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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

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 mainland. I feel like all of America has forgotten about PRISM/the NSA. With their immense data collection architectures and ties to large tech companies, they could easily filter the keywords and images they want, and get measurements of how quickly this information propagates and how people react. Even more freaky, they can use language processing to even get numbers about what people might be feeling! I think we've all forgotten about this and it should be a chilling affect. In the final case, we will, of course, never know. Anyone who suggests it will be called a conspiracy theorist (even though there is evidence the US government has preformed operations like this in the past, e.g. COINTELPRO) and the official line will be either reason 1 or 2 .. possibly with a patsy to arrest if need be. The truth will be declassified in 30~40 years so some people will be able to say "I told you so," but long beyond the time period anyone will actually care.

foobarbecue 9y ago
You should check the definition of "affect" and also of "chilling effect." Neither fits here.
andr 9y ago
I'm not seeing the angle for an NSA-type agency - what would they benefit? There are enough events of significance that happen organically - they could track those much more easily. They don't need to create an artificial event. The pattern is fairly predictable, too. Twitter users will hear of this first, followed by pockets of people with close friends in Hawaii. Then it will make the news sites and TV news.
- tambienben 9y ago
  Events specifically related to an incoming ICBM? Context matters. People will react differently depending on the circumstances, which means there are things to learn there. The least nefarious reason for a 3 letter agency to do this would be to dry-run a reaction plan to such an event, and take what they learn from reactions & apply what they learn to improve said plan Then again, it could be a dry-run to measure peoples sentiments toward a war with NK. Less likely, but still possible.
uabstraction 9y ago
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 weaknesses and sizing up our response. I'll put my money on Russia, who has already been attacking our elections¹, energy infrastructure², social media, and spearphishing candidates and elected officials³. They have conducted similar attacks in the past, sending out tweets and text message alerts to hundreds of people for nonexistent emergencies⁴. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-b... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-hackers-penetrated-us-electricity-grid-through-a-utility-in-vermont/2016/12/30/8fc90cc4-ceec-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russi... [3] https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-group-4127-targets-hillary-clinton-presidential-campaign https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-group-4127-targe... [4] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?_r=0&referer=https://duckduckgo.com/ https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.ht...
- tensor 9y ago
  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.
  - entropie 9y ago
    Glad iam not the only one noticed. That escalated quickly.
  - uabstraction 9y ago
    It follows a clear pattern of behavior which has been escalating for years. If this wasn't a boneheaded mistake, it was an attack. Or it was "just a prank, bro!"
tambienben 9y ago
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.
alexnewman 9y ago
I’ll take that bet that you are wrong. I assume you believe this but not enough to bet money that you R right
- dictum 9y ago
  It's a bet that cannot be settled: intelligence documents are only declassified long after the fact, and even then may be full of misdirections and information that requires internal knowledge to interpret. (It's also in the interest of three-letter agencies and external state actors to raise the suspicion that they have the capability to do something even when they don't.)
nickodell 9y ago
>With their immense data collection architectures and ties to large tech companies, they could easily filter the keywords and images they want, and get measurements of how quickly this information propagates and how people react. Ok, but what would be the point of that? You would either discover that people are terrified of nuclear war, in which case... you can't do anything useful with that information. Or, you'd discover that people don't respond to the message, in which case... you can't do anything with that information. Why would anyone who wasn't a particularly stupid villain intentionally do this?

foobarbecue 9y ago

You should check the definition of "affect" and also of "chilling effect." Neither fits here.

andr 9y ago

I'm not seeing the angle for an NSA-type agency - what would they benefit? There are enough events of significance that happen organically - they could track those much more easily. They don't need to create an artificial event. The pattern is fairly predictable, too. Twitter users will hear of this first, followed by pockets of people with close friends in Hawaii. Then it will make the news sites and TV news.

tambienben 9y ago
Events specifically related to an incoming ICBM? Context matters. People will react differently depending on the circumstances, which means there are things to learn there. The least nefarious reason for a 3 letter agency to do this would be to dry-run a reaction plan to such an event, and take what they learn from reactions & apply what they learn to improve said plan Then again, it could be a dry-run to measure peoples sentiments toward a war with NK. Less likely, but still possible.

uabstraction 9y ago

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 weaknesses and sizing up our response. I'll put my money on Russia, who has already been attacking our elections¹, energy infrastructure², social media, and spearphishing candidates and elected officials³. They have conducted similar attacks in the past, sending out tweets and text message alerts to hundreds of people for nonexistent emergencies⁴. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-b... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-hackers-penetrated-us-electricity-grid-through-a-utility-in-vermont/2016/12/30/8fc90cc4-ceec-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russi... [3] https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-group-4127-targets-hillary-clinton-presidential-campaign https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-group-4127-targe... [4] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?_r=0&referer=https://duckduckgo.com/ https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.ht...

tensor 9y ago
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.
- entropie 9y ago
  Glad iam not the only one noticed. That escalated quickly.
- uabstraction 9y ago
  It follows a clear pattern of behavior which has been escalating for years. If this wasn't a boneheaded mistake, it was an attack. Or it was "just a prank, bro!"

tambienben 9y ago

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.

alexnewman 9y ago

I’ll take that bet that you are wrong. I assume you believe this but not enough to bet money that you R right

dictum 9y ago
It's a bet that cannot be settled: intelligence documents are only declassified long after the fact, and even then may be full of misdirections and information that requires internal knowledge to interpret. (It's also in the interest of three-letter agencies and external state actors to raise the suspicion that they have the capability to do something even when they don't.)

nickodell 9y ago

>With their immense data collection architectures and ties to large tech companies, they could easily filter the keywords and images they want, and get measurements of how quickly this information propagates and how people react. Ok, but what would be the point of that? You would either discover that people are terrified of nuclear war, in which case... you can't do anything useful with that information. Or, you'd discover that people don't respond to the message, in which case... you can't do anything with that information. Why would anyone who wasn't a particularly stupid villain intentionally do this?