Terrordaq
The US Defence Department are to adopt a controversial method of gathering intelligence on terrorist attacks and political developments. A trading website is to be published that would encourage bets on various potential attacks, assassinations and coups. The idea is to try to improve the prediction and prevention of such events by using the expertise of the open market instead of relying on government agencies.
As explained by US Senator Wyden : "You may think early on that Prime Minister X is going to be assassinated. So you buy the futures contracts for 5 cents each. The payoff if he is assassinated is $1 per futures. So if it comes to pass, those who bought at 5 cents make 95 cents and those who bought at 50 cents make 50 cents."
Am I alone in thinking this is an extraordinarily bad idea?
source - BBC News
Posted 7 years, 1 month ago
Update - the Pentagon has axed the idea after Democrats and US Senators emphatically declared the move as "ridiculous and grotesque".
I can’t really argue with that assessment....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3106559.stm
Phil · 7 years, 1 month ago