Technical Terrorists

[Andrew C]

Oh the fun the dog-handler and I had with a Springer Spaniel, a training aid, and a very slippery dance floor. Think the old Disney film of the ducks landing on ice...

[sam.henderson]

I think I've mentioned this show somewhere else on the forum before but this summer I did a show on the HMS Belfast and as it was over a very busy bank holiday weekend you would have throught it would have been quite tight but I only ever got stopped once (with the Cheif LX) as we didn't have our passes, the rest of the time there was no problem coming or going as we pleased with what ever kit we wanted.

 

Sam

[Pete McCrea]

Most outrageous security I have come accross? For Tim Westcountry and 50pence at Rockingham Speedway last summer.

 

Get-in: Zero security. We could have built the stage on a pile of plastic explosive, rigged all-sorts on the truss, stashed guns in flightcases. Didn't see a single security gaurd or police man.

 

Gig: We arrived at 10am to see a huge Glasto style wall having been erected. To get to the crew car park required a vehicle search. Once in we then had to get to the stage, which was a full pat down and case search and metal detector session. Boy did they get excited over our leatherman and tool cases. It was stupidly extreme.

 

The punters had no form of search.

 

We got our own back when the LD's car alarm kept being set off by the outrageous bass, and neither of us could be arsed to turn it off despite the security guards multiple requests.

 

Bloody rappers....

[Ynot]

I have a police security clearance <snip> because kids where there.

 

I wonder how long it will be till this is not unusual.

Erm, it IS here - in part, and complete coverage will be here very soon.

 

Any show that has kids performing should have proper matrons to superrvise them, and any child (up to 16) who's had a cumulative performance count of 5 in 6 months (IIRC) has to have a licence granted by the county council. The matrons must all be approved by the CC, which includes an enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check.

 

We saw the writing on the wall a couple of years back and are getting as many of the regular staff & crew at our amateur theatre to submit the forms to become matrons (and yes, calling the stage crew 'matrons' is a tricky one! ) to cover ourselves.

 

Scenario, given by one of my crew - Big cast on stage, kid's chorus waiting in wings for their entrance. One 7 yr old dot stands upstage to watch the stage just as adult cast begin to flock off - my lad sees child thinks "Crikey she'll get crushed!" so picks her up, shields her from the hordes in the US corner til they've passed. Later thinks "What if mummy asks 'DID you enjoy the show tonight' and gets a reply'Yes. This man gave me a cuddle in the corner!'"

 

We also had a challenge to our new license application from a DIFFERENT dept to the normal Child Protection Services who we deal with - stating they'd oppose the renewal unless we could show evidence that any adult in a position of responsibilty for kids was suitably checked ....

 

TD

[Jivemaster]

Ian Huntley (Soham) WAS checked!!!!

 

Away from the child protection issues.

 

As Greenpeace has sent people through rigging and rope access courses and been publicised doing so, it is very likely that access denial will become a contract and specification issue for sensitive events. It is also likely that contractors who don't run a tight ship will not get (further) work, even freelancers with off mainstream politics may get quietly dropped from phone lists.

[Mush]

Believe George WWIII Bush has his own lighting director to help ensure he appears good on TV. Who needs sniper, bit of a cooler colour ,bit less front light.....

 

Wonder if he has someone in charge of making sure all nearby exits are unlocked nowadays ;-)

 

Apart from that Mrs Lincoln what did you think of the show?

[pritch]

How can you appear good on TV when you're going out in wonderful, wonderful NTSC?

[mikienorth]

The well mentioned enhanced CRB disclousure runs quite deep, deeper than you'd reckon. A friend of mine, we both volunteered for youuth organisations where nights away are involved, myself Scouting, him another group, both have been through enhanced CRB. He was questioned as a result about his being spotted drunk and disorderly in Blackpool one weekend.

 

He has neither ever been arrested nor charged with drunk and disorderly in his life. But he had been spotted being naughty in Blackpool, had been identified, and noting said until somewhere in his CRB, his being seen as a drunk was mentioned. A Scout leader I know was also questioned about his being caught fishing without a licence aged 14, ten years after he had been caught.

 

I still keep hold of my enhanced disclosure, as to possess a disclosure number makes it quicker next time you need to be checked, as the check only has to go to the point of your last certificate, no matter who you get checked for. The fact you need to be checked for every organisation and every time you are placed in the situation is a good idea, as who knows what mayhave come to light between being checked and your moving on. For example, IF, and this is hypothesy, I was checked and cleared to be a Scout leader in one area, and due to my having a particular liking for young boys, was asked to leave the Organisation, I could have, until disclosure came in (after the Soham case, he was cleared under the old system btw), gone to another area, and said, 'here is my warrant, I was a leader over there until I moved away because of work, I want to be a leader here' They would say great, we know you have been checked, you have your warrant, come on in, we'll sort you out.

By the time anything came back that I was dangerous, I could have been in charge of a Scout group for around a year before they found out why I had left, especailly if I moved far enough away.

Now, under disclosure, you are presumed guilty until the govt. tells the organisations otherwise. I was told, when applying for disclosure to lead the Scout troop I had been with since the age 7, that, although they knew me as well as, if not better than, my parents, and I had effectivley grown up with the group, I was still, although they 'knew' I was alright, not allowed to be alone with any child until I had my disclosure form back. It took a year.

 

However, on topic. Technical terrorism.

Who needs it, when the FOH manager can do just as good a job on her own.

We are a building used by the local sniffer dog units, both Police and Customs, to train their dogs and handlers. One day the dogs were in, and the FOH manager decides to tidy the cloakroom. She finds, tuckec away behind a cardborad box, a bag containing what she thinks, and it looked like, a rather nasty baguette.

She threw it in the skips outside, along with all the other rotting food she found in there.

Later that day she returns to the tidied clakroom to find it rather untidy, and in the middle of the mess, a pale-faced Policeman.

He asks 'have you seen a carrier bag with a long sausage shaped thing in it?'

She says 'Yes I threw it in the bins, along with all the other rubbish'

 

It is the day our bins are emptied.

 

He goes even whiter, then explains that rather odd shaped, baguette-ish thing that is now very shortly, if not already, going to be in a bin wagon on the way to landfill, is half a pound of SEMTEX.

 

They run to the bins, and just beat the bin men. They all look for it, and, luckily, find it.

 

I figured that the dog in question may well be retired now...

[dosxuk]

Athens Olympics... The security there ranged from restrictive to extreme!

 

On one day, I had to bring a lens from one site to another. I went through no less than 9 metal detectors that day. All for a box which was sealed in a non-secure area.

 

We even had full x-ray and metal detectors at our accommodation, which meant virtually everyone at our place had to empty all their luggage so the security people could see what we were bringing in after they spotted knives / pliers / scissors on the x-rays. One person had his bag searched for a large knife, which was in fact a 4 gang 13A adaptor...

 

Hardest thing I had to get in to a site was a data receiver for a wireless camera. This is effectively two metal boxes bolted together with some LEDs on and a big antenna on top. We'd modified it slightly with the addition of a cardboard box taped on to protect the plug which came out underneath as it was going to have to sit on this. An XLR with two strands of wire twisted together came out of this plug. I forgot to declare this kit, and it went through the normal X-ray machine inside my backpack... The security people loved us for that one!

[TeeJay]

Physical protection is still a good deterrent to 'technical terrorism'

 

I remember Her Majesty coming to see a show I was 'spotting a few years back. Our names were previously forwarded for whatever security checks were necessary and other than being signed in and the police at stage door, we thought that was it -

 

until I went up to the spot position and found a very bored looking member of SO19 watching the auditorium from my spot box. He wasn't the only one I saw during that show.

 

It's always the thing that you didn't see ... and we are in the business to know that!

[iainu]

I unintentionally ran a cue during a live conference broadcast, by placing a book on a strand backup unit keyboard. (Just as Charles kennedy was making his big speech) The BBC phoned up straight away, said it was well timed but can they please have more light! Whoops Does that make me a terrorist?

[Just Some Bloke]

I unintentionally ran a cue during a live conference broadcast, by placing a book on a strand backup unit keyboard. (Just as Charles kennedy was making his big speech) The BBC phoned up straight away, said it was well timed but can they please have more light! Whoops Does that make me a terrorist?

 

If what happened to the gentleman at the Labour Party Conference is anything to go by then YES!

[MikeR]

Not tech terrorism but security related.

Having worked in the F1 paddock for a few years I can safely say that the security surrounding that is "tight". Everyone has a pass. Your name is on the pass having been sent in before hand. The pass is non transferable and only allows you access to the areas that you need to work in and at specified times. Personally I need to get into several areas so I need several passes One for the team garage, one for the hospitality suite etc. Even team personnel aren't allowed to move freely from one area to another. Hospitality people aren't allowed into the motorhomes, mechanics aren't allowed out of the paddock. Even the drivers don't get in without the right credentials and there's a story about a security guard who prevented Bernie from getting into the paddock on one occasion because he didn't have a pass. If the story is to be believed the security chap was later promoted as a result. No one is allowed on the grid without a red pass - and there's not many of them to be had.

We run cameras in the garage up fibre optic lines to various monitors, we're not allowed to use any form of wireless transmission with the exception of radio mics, the frequencies of which are given to us for the season, changing frequency on your mic is not permitted under any circumstance. I could go on but you get the picture I'm sure. It's not all security based, a lot of it is to prevent copyright theft, even the notional noise of an F1 engine is copyrighted, some of it to prevent loss of sales by official suppliers and some of it, ie radio mic frequencies is to prevent interference with the race teams own radio operations.

[Ben...]

There seem to be two things here; the threat of terrism from bombs hidden in gear and terrists disguising themselves as crew versus the idea of those pesky freedom fighters monkeying around with your output (putting out "Gerry Adams sings the blues" on your hospital radio OB, etc.)

 

I'd say that everyone's pretty hot on the idea of hiding guns in cameras, etc. (we've all seen the movies) but, working for your friendly state broadcaster, I've never heard anyone get remotely concerned about the latter. It's entirely possible; it's just that you have to know what to do. We've speculated about the entertainment that would result if someone forced the TV network into rebroadcast mode (quite easy, if you know what you're doing) and then quietly hijacked the Crystal Palace input feed (again, probably quite easy, we reckon.)

 

Daft ideas like that aside, I don't recall ever seeing a radio mic. or camera with any sort of access control, and very few SNG operations use encryption for anything apart from sports. It's probably the sort of thing nobody'll pay any attention to unless something really big and embarassing happens. Which is unlikely, as car bombs are much simpler and get better headlines. Could be the sort of thing fathers4justice or the extreme wing of the ALF or Greenpeace might try.

[mac.calder]

We are starting to see this anti-hijacking security to come into play though - dimmers can be locked with pins, many digital consoles are now user based etc. On a new system I can walk away confident that whilst I am away, no matter how many buttons they push, my lighting state will stay the same, the mics will stay muted and my preshow music is playing correctly. That is, of course, until they pull the cables out.