Denialists' Deck of Cards: The King of Spades, "Danger!"

i-189aecdec36b7e8f373b2cd5a7744ca7-ks.jpg This is a very powerful argument in the post-9/11 environment. And if you're a denialist worth your salt, you can figure out a way to claim that your industry is a potential target for terrorism.

Danger! can be used to get things done quickly, as Verisign realized when it wanted to move a "root server" without following normal process. In Department of Commerce officials' emails, Verisign made pleas to declare an emergency to get their way: The company wants "to push us to declare some kind of national security threat and blow past the process," one e-mail said. The subject line of another message described the company's "request for immediate authority to effect address change."

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