From: | Jaimie Nicholson <jaimie.nicholson@********.OTAGO.AC.NZ> |
---|---|
Subject: | Analysis |
Date: | Thu, 26 Jun 1997 09:56:56 +1200 |
>>>>>[If the erstwhile Mr East somehow discovered the tracer, then Squatter
is compromised. It would be safer to presume that that has happened, and
that RJohnson now knows Squatter is working against her somehow. I doubt
that there will be any more offers of work from her, and if there are I
would advise against accepting them.
Ice, did you get anything that can be used as a ritual sample? And were you
working with Squatter yet, when Ronin dropped out of sight?
I've been looking at the data on the runs that have been linked to
RJohnson. If she is a corporate player as Irish claims, then logically she
must be working for a corporation, which would have derived some benefit
each time she made a move. I've been working on a series of lists of who
could have profitted from each operation, of which I include a summarised
version. The full document is making the rounds in the security division
here. I'd like both of you to find out what you can and add your own
speculations, coming as they do from a view-point I cannot share. I would
suggest that you recruit whoever found Tsumora, since a second decker could
well be the difference between success and failure in this undertaking.
Keep me informed.
The operations in question, in rough chronological order:
Utopia Bombing:
The Utopia Biolabs installation was destroyed under suspicious
circumstances, a post being made to shadowland by one Bloodied Otter,
stating that s/he had done it and was affiliated to GreenWar. Another
person, using the sig Derek and also claiming to be a representative of
GreenWar, denied any knowledge of Bloodied Otter.
The insurance company covering the site (Wind, Water, and Fire) was hit
fairly hard by this, they covered sabotage, and were unable to find a way
out of paying. The company in question was owned by a number of small SS
players, more than half of the shares being owned by various people with
holdings of less than 5%. There is no megacorporate influence that I can
detect, so it seems unlikely that the the hit was designed to hurt WWF.
It is more likely that this was intended to create an opening for the next
operation, being an attempt to influence the competition for the refitting
contract.
Hodges kidnapping:
The ransom paid was data on the requirements for the replacement. This kind
of information could have been useful in preparing a bid for the contract,
but the risks of kidnapping are high, even if one can find competent shadow
assets.
The contract was won by a corp called Sakura Industrial Robotics.
Surprisingly, they were able to modify the large scale machinery that they
usually employ for delicate lab equipment. They say it was all a matter of
scale, and that the tolerances allowed for biological work are easier than
those for the manufacture of, for example, optical chips. Given the
modifications they were able to make to their production procedures, even
before receiving the contract, SIR is the prime suspect for this one.
However, there are other ways they could have found out what Utopia Biolabs
required.
Other bidders for the project included Ares Biotech (a direct subsidiary of
Ares Macrotechnology, which is common knowledge) and Redsnake Biological
Technology (apparently an independant corp, they provided the original
equipment at the facility).
MycoProducts matrix hit:
The changes Squatter made in the software resulted in the appearance of a
severe hardware fault. CulCo, the manufacturers of the device, claimed it
was sabotage, but were not believed, as there was not sufficient evidence
of Squatter's activity.
CulCo eventually agreed to replace the device at no extra cost when
MycoProducts asked for tenders for the replacement. It looks like the
tendering process was a hardline negotiators way for MycoProducts to get
the fault fixed for free, they probably agreed with CulCo that it was
sabotage.
Applicants in the rather brief tendering process included Ares Biotech (2nd
hit), BioMerieux Seattle (owned by BioMerieux, a french corp which has been
in business since before the crash), Sakura Industrial Robotics (2nd hit).
The Tsumora extraction:
Renraku is the obvious one in this case, since he's now working for a
subsidiary of that corporation. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing
the origin of the orders that precipitated the extraction. This could have
been a decision from as high as Chiba HQ, or it could have been Renraku
Software Development making it's own moves. How big was Tsumora's
reputation in software development? Was it worth the effort for a small
corp like RSD to reach all the way to Seattle?
The Hard Corps run:
A typical extraction of technology, or at least it was planned as that.
Anyone could have been involved, because even if RJohnson's corp couldn't
use it, they could sell it to someone who could.
The Sorenson intimidation:
The only corporation likely to benefit is Renraku (2nd hit) Management
Services Seattle, since that's who Sorenson worked for.
There is one other possibility, though a remote one: a competitor of the
corp to which he planned to defect found out about the plans and arranged
this themselves. Even then, it seems more likely that they would tell RMSS
and save themselves some time and effort.
The Mulligan Assassination:
How could any corp benefit from this? That the assassination had to look
like an accident sounds like it was personal, or perhaps some sort of
intercorporate espionage. Find out what Mulligan got up to in the last few
weeks of his life.
But, Mulligan worked for Renraku (3rd hit). If he was betraying the
corporation somehow, and planning to skip town soon, this might have been
the only way to stop him in time, the proper channels being too slow.
RJohnson has already been involved in one case of discipliary action, the
Sorenson intimidation.
The SalmonCo bombing:
Renraku again (4th hit)? They were paid a penalty vastly disproportionate
to what they lost by not getting the product on time, but they did lose
some money, and suffered some damage to their reputation for reliability.
It is difficult if not impossible to judge the long term effects of this
operation.
It could have been a terrorist hit, implying that RJohnson does fixer work
as well.
Squatter's most recent job:
Files on employees could be used by anyone. That the files came from the
security division is most likely to mean that they contain information on
security risks within Fuchi's corporate hierachy. I too found this
information useful. Anyone ouside Fuchi could want this, and due to the
in-fighting that goes on there, many within the corp would also be
interested.]<<<<<
-- L <17:15:42/06-25-58>