16. Honor Bar - page 81
16. Honor Bar - page 81
William Gibson is an avid user of Twitter, under the account name of Great Dismal, so it is no surprise that it is mentioned in Zero History:
Milgrim and Special Agent Winnie Tung Whitaker, of the Department of Defence, Office of the Inspector General, Defence Criminal Investigative Service "DCIS" agree to communicate electronically using a couple of (already registered and real) Twitter accounts:
page 87
"How about a Twitter account?"
"A what?"
"Sign up for one," she said. "As Gay Dolphin Two, all caps, no spaces. Numeral 2. From the laptop in the lobby. As soon as you finish your drink. Make your updates private. I'll ask to follow you. I'll be Gay Dolphiin One. Allow me to follow you, refuse anybody else. It'll mostly be porn bots anyway."
and a few hopeful William Gibson fans.
Gay Dolphin 1 Twitter account
Gay Dolphin 2 Twitter account
Given the various, regular, appalling, computer security and privacy cockups which Twitter suffers from, it is not, perhaps the ideal platform for communication between a Confidential / Covert Human Intelligence Source and their Government law enforcement officer handler / contact .
It is possible to use https/:// SSL/TLS encrypted web sessions to access Twitter, but that is not the default, so most people's Tweets are easily snooped on.
Such encryption does nothing to hide the Communications Traffic Data which Twitter generates i.e. who is talking to whom and when and often where from.
The location which probably inspired the description of Milgrim's hotel honour bar is on the first floor of the Covent Garden Hotel, 10 Monmouth Street, London, WC2H 9HB near Covent Garden, Seven Dials, Neal's Yard and the Forbidden Planet sci-fi bookshop.
The drawing room at the Covent Garden Hotel is tucked away on the hotel's first floor providing a private and exclusive area for guests. It is a spacious, wood panelled room with vivid upholstery, a French stone fireplace and quirky furniture. It leads into the more intimate Tiffany's Library with a fireplace and honour bar. Each room is ideal for guests who wish to entertain in style or simply relax and meet up with friends.
A couple of pictures of the Tiiffany's Library from the hotel website:
William Gibson mentioned, at his reading of this chapter at Foyles, in London, on 5th October 2010, that Special Agent Winnie Tung Whitaker seemed to be almost invisible to critics and fans on the Book Tour so far.
Was this, he asked, because she is one of the few characters in his writings that is not a freelancer ?