NEWS:Why 'Terrordaq' will come - if the Pentagon likes it or not

From: J Corbally (jcorb@iol.ie)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2003 - 03:58:58 MDT

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    I haven't been keeping up with this issue in the media, but I thought this
    would be of interest to those here who've been discussing it;

    >Why 'Terrordaq' will come - if the Pentagon likes it or not

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3115777.stm

    >Plans to set up a stock market for tip-offs about terrorism have been
    >shelved by the US Government. But that won't stop someone else setting it
    >up - and may not even stop Osama bin Laden being able to make cash out of
    >betting on his own whereabouts.
    >The disgust was impossible to avoid. A leaked report from a unit within
    >the Pentagon which had the job of finding imaginative solutions to the
    >threat of terrorism had proposed setting up a market which traded in tips,
    >whispers and sensitive intelligence.

    >The theory was that the free market might have ways of winkling out
    >sensitive information that conventional sources could not.
    > THE BASICS
    >People bet on the likelihood of an event, eg an attack
    >With better information, traders are more likely to make money
    >It's in traders' interests to find inside tips, secret sources etc
    >Authorities could monitor sudden movements in the market, and take action
    >if necessary
    >
    >But the backlash to the idea came almost before the lash itself.
    >"Ridiculous and grotesque" said one US senator. Another claimed he
    >couldn't convince people it wasn't a hoax. The plug was pulled on the
    >screens at the innocuously titled Policy Analysis Market before it was
    >even open for business.

    James....



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