Starting next year, Israel will require pilots who fly to its airports to use the Security Code System (SCS), a local invention designed to ensure planes that have been commandeered for al Qaeda-style attacks are spotted in time. Israel plans a trial run for the system, using a credit card-sized keypad, next month, in cooperation with five airlines from the United States, Europe and Africa. About 10,000 of the units will ultimately be issued, with Israel bearing the cost. Pilots who fail the authentication test when they approach Israeli airspace will be denied entry. Should a plane go ahead, ignoring further warnings, Israel will consider it hostile and scramble fighter planes for an interception. In the worst case, that could mean an aircraft is shot down.

Several experts familiar with Israeli methodology say the system -- also known as "Code Positive" -- is based on the assumption that a hijacking will take place in one of two ways. Hijackers could either kill the pilots and take control -- as is believed to have been the case in the September 11 attacks on the United States. Or they could force pilots to issue a compliant response to the system in the hope of buying enough time to reach Israel and crash the planes into a target on the ground. In the first case, the hijackers would fail the security check as they entered Israeli airspace, giving military authorities about 15 minutes to launch a response. In the second, Dani Shenar, chief of security for Israel's Transportation Ministry said, pilots would be expected to relay a "May Day" alert.

Let's all hope that this system is never put to use, but in the event of a hijacking, this Israel system could save hundreds of lives.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Author holds a position in ESLT as of 11/21/07.

Israel launches anti-hijack system originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week I asked whether as an investor, a shareholder, you care about companies' business practices. I didn't get the feeling this was really a major concern to most shareholders, so let me ask a more specific question: As a Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shareholder, would you care that Google serves ads on Orkut groups that are affiliated (at least in ideology) to terrorists group?

Last week this issue was buzzing all over the Internet, and Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal wrote a particularly interesting post about the subject. Baker posted several screen shots from the Al Qaida and JihadNet Orkut groups to name a few. Their ads can be clearly seen at the bottom of the page. Some of the advertisers include companies like eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), AbeBooks, Harvard, BuildASign.com, Stanford and Caravan.com. (I wonder if they know where their ads are being placed).

I've checked for myself, despite my aversion, and actually went to these sites (where lovely members post their pictures with a back-splash of swastikas and other such symbols). From what I've seen, it appears that Google has removed the ads.

This raises a few interesting questions though. Should Google post ads in these groups? Should Google allow such groups to even exist? If not, isn't that censorship? If yes, couldn't that facilitate terrorist activities? And I'll end with where I started, as an investor, do you even care about Google's practices as long as it increases shareholder value?

Investors: Do you know where your GOOG has been? Do you care? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.