Mumbai Terror Attacks: When technology is too gangster…how the terrorists operated

We love technology over here. It is clearly one of our passions. Last night, we watched Quantum of Solace here at the crib. Again, thanks to technology, we watched it from the comfort of the house, playing through the hard drive, which was connected to the XBOX 360. While the new technology is totally tight and makes our lives easier, it can backfire on us.

We have some of the latest technology to keep constant contact. With the advent of the cell phone, who of us hasn’t used texting as a communication medium? It is so much easier to tell someone, “I am on the way…” then having to call them and have an actual conversation about the fact that you are on the way. We text each other story ideas (back when Jason was writing on the blog) and send each other messages that can lead to stories, since so many funny things happen to us in the course of our day to day living. Erik and Jason both rock the Blackberry, while I keep it sleek and simple with the HTC 8800

This is the 8830 World Phone that Jason uses and Erik uses the Curve.

I use the HTC…

If you thought that this would be all about tech and toys, you would be mistaken. This is about the tech that we love and what happens when it is misused by people with bad intentions. Unless you were under a rock or suffering from poverty and had no TV, then you heard about the terror attacks at Mumbai. Evidently, the mode of communication was relatively simple. While we would never big up terrorists (unless its one of our homies terrorizing the box, or gals going all rodeo queen on some poor sap) they had to show some creativity to go with a not well laid out plan. Once the party started, the rumor is that they jacked cellies to stay in communication. Research in Motion, or RIM, should be happy to know that they went with Blackberrys.

Britons were among the militants arrested for the Bombay attacks, a senior Indian official said yesterday.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, in which Bombay lies, made the claim on an Indian television station.

Patrick Mercer, MP, a former Conservative security spokesman, told The Times that he had been given information that at least two of the terrorists had credit cards and other identifying documents that linked them to Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. Other reports last night claimed that men from Leeds and Bradford were among the terrorists.

Mr Mercer said he had also been told that the terrorists arrived with only basic communications but had then seized mobile phones and BlackBerries from their hostages and used them to contact each other and monitor world reaction. The claims were not substantiated by official British sources. They said there was no evidence “at this stage” that Britons had taken part, although they acknowledged that events were “moving fast” and more information was emerging.

MI5 and British counter-terrorist police are keeping in close touch with their counterparts in India and are alert to the possibility that Britons with Pakistani origins might have been involved after undergoing terrorist training in Pakistan.

Gordon Brown said that there was no evidence of Britons being involved, and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, told Sky News: “We obviously will want to work very closely with the Indians, but it is too early to say whether or not any of them are British.”

Up to 30 Metropolitan Police antiterrorist specialists have been sent to Bombay, making it one of the largest overseas deployments.

I don’t think that this is the type of advertising that RIM really wants to get….

But, the Timesonline continues with the anti-tech rant when they talk about a man who was saved by playing dead.

A British actor described yesterday how he survived the Bombay massacre after terrorists assumed that he was dead because he was covered in other people’s blood.

Joey Jeetun, who played one of the London bombers in a recent television dramatisation, was among hundreds of terrified Britons making their way home yesterday. Survivors described how the terrorists targeted Western tourists, with one couple claiming that gunmen used live television coverage to find those still hiding. Many of those who arrived at Heathrow were questioned by British police who are helping the Indian investigation.

That is why our quest for reality TV is going to get someone killed… Oh wait, it already has… here is the Taj Mahal Hotel where it all went down…

A Welsh couple claimed that an international television news channel put their lives at risk by broadcasting details of where they were hiding in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Lynne and Kenneth Shaw, of Penarth, South Wales, said that they hid under tables as the terrorists stormed through the hotel. “The terrorists were watching CNN and they came down in a lift after hearing about us on TV,” Mrs Shaw said. A spokesman for CNN said: “We had employees trapped at the hotel and were vigilant about anything we broadcast.”

Other survivors described barricading themselves in their hotel rooms for two days to escape the gunmen who were holding hostages near by.

SO, our quest for information was directly in conflict with others right to live… I am going for right to live every single time…

How does that feel? I don’t think that you would like it any more than the people who you put in the actual crosshairs of the terrorists with your reporting. You were not the only ones, just the ones that are prominently mentioned in the story.