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