Were they given loaded pagers? I don't get it.
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only the explosives theory makes sense. you don't just not notice that your device is hot enough to make tea.
these were new devices that were all recently acquired for the whole group at once. whoever organized that acquisition was either ignorant or complicit. perfect opportunity to make such an attack, and pagers are the perfect delivery system.
Agreed.
This can be totally done on a software level. All you would have to do know is the operating system and add the bug by a software update. I'm sure you can short the batteries in a way to cause them to explode.
well, no, shorting happens at a hardware level. you literally could not. to overheat them with software would be a gradual build-up of heat. by the time it was ready to blow, it would be uncomfortable to keep in your pocket.
these pagers were definitely wired to blow at the hardware level, and not just using the battery.
Agreed.
Anyone who has ever repaired electronics (I have) would know that an internal lithium battery pack is a fairly generic silver foil wrapped package.
It would be trivial to swap out the original battery package with a hybrid explosive/ battery pack, which upon inspection would look perfectly normal.
But it would need to pass a potential xray inspection, so internal electronics would be limited.
A simple over voltage could melt a tiny fuse and cause a short circuit. Then boom.
Ever see what wire wool held to a 9V battery can do?
wouldn't even need to be that advanced. this is a pager, not a phone. no brains, no screen.... theres a ton of spare room in there to hide a bomb.
As far as you know.
The battery in a pager can not possibly explode with the violence seen in these ones even if you did absolutely everything you could to make it fail in a fiery manner. They might burn, but military grade explosives is what everything has shown evidence of so far.
with a basic understanding of how software works, how devices overheat, how pagers work, and the differences between battery fires and explosives... there's really not much room left for discussion. have you seen a battery explode? these pagers went off like firecrackers.
and your argument is based on the idea of a 'short circuit by software'. one of us knows what we're talking about.