
If our governments are going to assume that we are all terrorists until proven innocent, the war on terror is over. We lost.
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If our governments are going to assume that we are all terrorists until proven innocent, the war on terror is over. We lost.
You must be new here. That truth has been well established. I can think of no finer illustration of that than TFA, wherein is the account of a man whose greatest "offenses" were his religion and ethnicity. Absent those two things, his "blow away the competition" message would not have been stretched to such ridiculous interpretation. Yes "ridiculous", as in "deserving of nothing but ridicule and scorn". Instead, the lawmakers and to a large degree, judges, continue to defend this kind of paranoid behavior
Re:What was it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, that's a much more plausible explanation than poorly trained terrorists trying the same plot again and succeeding because of a massive American intelligence bureaucracy that wasn't quick enough to adapt...
Turn off the Alex Jones and go outside.
Re:What was it? (Score:4, Funny)
You mean like THIS guy? http://img3.etsystatic.com/il_fullxfull.111497703.jpg [etsystatic.com]
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
It was so obvious it was in a Tom Clancy book and an X-Files spinoff. Both being unashamedly derivative products it came from a lot of other places before that.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What was it? (Score:4, Insightful)
>We are in serious fucking trouble if they ever figure out how to recruit people with a brain
The thing is, 99.99% of "people with a brain" are smart enough to realize that terrorism is always a bad idea.
The 0.01% who happen to be smart but not smart enough to avoid being terrorists tend to be the leaders like Bin Laden.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing happened with the Russian material because the Russian military officers were consummate professionals interested in maintaining the integrity of their nuclear supplies EVEN when they weren't being paid. The US helped a bit by offering support in the form of money, tracking technology and basically secretarial assistance in tracking and verifying the integrity of the supplies but every goes back to the Russians and their professionalism.
The few times a couple ounces of material disappeared it happened from commercial sources not weapons and even then it was quickly intercepted when they tried to sell it. This was all confirmed recently with recent books from people that have retired that were involved in the process, the Russians were always very professional. Hell its the reason we never ended up in a war with them, that same professionalism got Kruchef sacked and Stalin murdered by a Coumadin overdose. We might have some idealogical differences with the Russians on occasion but they've always been sane responsible people with integrity and honor.
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Despite what you read in books getting hold of bomb grade material is very very hard. First of all even a disenfranchised Russian is not stupid or completely amoral for example. Next is that it is not easy to hide for a number of reasons. Finally you have to be careful how you move it around or it will go "d
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Is this out of a terrorist handbook?
In Portuguese the word "bomba" can mean "bomb", "pump" or "eclair", so you infer the meaning from context. Now, guess what happened to a not-quite-fluent-in-English Brazilian businessman when, passing through US customs a few years ago with a pump, and asked by the customs officer what that were, he replied with an epic mistranslated "a water bomb"?
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
And the moral of the story is?
Dont travel to the US.
The #1 reason why the US was quickly ruled out as my holiday destination this year is because of the horror stories like this.
Im not a criminal hell bent on the cold blooded murder of thousands of people, im a tourist.
I want to take photos of my trip, not take photos with the intent of bombing the place.
I dont want to be fondled, radiated or seen naked on every plane trip, have guns pointed at me, screamed at followed or harassed.
bah, fuck that, im going somewhere else.
A real shame too, as genuinely I wanted to go there and see the sights.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
It was about a Canadian company attending a trade show in the US. And the man sent a text message to his colleagues who at the time were in the US. US border patrol got involved as well (the latter part is mentioned in the summary even).
Both are involved. That doesn't make either US or Canada any better though.
Re: (Score:3)
America gets to vet people flying on internal Canadian flights
Re:What was it? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not gonna bother coming to the US from the UK either:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16810312 [bbc.co.uk]
Re: (Score:3)
I take it you haven't traveled much then?
I travel all over the world for work. I go to China on a regular basis, South Korea, South Africa, Kenya, all over Europe, Canada, USA, Peru, Brazil and so on. The ONLY country I have problems entering.. the USA. The only destination I fly to in the whole world that gives me hassle.. the USA. I, and every single passenger. have to go through personal one-on-one interviews before being allowed into the gate area... and not in some 3rd world airport.. this happens
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I fly on a regular basis, and I see "light skinned" people get pulled aside just as much as I see "dark skinned" people get pulled aside.
I've seen a TSA agent wave a "dark skinned" bearded guy wearing a turban straight through, and then pull aside the little old white granny who was behind him.
Maybe your brother just has bad luck?
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They had PDAs in 1989 that could actually fit in a pocket?!
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
I like this guy, already. He isn't suing for millions, he is suing for $100,000. And, he wants a certificate of good conduct so that he can work in the field of his choosing. Obviously, he wants to embarrass the fools responsible. Sounds like a reasonable guy to me. I get so disgusted with people who have a legitimate greivance, but blow it all out of proportion by suing for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. It's like, "Oh, these guys insulted me - I should never have to work again! Set me up with luxury homes, luxury cars, furs, diamonds, yachts and private jets!"
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Funny)
I like this guy, already. He isn't suing for millions, he is suing for $100,000. And, he wants a certificate of good conduct so that he can work in the field of his choosing. Obviously, he wants to embarrass the fools responsible. Sounds like a reasonable guy to me. I get so disgusted with people who have a legitimate greivance, but blow it all out of proportion by suing for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. It's like, "Oh, these guys insulted me - I should never have to work again! Set me up with luxury homes, luxury cars, furs, diamonds, yachts and private jets!"
(Emphasis mine.)
You never learn, do you?!
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
The article says that he told his colleagues to "blow away" the competition, so most likely it read as, "Blow them away." And it was misinterpreted.
Indeed -- but misinterpreted by whom? His colleagues, or by someone who was spying on his text messages? And if it was the latter, did they have a search warrant, or is this another case of the government conducting warrantless wiretaps?
Re: (Score:3)
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
how sure are you that you're not being spied on as well? and I mean you and everyone else who uses cell phones.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not, I have my tinfoil hat on
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Now every federal, state and telco related agency is trying for the same easy telco feeds on cheap "super" computers after renting or buying dictionary search software.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Allami says he sent the text message in French and used the word ''exploser,'' a term he claims is commonly used in finance to mean grow or succeed.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe its common in the french language in France. In Quebec, where most french speaking Canadians are, I don't think I've ever heard the word "exploser" in that context. If I did, it was only on very rare occasions.
If I had been the analyst on the case, I would have raised a red flag too. What's missing is the whole context. You can't raise flags on single words without their context. Without the full text message, it's hard to get an opinion on the matter.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bet it was picked up by english keyword software or 'examined' by an english speaker that obviously doesn't understand french idioms/slang, so he googled it, and found the wrong definition.
Basic moron level knee-jerking.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Interesting)
He said "exploser" which is French for "explode", which he interprets as "succeed" or "blow them away". I am originally from France and I can't say I'm familiar with that specific wording, but that's how I would interpret it myself if I ever received such a message from a co-worker (unless of course I was a terrorist, in which case context means everything).
Indeed -- but misinterpreted by whom? His colleagues, or by someone who was spying on his text messages?
This was a private text message directed _at_ his co-workers who were at a trade-show abroad. If that message had really been about a real bomb, it would imply that anyone it was directed at would have been an accomplice. Also, I doubt the authorities would have waited until the co-workers came back through border control to interrogate them if the complaints had really come from the co-workers themselves.
And if it was the latter, did they have a search warrant, or is this another case of the government conducting warrantless wiretaps?
My bet would be that they were using Blackberry's private BBMs network. In Europe (except for the UK), government officials and high ranking businessmen are told not to use Blackberries, because all the traffic is said to be shared de-encrypted with the US/UK/Canadian/New Zealand/Australian intelligence's echelon program as part of their anglo-security intelligence sharing pact. It is said that even if you're sending a text or an email to an office worker just standing in an office down the hall from you, it doesn't matter where you are in Europe, and even if you're not in the UK, the text or email will first go through the UK so that it can first be indexed and analyzed by the echelon program before it can make its way back to your country and be delivered to your co-worker.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
He said "exploser" which is French for "explode", which he interprets as "succeed" or "blow them away". I am originally from France and I can't say I'm familiar with that specific wording
Being from France doesn't help you much with informal Quebecois French. It has deviated considerably in the past couple centuries.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Funny)
I understand a guy who does not have english as his first language using the phrase and not meaning it literally.
BUT - what excuse is there for north american 'authorities' to misunderstand this very common expresssion ?
there is no excuse. anyone in charge connected to this should be fired.
or, blown away....
Re: (Score:3)
This guy was from Quebec, whose official language is technically French, so it seems entirely possible that whichever law enforcement agent (the provincial police arrested him) heard about it was not, in fact, a native English speaker as such.
Most Canadians do speak English, but Quebec is the primarily French section of Canada. Haven't been there, but from what I've heard about it from my Canadian friends, this seems possible. Still an over-reaction, obviously.
Re: (Score:3)
It is even worse if the law enforcement officers were native French speakers, because the text was in French and used a common idiom which would have been far less likely to be misinterpreted by a native speaker than someone speaking English as their primary language. On the other hand, if the law enforcement officers were English-speaking, the translator should probably be fired for incompetence. Knowledge of common idioms is absolutely essential when it comes to translations for any important purpose (suc
Re: (Score:3)
It was also said in French. And Quebec French at that. So this would have had to have been translated by someone in the US before it was decided that this was a threat. Possibly poorly translated...
But on top of that TFA is merely speculating about the cause of the arrest. Both the prosecutor and defendant are not talking specifics so we really don't know what the cause was. I doubt very much that the Americans built a terrorist profile from a single text message in a foreign language.
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
"Salem, je serai à New York le 25 janvier, on va exploser ACN, si vous avez des contacts référez-les moi"
http://www.aufaitmaroc.com/maroc/societe/2012/2/3/canada-un-entrepreneur-dorigine-marocaine-souhaitant-exploser-la-concurrence-ecroue
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Informative)
Translates to:
Salem, I will be in New York on January 25h, we will explode ACN, if you have contacts refer them to me.
So yes, if you only see that sentence alone by itself, it will make you want to go and arrest the man.
The question is, why didn't they dig a bit deeper to get more information such as more details about the supposed bomb and other supposed terrorists *AND* why was his message intercepted in the first place? Welcome to 1984. The real terrorists did win, everyone in North America now lives in a police state.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So yes, if you only see that sentence alone by itself, it will make you want to go and arrest the man.
Really? Seeing that would make you want to have this man arrested? You are just as bloody bad as the authorities there!
Do you honestly think a genuine terrorist would right out say in a text message to an accomplice that they are going to blow something up? Do you honestly think they are that naive and that stupid?
geez....
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
A phone is an open mic, a log of all your contacts and links you to people who might have sold out, been turned or just been lazy or unlucky.
Re: (Score:3)
The term "blow" the competition is regularly used in motivational speech to mean a victory and thus does not cause confusion, according to the complaint.
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My question is whether there isn't more to the story. If a short text message in isolation can cause this much mess, statistically there should be hundreds of such cases every day. Yet there aren't. What is the rest of the story?
He's a muslim, and used the word "explode".
Some bureaucrat felt he had to cover his ass by taking it literally.
You have to wonder what the point is of having humans in the loop at all if they don't exercise judgement.
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Randomized search-queries will flood your logs and make your user profile fun
Re:What was it? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not just profiling. Grossly lazy policing. It seems that many places in the world the police are simply getting lazier and stupider. Forget professionalism in policing, let's go right wing cheap and performance based.
Instead of professional police officers, we are getting failed jock strap bullies, not good for much else and obviously have to rely on methods other than real detective sleuthing to pursue criminals.
Idiots at keyboards, basically incapable of doing the job and relying on infantile data ba
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Gosh, thanks. I definitely didn't see the link. As I said earlier, the story doesn't include the entire text message which seems pretty important here. I know I'm supposed to just condemn this but I'd rather actually know what happened before freaking out. My apologies for wanting some context.
This is slashdot. Amerika is the center of all evil. Get with the program.
Much worse (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Also, he is Moroccan native, and his seemingly arabic name probably doesn't help him either. So much for racial and origin equity.
Re:Much worse (Score:5, Interesting)
You're all missing the obvious. Forget his religion, origins, looks or name. Look at this, FTA: ...
"His case has surfaced after another story about an unexpected national-security case, triggered by what appeared to be a meaningless comment."
And that bit about the two Britts a few days ago
Doesn't that mean that every bit of data passing through the USA is monitored?
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Who knows, maybe you'll get to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.
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It doesn't matter. Here is how the average idiot American (the people who end up on JURIES - which is fucking TERRIFYING) perceives something like this:
"He's obviously guilty - otherwise the government wouldn't be looking into him."
Re:Much worse (Score:4)
It doesn't matter. Here is how the average idiot American (the people who end up on JURIES - which is fucking TERRIFYING) perceives something like this: "He's obviously guilty - otherwise the government wouldn't be looking into him."
Sadly I've had that argument used against me when discussing issues of detention without trial or charge (such as relating to this year's NDAA-thingamy, or a UK case a few years ago); the argument is something along the lines that it doesn't matter if the people 'arrested' don't get the right to a trial, or an opportunity to plead their case, because the government/state/police are only allowed to use the law on evil terrorists, so anyone picked up must be one - the government wouldn't arrest someone if they didn't know for sure.
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While they obviously botched this one, I suspect you're right.
If they were simply kicking down doors for everyone with a name like his that sent a single, only vaguely suspicous sounding text message to coworkers, without any other pretext, we'd have a hundred articles like this every day.
Though that doesn't excuse what happened here.
Re: (Score:3)
why would you doubt it was 'only' a text message?
you don't think we're all hyped up and afraid of any snap or twig that breaks?
we're on a knife-edge here.
oops, I said knife.
they'll come for me, next. if you don't see me post in my usual style, you'll know what happened to me.
(seriously, why would you disbelieve that they pounced down on him for just that? I would assume that it would take very little for the paranoid 'watchers' to freak out.)
Re: (Score:2)
Another fucking just-worlder.
Re:Much worse (Score:4)
This is Canada where section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms states,
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_Two_of_the_Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms [wikipedia.org]
Emphasis mine. Note it was passed in 1982 so communicating electronically was already common.
Unluckily there are weasel words in section 1,
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_One_of_the_Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms#Text [wikipedia.org]
Of course in practice America seems to have similar limitations on Free Speech depending on the mood of the Supreme Court.
Americans are misunderstanding (Score:4, Funny)
He was actually charged with terrorism for not also send his message in French. This is Quebec after all.
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Actually, from the article:
"Allami says he sent the text message in French and used the word ''exploser,'' a term he claims is commonly used in finance to mean grow or succeed."
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And because this is was a text message, the weighted grade turns out to be a A++, with a quote of "He was rather lucky that the message sent was not a more typical 'U h3lp me blow up wankers @ trade show?' "
I agree it's likely an overreaction (Score:3, Interesting)
But I'd really like to see the exact contents of the original text, as opposed to him giving us a vague description about how it mentioned "blowing away" the competition. That is, was it
"Go to this trade show and do such a good sales job that the competition is blown away!"
or a more hyperbolic comment like
"Blow those guys away. Annihilate them. Don't stop until they're lying in a puddle of their own blood, begging for mercy."
Nations of Cowards (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Nations of Cowards (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, anything except actual threats. We are continually told on Slashdot that they don't exist despite continuing arrests and convictions. The lack of terrorist attacks isn't because there aren't terrorists, or that they don't wish to attack, but because they have been generally foiled to date due to good intelligence, hard work, and luck.
North of the border:
Canadian Charged in Iraq Bombing [nytimes.com]
Few Details Given as 4 Canadians Are Held in Terrorist Plot [nytimes.com]
Alleged terrorist arrested at Pearson [torontosun.com]
Canadian police arrest couple on terrorism charges [nwsource.com]
Government links boat passengers to terrorism, arrests made [thewhig.com]
Terror Arrests Reveal Reach of Canada's Surveillance Powers [nytimes.com]
South of the border:
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012 [fbi.gov]
Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization
Baltimore: Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center
Washington Field: Man Pleads Guilty to Shootings at Pentagon, Other Military Buildings
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 13, 2012 [fbi.gov]
Tampa: Florida Resident Charged with Plotting to Bomb Locations in Tampa
Baltimore: Former Army Solider Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 9, 2011 [fbi.gov]
Seattle: Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack Military Processing Center
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 2, 2011 [fbi.gov]
San Diego: Woman Guilty of Conspiring to Provide Material Support to al Shabaab
More here [fbi.gov].
Keep in mind that Al Qeda has called off attacks that would have likely killed hundreds or thousands of people because they weren't spectacular enough for their tastes. ( New York Subway Plot and al-Qaeda's WMD Strategy [jamestown.org] )
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Yup (Score:3)
Knowing the DHS scrapes all of the social sites and sites like Slashdot, I would like to say that the DHS can 'blow me'.
So there...
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Knowing the DHS scrapes all of the social sites and sites like Slashdot, I would like to say that the DHS can 'blow me'.
So there...
You're doing it wrong. You're not supposed to tell DHS to blow you, you've got to threaten to blow them. But either way, just remember that you're on their watch list now. So if a guy solicits you in a bathroom, you'll have to assume it's a DHS agent.
Re:Yup (Score:5, Insightful)
So if a guy solicits you in a bathroom, you'll have to assume it's a DHS agent.
the hell with that: if some guy approaches me in a restroom, I'm assuming he's a republican and I'm running for my life!
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An unfortunate confluence of terms (Score:5, Informative)
Well there you have it, an obvious prima facie case if there ever were one. An Arab sounding name next to the words 'blow away` and 'New York`. The computers at Fort Meade must have lit up like a Christmas tree
Saad Allami? (Score:2)
His name is Saad Allami and he sent your daughter a text message that said "Hello?"
Book him, Danno.
Correct Link (Score:2)
http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/muslim-man-workplace-quip-made-terror-suspect-211334769.html?back=%2F&.ts=1328402603&.intl=ca&.lang=en-ca [yahoo.com]
Link in OP does not seem to work.
war on terror strikes again! (Score:3)
- He wants his colleagues to "blow away competition"
- The supposed target is in NYC
- The supposed venue is hosting a trade show
He is a terrorist QED.
Ask The Right Questions... (Score:5, Insightful)
We need to be asking the right questions here:
He made the tweet on Jan 21, and he was picked up three days later. That is an incredibly fast turnaround for law enforcement, even for the US or Canada. They were throwing the T-word around like it was a known fact, all while terrorizing his wife and co-workers.
So, let's ask some useful questions.
1. How long have the authorities been monitoring this man?
2. WHY have they been monitoring him?
3. WHY did they go after his co-workers?
The answers are bound to be exceptionally interesting and frightening.
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We need to be asking the right questions here:
He made the tweet on Jan 21, and he was picked up three days later. That is an incredibly fast turnaround for law enforcement, even for the US or Canada.
We're talking about suspicion that there's about to be an attack, particularly one involving the T-word, frankly 3 days is a little slow (but who knows when the trade show was).
They were throwing the T-word around like it was a known fact, all while terrorizing his wife and co-workers.
Not the first time unfortunately [thestar.com]
So, let's ask some useful questions.
1. How long have the authorities been monitoring this man?
2. WHY have they been monitoring him?
3. WHY did they go after his co-workers?
The answers are bound to be exceptionally interesting and frightening.
1. He's Arab and presumably Muslim, he and a ton of people like him have probably been monitored to some degree for a while.
2. see 1), particularly if he's part of a mosque you probably don't have to follow that many links to find someone with terrorist ties (you can do the same thing with Christian
Re:Ask The Right Questions... (Score:5, Interesting)
1) Authorities don't know about man.
2) Someone with a grudge against man sees tweet, and reports it to authorities.
3) Authorities learn about tweet, Arab name, bomb action word, and decide to arrest the man.
It's all in the unAmerican-sounding name (Score:3)
...there's no racial profiling going on here at all, no, no...
How was this detected... (Score:5, Interesting)
...is Canada intercepting every single text message sent in their country? TFA doesn't say, but frankly I'm pretty curious. The UK people banned for the Twitter comment actually makes a little sense, as Twitter is public, but AFAIK text messages aren't.
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stories like this blow me away (Score:5, Interesting)
i am just smashed thermodynamically to pieces by the kind overreaction here
one wonders if a complete shock wave of annihilation of common sense has occurred
what do we do as a society if we utterly and eruptive eviscerate and detonate our sense of proportion?
a violent cataclysm of frothing hysteria is bursting forth and is explosively convulsively disintegrating mental composure here in a frenzied fulminating volcano of bursting boiling meteoric rage and---
[NO CARRIER]
Re:stories like this blow me away (Score:5, Funny)
what the hell am i modded interesting for?
where's my funny mod?
ahhhh... i see
mod me interesting, and therefore flag my comment as a serious one, and therefore get me popped by the security goons
pretty clever slashdot!
jokes on me!
The text message is the least of my worries (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's the part of TFA that gets me:
Allami says he hasn't been able to get a certificate of good conduct, which he would need in order to get a job working in finance.
His allegations have not been proven in court and the application is to be presented at the Montreal courthouse on March 5.
Provincial police spokesman Guy Lapointe says the force is aware of the case but will not comment as it is before the courts. A Justice Department spokesperson also declined to comment.
Police had in Laval, Que., where he applied for the certificate, found terrorism accusations and public mischief on his file, even though his public file shows no signs of the allegations.
"Without the certificate of good conduct, the plaintiff can no longer work in his profession," the document states.
First of all, you need a "certificate of good conduct" from the police to work in the financial industry in Canada? On Wall Street, you almost need a certificate of unscupulous conduct to work in the financial industry.
Second, Canadians have a "public file?" This sounds like something that was dreamed up to make people feel like they could access the government's information about them. But it implies that there's a private file as well that you will never see, which defeats the purpose of having a public file. In the U.S., you can request your FBI file for a fee [fbi.gov], but they can tell you they don't have anything on you when they do. And the best part is that one of the requirements for obtaining the file is that you have local law enforcement fingerprint all ten fingers and send that along with your $18 payment. "Mr. Smith, you didn't have a criminal record before we received your request. However, thanks to your voluntary submission of your fingerprints, we discovered you match some prints found at a crime scene that had us stumped 10 years ago. We're going to have to take you in for questioning."
Re:The text message is the least of my worries (Score:5, Insightful)
don't say "Hi" to me (Score:5, Funny)
It's called a moral panic. (Score:5, Informative)
The more technical terms is moral panic [wikipedia.org]. It is beyond ridiculous that such a well understood phenomena is completely lost on people who are supposedly "experts" on criminal behavior.
Re:I have nothing to worry about. (Score:4, Funny)
Only a terrorist would feel the need to deny being a terrorist. Take him away, boys!