Eldo Kim: Harvard Idiot or Rogue Genius?
Eldo Kim, a Psych undergrad at Harvard
Is Harvard undergrad Eldo Kim secretly brilliant or just really dense? That was the nagging question on my brain this evening after reading the LA Times coverage of his arrest. In case you aren’t familiar, Kim is the guy who thought calling in a multiple bomb threat prank would be preferable to taking his finals. Now, I’m sure many a student has thought to themselves, if just that fire alarm or other similar disruption would come my way, I might be saved a brief respite from this ______ (insert dreaded class here) final exam. But calling in a bomb threat–and multiple “shrapnel bombs” at that–is another thing. But apparently 20-year-old Harvard undergrad Kim thought this sounded like a brilliant idea. Kids these days!
Heavy writer Paul Farrell details a little bit of Kim’s backstory in his 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know about Kim Edo According to his bio, Kim “plans to major in Political Science and is excited for what the future holds in the coming years.” This incident will definitely get him into a Political Science program now! Kinda makes you wonder what this guy’s “future planning” looks like. I bet he totally has one of those CSI/Fringe/Sherlock Holmes boards. You know the one that looks like this.
a completely unrelated wall of picture and strings!
But after reading the LA Times coverage, I got to thinking. What if Kim is really a rogue genius at work here–what we used to refer to as a “chaotic neutral player” in the old D&D parlance of my earlier years. Basically someone who knows the rules but chooses to ignore or transgress them, often on principle, sometimes out of disregard. This line by from the LA Times piece really caught my eyes, and led me to the this speculation. Semeuls writes:
“Kim is a psychology major, according to the Harvard Crimson. He could have been taking one of the exams in Emerson on the Statistics of Probability or an Introduction to Social Anthropology.”
Imagine the following scenario:
Kim decided his tests are pointless exercises in regurgitating textbook knowledge, and really wants to put the theories he is studying into practice. How can he do that, he wonders. After some ruminations, and maybe a cheeseburger and fries–I don’t know if Kim even likes cheeseburgers, but that is besides the point (this is just a hypothetical, so bear with me a bit longer), an idea suddenly pops into his head. He’s a psych student taking classes on probability theory and social anthropology, why not run a huge social psychology probability experiment in place of finals, and watch how people respond to this imaginary threat. It would be so much more enjoyable than the GOV 1368 class, The Politics of American Education, he was supposed to take the next day. As a bonus, he won’t have to take the final if it works. All he needs to do is send an anonymous e-mail warning of the threat and, presto–sit back and watch the experiment run. Finals, shminals, this would be way more interesting than histograms or education policy.
As the press would later report from Kim’s affidavit, “upon hearing the alarm, he knew that his plan had worked.” Well, sort of.
I’m not sure I would use the verb “worked” in the same sentence as “plan” to describe the series of events he set in motion. And the rest is history, as they say. The experiment definitely worked, but it seems he overestimated the statistical probability of his plan being a success. Damn those computer models failing again, they just don’t seem to model risk accurately. The scenario I outlined above is almost certainly not true–or they are about as good as me winning the Mega Millions jackpot. But what if, just by chance, it was true? What if Kim actually set up the bomb hoax as an elaborate social experiment, knowing the likely risks and costs, but he chose to do it anyway? How would that change–and would it matter–our view of the situation?
Now Kim is looking at a possible 5 year max sentence and a hefty $250,000 dollar fine if found guilty, which seems pretty likely since he basically confessed and his attempt to be stealthy via Tor actually backfired. Ironically, his half-assed security methods helped the FBI find him. We have to give him props for trying to use Tor to hide his digital footprints, but come on, connecting with your own wireless device? Come on! Did he even read the Tor manual!
Sadly this case will probably be used by some as an example of the “dangers” of publicly accessible anonymous security tools like Tor, which would be a shame. Hey @Anonymous, you need to start putting out dummy web security 101 guides, cause these kids today don’t seem to understand security culture at all. Forbes’ Runa Sandvik also pointed out the obvious flaws of his security protocols in their article, noting that “he could have had gotten away with it had he just used the wireless internet at a local Cambridge coffee shop.” It seems an expensive Harvard education only gets you so far these days.
Until next time…remember, one Tor is never enough!
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