Instant Messages To Israel Warned Of WTC Attack
Officials at instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed
today that two employees received text messages
warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two
hours before terrorists crashed planes into the New
York landmarks.
Citing a pending investigation by law enforcement, the
company declined to reveal the exact contents of the
message or to identify the sender.
But Alex Diamandis, vice president of sales and
marketing, confirmed that workers in Odigo's research
and development and international sales office in
Israel received a warning from another Odigo user
approximately two hours prior to the first attack.
Diamandis said the sender of the instant message was
not personally known to the Odigo employees. Even
though the company usually protects the privacy of
users, the employees recorded the Internet protocol
address of the message's sender to facilitate his or
her identification.
Soon after the terrorist attacks on New York, the
Odigo employees notified their management, who
contacted Israeli security services. In turn, the FBI
was informed of the instant message warning. FBI
officials were not immediately available for comment
today.
The Odigo service includes a feature called People
Finder that allows users to seek out and contact
others based on certain interests or demographics.
Diamandis said it was possible that the attack warning
was broadcast to other Odigo members, but the company
has not received reports of other recipients of the
message.
In addition to operating its own messaging service
network, Odigo has licensed its technology to over 100
service providers, portals, wireless carriers, and
corporations, according to the company.
