5 ms·

Please do not make comments about conspiracy theories. This event is not suspicious.

marze 13y ago
Citation?
mililani 13y ago
Until there is a cause of death from a thorough autopsy, I think it's too early to say whether this is suspicious or not. I can't believe you are being upvoted for saying this.
- marshray 13y ago
  Russia Today certainly knows how to state it for maximum effect: "Hacker dies days before he was to reveal how to remotely kill pacemaker patients" http://rt.com/usa/hacker-pacemaker-barnaby-jack-639/ http://rt.com/usa/hacker-pacemaker-barnaby-jack-639/ Edit: It seems very relevant to keep in mind that this is not the first time someone (or even Jack in particular) had demoed remote kill switch functionality for human beings. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/mcafee-hacker-says-medtronic-insulin-pumps-vulnerable-to-attack.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/mcafee-hacker-says-...
  - GigabyteCoin 13y ago
    The kind of thing they're referring to is commonplace in Russia, unfortunately, so you can't exactly blame them for thinking that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_R...
- lawnchair_larry 13y ago
  > I can't believe you are being upvoted for saying this. Perhaps consider that many posters and readers here knew him in person.
  - marshray 13y ago
    For those of you who knew him, do you think he personally would have wanted a day without people being suspicious of their world or comments about conspiracy theories on the internet? Because he sounds to me like a guy who really loved busting people's assumptions, in your face, and without apology.
- baconhigh 13y ago
  Death was not suspicious. Confirmed by family. I'd rather not say anything more than that.
  - steve19 13y ago
    One family member expressed concern to me about his death. (Note: concern, I am not claiming there was some conspiracy theory)
- northwest 13y ago
  > Until there is a cause of death from a thorough autopsy Even with that in mind: technology is probably sufficiently advanced today to be able to not leave any traces, if the budget is there. Plus, don't forget that Hastings [1] was cremated without his family asking for it (there is always one way or another to make traces disappear). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_%28journalist%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_%28journalist%...
cLeEOGPw 13y ago
Actually without knowing the autopsy results it is the opposite - very suspicious. 35 years old people don't just die at home. Let's hope the results will not be that he died of some kind of drug "overdose".
- Ergomane 13y ago
  If you hear hoof-beats, you'd expect a horse, not a zebra (unless you are on a Safari). It's not that uncommon that 35 year old people die at home. Common causes are suicide, unintentional overdose, aneurysm (brain, AAA), arrhythmia, a fall.
- rdouble 13y ago
  My friend died last year at age 38. If the cause of death is not released it's usually drug or alcohol related.
  - dhughes 13y ago
    Or the code word for something bad "suddenly".
- meepmorp 13y ago
  My brother died, unexpectedly, at 36. He'd had an apparently long running problem with prescription pills that nobody knew about. I had an aunt (sort of, she died before I was born) who was 25 and went to lie down in the bedroom because she felt unwell; she had an undetected congenital defect in her aorta and bled to death internally. My father in law died of a heart attack at 27 because he had congenital familial hypercholesterolimia. His elder brother died a year later by electrocution. Young people do just die for unobvious reasons, both to the (comparatively) famous and the obscure.
- CamperBob2 13y ago
  35 year-olds most certainly do die at home. The mechanism of death could have been something highly personal and highly embarrassing, nothing to do with drugs or conspiracies. I once learned more than I bargained for when I asked too many questions at a friend's funeral. If his close family members don't want to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding his death, it is probably best not to press them.
joe_the_user 13y ago
One of the most noxious effects of the recent NSA revelations is that puts whole of Internet Security Land in the realm of conspiracy theory. Our leaders have admitted that they have given us "unknown unknowns" for our benefit. XYZ event may indeed be just a sad coincidence but circumstances certainly require us to now look at these critically. And yes, this makes harder to filter out the ravings of the honest-to-god crazies, which is unfortunate.
samstave 13y ago
OK, but I WOULD like to point people to this interesting link: >"The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) seeks Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) Partners that possess the expertise, capabilities, facilities, and experience in the field of manufacturing, testing, and distribution of cardiac pacemakers. https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=409766e701ae3fd763ca82bae7ae05d2&tab=core&_cview=0 https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=409766e...
- ims 13y ago
  So?
  - samstave 13y ago
    What?
- marshray 13y ago
  More from the RFP: seeking information from companies capable of providing cardiac pacemakers for government testing, pacemaker programming hardware (loan OK), data and methodology for testing of electromagnetic vulnerability, and data on the demographic distribution of pacemaker devices domestically and internationally From the 'Dahlgren' website http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/ET/DEWO/default.aspx http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/ET/DEWO/default.asp... we see they are researching directed energy weapons of many types. Directed energy (aka "EMP") weapons are said to be useful for disabling computers and electronic devices. Humans are by-and-large highly INsensitive to long electromagnetic waves (radio) until the waves become short enough to heat burn your skin (infrared, lasers) or your retinas. There's evidence of cancer at high exposures to short wavelengths, but causing cancer is not viable as a combat tactic. But if you're going to deploy a directed energy weapon, you're going to want to have a reasonable idea of the effect on both electronics and the humans in the target area. They have a test range built for this. So it sounds to me like they need some help studying the effect of EMP weapons on people with pacemakers who might just happen to be in the target area. In other words: Are these non-lethal weapons systems? If not, just how lethal are they? Should we let an experienced officer continue to serve on a surface ship after he needs a pacemaker? Would he need any special precautions? If someone dropped one on us, how many civilian casualties would we sustain? ("data on the demographic distribution of pacemaker devices domestically") If we dropped one on country X, how many? ("and internationally") I don't think this RFP gives any evidence to suggest that the US Navy is interested in doing the sort of medical device hacking that Barnaby Jack pioneered.

marze 13y ago

Citation?

Until there is a cause of death from a thorough autopsy, I think it's too early to say whether this is suspicious or not. I can't believe you are being upvoted for saying this.

marshray 13y ago
Russia Today certainly knows how to state it for maximum effect: "Hacker dies days before he was to reveal how to remotely kill pacemaker patients" http://rt.com/usa/hacker-pacemaker-barnaby-jack-639/ http://rt.com/usa/hacker-pacemaker-barnaby-jack-639/ Edit: It seems very relevant to keep in mind that this is not the first time someone (or even Jack in particular) had demoed remote kill switch functionality for human beings. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/mcafee-hacker-says-medtronic-insulin-pumps-vulnerable-to-attack.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/mcafee-hacker-says-...
- GigabyteCoin 13y ago
  The kind of thing they're referring to is commonplace in Russia, unfortunately, so you can't exactly blame them for thinking that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_R...
lawnchair_larry 13y ago
> I can't believe you are being upvoted for saying this. Perhaps consider that many posters and readers here knew him in person.
- marshray 13y ago
  For those of you who knew him, do you think he personally would have wanted a day without people being suspicious of their world or comments about conspiracy theories on the internet? Because he sounds to me like a guy who really loved busting people's assumptions, in your face, and without apology.
baconhigh 13y ago
Death was not suspicious. Confirmed by family. I'd rather not say anything more than that.
- steve19 13y ago
  One family member expressed concern to me about his death. (Note: concern, I am not claiming there was some conspiracy theory)
northwest 13y ago
> Until there is a cause of death from a thorough autopsy Even with that in mind: technology is probably sufficiently advanced today to be able to not leave any traces, if the budget is there. Plus, don't forget that Hastings [1] was cremated without his family asking for it (there is always one way or another to make traces disappear). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_%28journalist%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_%28journalist%...

cLeEOGPw 13y ago

Actually without knowing the autopsy results it is the opposite - very suspicious. 35 years old people don't just die at home. Let's hope the results will not be that he died of some kind of drug "overdose".

Ergomane 13y ago
If you hear hoof-beats, you'd expect a horse, not a zebra (unless you are on a Safari). It's not that uncommon that 35 year old people die at home. Common causes are suicide, unintentional overdose, aneurysm (brain, AAA), arrhythmia, a fall.
rdouble 13y ago
My friend died last year at age 38. If the cause of death is not released it's usually drug or alcohol related.
- dhughes 13y ago
  Or the code word for something bad "suddenly".
meepmorp 13y ago
My brother died, unexpectedly, at 36. He'd had an apparently long running problem with prescription pills that nobody knew about. I had an aunt (sort of, she died before I was born) who was 25 and went to lie down in the bedroom because she felt unwell; she had an undetected congenital defect in her aorta and bled to death internally. My father in law died of a heart attack at 27 because he had congenital familial hypercholesterolimia. His elder brother died a year later by electrocution. Young people do just die for unobvious reasons, both to the (comparatively) famous and the obscure.
CamperBob2 13y ago
35 year-olds most certainly do die at home. The mechanism of death could have been something highly personal and highly embarrassing, nothing to do with drugs or conspiracies. I once learned more than I bargained for when I asked too many questions at a friend's funeral. If his close family members don't want to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding his death, it is probably best not to press them.

joe_the_user 13y ago

One of the most noxious effects of the recent NSA revelations is that puts whole of Internet Security Land in the realm of conspiracy theory. Our leaders have admitted that they have given us "unknown unknowns" for our benefit. XYZ event may indeed be just a sad coincidence but circumstances certainly require us to now look at these critically. And yes, this makes harder to filter out the ravings of the honest-to-god crazies, which is unfortunate.

samstave 13y ago

OK, but I WOULD like to point people to this interesting link: >"The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) seeks Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) Partners that possess the expertise, capabilities, facilities, and experience in the field of manufacturing, testing, and distribution of cardiac pacemakers. https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=409766e701ae3fd763ca82bae7ae05d2&tab=core&_cview=0 https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=409766e...

ims 13y ago
So?
- samstave 13y ago
  What?
marshray 13y ago
More from the RFP: seeking information from companies capable of providing cardiac pacemakers for government testing, pacemaker programming hardware (loan OK), data and methodology for testing of electromagnetic vulnerability, and data on the demographic distribution of pacemaker devices domestically and internationally From the 'Dahlgren' website http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/ET/DEWO/default.aspx http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/ET/DEWO/default.asp... we see they are researching directed energy weapons of many types. Directed energy (aka "EMP") weapons are said to be useful for disabling computers and electronic devices. Humans are by-and-large highly INsensitive to long electromagnetic waves (radio) until the waves become short enough to heat burn your skin (infrared, lasers) or your retinas. There's evidence of cancer at high exposures to short wavelengths, but causing cancer is not viable as a combat tactic. But if you're going to deploy a directed energy weapon, you're going to want to have a reasonable idea of the effect on both electronics and the humans in the target area. They have a test range built for this. So it sounds to me like they need some help studying the effect of EMP weapons on people with pacemakers who might just happen to be in the target area. In other words: Are these non-lethal weapons systems? If not, just how lethal are they? Should we let an experienced officer continue to serve on a surface ship after he needs a pacemaker? Would he need any special precautions? If someone dropped one on us, how many civilian casualties would we sustain? ("data on the demographic distribution of pacemaker devices domestically") If we dropped one on country X, how many? ("and internationally") I don't think this RFP gives any evidence to suggest that the US Navy is interested in doing the sort of medical device hacking that Barnaby Jack pioneered.