• wax
    301
    Imagine that one day a person wakes up in an unknown room with no windows.

    After a few days he is informed that he has been kidnapped and is being held infinitely.

    He has no information about who is holding him captive, and where in the world he is being held captive.

    He is given access to the internet, and the access is routed through the internet in such a way as to make any contact with anyone in the outside world, non-traceable.

    There are things that could be done to sidestep this routing process. He could contact someone in the outside world, and then download some software that could access the computers real ISP number and send it back through the internet to the outside contact, but this process has been thought of by the kidnapper, and the ability to download software will have been disabled.

    What should this person do?

    He could just go on social media, and chat to people all day as he used to before he was kidnapped..

    I think maybe this scenario might make a good short story anyway. :)
  • Anaxagoras
    433


    There are a few problems with this scenario.

    You said:

    Imagine that one day a person wakes up in an unknown room with no windows.

    After a few days he is informed that he has been kidnapped and is being held infinitely.
    wax




    The problem is psychologically how can any individual can tell the passage of time knowing minutes to hours, to days when there are no indicators that can mentally help the individual?

    You also said:

    He is given access to the internet, and the access is routed through the internet in such a way as to make any contact with anyone in the outside world, non-traceable.

    There are things that could be done to sidestep this routing process. He could contact someone in the outside world, and then download some software that could access the computers real ISP number and send it back through the internet to the outside contact, but this process has been thought of by the kidnapper, and the ability to download software will have been disabled.
    wax

    This is assuming that the person is tech savvy not to mention you'd have to understand the current panic of the individual. Imagine a non-tech savvy person given the internet and not knowing how to work it?

    It's a good start in grabbing the person but it have to be formed a little bit more realistic. Not trying to burst your bubble but it's a good start.
  • wax
    301
    This is assuming that the person is tech savvy not to mention you'd have to understand the current panic of the individual. Imagine a non-tech savvy person given the internet and not knowing how to work it?Anaxagoras

    no, well, the kidnapper might have just assumed the hostage is tech savvy. They might be, they might not be. I'm not very tech savvy, myself.

    I don't know how the person would feel. In this scenario they would be treated without violence; given food, and there would be a bathroom, TV, radio etc.....they might well be alarmed, and disorientate, but after a few weeks they may settle down a bit.

    I read John Mccarthy's book 'An Evil Cradling', about his experience as a hostage in Syria(I think)...he very much had a bad time, over a few years...but in this case, the hostage would have a lot better environment...I just wondered what they might do on the internet...given that there might be no way to get any actual rescue going for themselves.
  • Anaxagoras
    433


    Well I know for one thing it sounds nightmarish regardless whether the person is tech savvy or not. The idea of being in a room with no windows or no external indicators that time is passing would be psychologically devastating. They do this now for enemy combatants.
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    You do not need any software to find your IP nor your physical location. Yes you said that the internet has been routed to disguise your IP, but once you are in contact with someone it can be tracked back through any system.
    https://whatismyipaddress.com/

    There are plenty of police departments that us farcebook and twatter, so i doubt that he would be given access to them or any other social media. Even if the blocked all of these possible sites and there are many of them, he could quite easily google lots of information about find his real IP.

    Why would they want to give him a radio? Surely he would be able to listen to local stations and get ideas about where he was.

    In all, I think it a rather unreal situation, might have to do some more thinking about it if you plan on writing about this.
    Lock yourself up for a couple of days and see what you do to get out of the situation.
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