Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["David R. Matusiak" <matusiak AT hotmail.com>]

<stolen from http://www.lindqvist.com/bert.php>

I wonder if it's some form of steganography to send a message to Al Quaida
cells.

--
Vic

I just got a long mail from Gary S that kills off Vic's theory pretty good.
Too bad really. But I do agree with Gary.

Niklas:

One response to your Bert/Osama page suggested that including Bert in the
Osama bin Laden posters may have been a hidden message of some sort. I
disagree.

Here's why: While I am not an expert on terrorism or steganography, I think
common sense dictates that there is no way Bert could have been used as a
secret message.

First, this is a terrible picture to hide anything in. Because of its
humorous nature, millions of people are going to examine it closely, making
it easy for codebreakers to find any potential hidden messages. For
steganography to work, the medium needs to be as innocuous as possible.

Second, the Bert image was an actual printed poster, not a computer file or
an artifact thereof. A computer file can be altered to include messages, but
this photo came from real life and was authentic (by all accounts). In fact
there are several different photos in which the Bert image can be seen from
different angles. So this wasn't just one particular computer file that may
have contained a message.

Third, it is not possible for them to hide some kind of message in Bert's
expression, and count on journalists to photograph it and send it around.
Without knowing at what angle or at what resolution the photographs of the
poster would be taken, they risked rendering the coded part of the message
unreadable.

Fourth, there just isn't much here to hide anything in. A message of any use
would need to be a text message of some length, including details on what to
do, where to go and when. High-level acts like the Sept 11 attacks involve a
lot of coordination and planning. Even if you subscribe to the theory that
this could have been simply a "go code" to enact some existing plan, those
that sent the message would have no way of knowing exactly when the message
will be put out, or if all the participants will get it at the same time.
Not a good way to communicate the commencement of an attack.

Finally, it is not a certainty that this would "message" would ever have
been seen! As crazy it sounds, there are several scenarios in which Bert
could have gone totally unnoticed. Bad weather could have damaged the
posters or made them unphotographable; the protest could have turned
violent, running off western journalists; news agencies could have suspected
something and edited Bert out; the printing process could have been screwed
up; or, quite simply, Bert could have gone unnoticed. That's not as unlikely
as it may sound -- even those that took the photos, and the agency that put
them out (Reuters), didn't notice Bert at first. My two cents on why I don't
think Bert is any kind of hidden message. I hope you found it useful. Gary




----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Beckett" <thomas AT tbeckett.com>
To: "InterNetWorkers" <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 10:13 AM
Subject: [internetworkers] Re: osama bert laden


> This site says that Bert only shows up in the Reuters photos and not in
> any AP photos of the same poster.  That points to a mole in Reuters.  A
> mole very talented with Photoshop.
>
> TaB
>
> mdthomas AT mindspring.com wrote:
> >
> > I can't help but consider that this may be a signal
> > for all of Bin Laden's followers.
> >
> > InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > I know, it's silly, but it's also the only truly absurd (and funny)
> > thing I've been exposed to in weeks.
> >
> >  http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/11284
> >
> > --
> > hesketh.com/inc. v: (919) 834-2552 f: (919) 834-2554 w:
http://hesketh.com
> >
> > ---
> > Come and play at the InterNetWorkers Web site!
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