00011: Social Engineering
By: Conan the Agrarian, Disco Lord of TulsaWelcome back to the dwelling of the ever-burdened Social Engineer! Today we're going to discuss the concept of planning, and how SE helps with it. In case you did not know, we at Digital Darkness HQ decided to plan a concert, and the resulting legal nightmare is a paradise for the prospective Social Engineer.
This article, while featuring the traditional con-artist SE, mainly focuses on the integral Social Engineer art of covering one's ass. Part of knowing SE is knowing how to handle red tape, and what tape is out there to face.
First of all, I would like to thank the following people for their indispensible help in our planning. I'd like to thank my (ex)-high school principal, Pamela Latt, who is blessing me twice over with a diploma tomorrow and incredible advice as to covering my ass. When planning events, one NEEDS to have the CYA attitude of the Social Engineer, and she is cool enough to have that. I'd also like to thank William Wall, a lawyer and father of a friend, who is not only an excellent lawyer in personal liability, but a constitutional crusader as well. In _Wall v. Virginia_, he defended his son's rights to publish school election results under the right to free speech. Finally, I would like to thank my grandfather, who was governor of the Iranian province of Luristan, minister of transportation, etc. and thus a master on the art of managing great numbers of unruly people on a limited budget.
Sappy thanks aside, it's time to understand the mentality of event planning. While public "meets" such as 2600 meetings require little if any legal forethought, event planning is much different. When one provides one's own materials (land, music, food, anything), one needs to charge money to at least break even. The problem is, once money changes hands, your event is no longer a private party. It is now a PUBLIC EVENT. This means you are going to have to consider:
For the purposes of this article I am going to refer to the context of Virginia state law, because I live there and because it's close enough to state law anywhere. And, if it's not, well the hell with you and your state then. :)
Liability is the first thing one has to deal with when making public events. If you have a concert in a field, for instance, you have to consider everything from somebody tripping and breaking their arm to someone crushing themself in a mosh pit to someone getting electrocuted by sound equipment to... well, you get the picture. People will sue because of this. They also will sue if security detains them, because they can say they were unneccesarily "roughed up." The remedies for such flagrant suing are ridiculous. For instance, security guards must be checked to see if they are certified in frisking. YES, there is a proper way to frisk that cannot be brought into question in court. Public liability is also something you must worry about. A mass trample is something one must consider in any function. While most large concert organizers or fair funders have massive amounts of capital for out-of-court settlements, chances are you do not. Thus, you must be willing to plug in anywhere from $200 to $1000 in liability insurance, which covers maybe one million dollars worth of suit. Make sure you get FULL liability insurance, which should include "comprehensive bodily injury," "unintentional wrongful death," "errors and omissions," and -- preferably -- "acts of God" insurance. This should cover most accidents.
For trampling and/or fights and riots, you must consult a lawyer. In most cases, one can sue you if they get in a fight, claiming that the environment that you set up was conducive to such violent behavior. In turn, if someone shows up drunk or high, if they are arrested they may say that your environment led them to such behavior (this is how police were able to continually harass the Grateful Dead). While most large event providers have settlement funds, you do NOT and thus need a lawyer. You must also place provisions on your ads, and include clearly posted notices reserving the absolute right to refuse service to ANY individual for ANY reason. While you may be called into question for your reasons in civil court after the fact, so long as you are turning away clearly drunk/stoned/violent individuals and not for racist reasons, you should be safe in court. Once again, get a lawyer for your event, preferably pro bono, but expect to spend some serious capital to cover your ass. Expect to raise food or cover charges to cover expenses.
Turning away the drunk and/or violent leads to the concept of crowd control and property protection. Expect, in any public event, several hundred dollars at least in property damage. Also, expect to spend a LOT of money in security. Your main expenses will be security and insurance; live with it. One thing to remember when dealing with security is that it is always better to get actual police security. The reason is this: when security detains an unruly individual, they are obigated to call the police ANYWAY. This means that the police will have to respond to your event as if someone were calling AGAINST it, and thus after a certain amount of calls, WILL shut your event down. Whereas if police security is on-site, detainments are not counted against your event, plus they are armed, plus there is a paddy wagon on-site, plus there is free traffic control. One needs traffic control to handle an influx of people and cars to make sure that there are no accidents; remember, all property damage (i.e., fender benders) or people being run into can be held against your liability insurance.
Another aspect of crowd control is bottlenecking caused by too few restroom/food facilities. Only one portable toilet, or only one food booth, leads to massive lines which cannot be easily monitored. Get a large staff that is protected by security. Where you DO want your bottleneck is near the gate. Frisk everyone, make sure the front gate is seething with security, even if inside your event there are only a few guards. Most would-be criminals and troublemakers are daunted by the authority of your guards (99% of security is psychological!) and thus 90% of trouble stops at the door. A long line also keeps people still enough for roaming security guards to patrol the line up and down.
Bottlenecking is a symptom of yet another problem in event planning: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. When you have two portable toilets, 350 hot dogs, one food stand, two grills, and a $2500 budget, you're not screwed -- you're lucky. The only advice I can give with regard to resource management is to PRIORITIZE. Security measures -- CYA -- come first. Remember this ideology: if you spend the extra money on security, liability, lawyer, etc. you will have a GUARANTEED event, and can recoup your money elsewhere. You can recoup your money at gate, with anywhere from 4-9 dollars entry (remember, if people will pay $7 for a two-hour movie, they will pay $9 for a six-hour concert). You can also recoup your losses with food bought in bulk. For instance, a large pizza from Domino's costs $5 when bought in bulk, for 12 pieces, thus giving you a $7 profit. Hot dogs, when bought in packs of 24, give you a $17 dollar profit (counting buns and condiments). But if you refuse to spend the money on security measures (and spend it on food, etc. instead), you WILL get shut down on some technicality and you will lose ALL of your money.
One way to avoid getting shut down is through the use of SE to get proper government clearance. Permits of all kinds must be obtained: food and health permits, noise and special event permits, etc. etc. YOU MUST ASK every single office as well as your lawyer if a permit is needed. Double check: many government offices have no clue as to what their other staff is saying or doing. You WILL get many contradictory messages. Remember, when in doubt, get the permit, no matter what the bureaucrat says.
Often, a bureaucrat will refuse you a permit, saying that in THEIR EXPERT OPINION, you need no permit.
They are wrong. They are not experts. They are GS-4 drones who push papers for a living. Most of them try vainly to cover their asses, fearing for their jobs. The same fear tactics can be used to bully them into giving you the permit. (Finally, some REAL social engineering!) Just say, forcefully into the phone, that you will not take NO for an answer because you spoke to <another office here> and they authorized the permits. For instance, let's say that the special events permit people say they don't need to give you a special events permit -- your party is informal, like a kegger -- but you know better, for you are charging money. The special events permit people tell you that you DO need a noise permit. Just hang up, call back, and when you are speaking to the special events permit people, notify them that you have spoken with the noise permit enforcer at the zoning office and that he said a special event permit is mandatory with every noise permit. Out of a fear and a desire to cover their asses, your permit should be issued. On the other side of the equation, you can tell the noise permit people that the special events permit people that you need no noise permit because it is an informal party and that all you have to do is to obey noise ordinances. Either way, blatant lying will enable you to filter out one half of a contradictory message you will receive from the bureaucracy.
A word of advice -- take down the names of everyone you speak to. This is to ensure that your lawyer has someone to pin blame on to should anything go wrong. Most bureaucrats, however, are pretty nice. Many permits are free, and some are even faxed to you so you won't have to stand in line. For a food/health permit, for example, the office will fax you a copy of the health regulations, and an application for a permit. Then, one hour before you have your little shindig, the health inspector comes by, sees if you have the proper precautions taken, then issues you a permit to sell food on the spot. (you need a health permit the minute money changes hands.)
Overall, the government is a hassle, but a hassle that is worth it. If you have a permit for food and somebody tries to sue you for food poisoning they "contracted at the party," you can give them a great big smiling fuck-you because you meet regulations. In this age of litigation at the drop of a hat, a large bureaucracy is your buffer. A strong parent stops quarrelling children much better than a blase one.
Once again, I cannot stress more the need to "ask the right questions" when dealing with government regulations. You MUST notify the bureaucrats that you are charging money for your events. Otherwise, you are fucked because if the officials don't know all the information and make a misjudgement, they will hold YOU quite responsible for your actions. No shit. Personal experience!
Finally, one has to deal with profits and deadline management. When dealing with large amounts of people, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to reschedule at the last minute. Not all people will be able to hear the news, and many people will show up anyway. Thus, timeliness is the key. You must adhere to deadlines, and often you must pay extra for speed. Remember, if you're too late, your event is fucked and you're making NO money. But if you pay extra to be on time, then you at least have a chance of making a profit.
This leads me to the end of your worries and your LAST priority; making a profit. Guess what, guys? Unless you are hosting a rave and are charging $30 at the door, you're massively lucky to break even. The only exception to this is if you affiliate your event with a place of business (i.e., a farm, etc.) because then the company's lawyer and insurance should cover you, thus leaving you more room to spend money on the money makers. At any event, for instance, food is the big money maker, second only to gate income. People might buy food more than once. Drinks are a big money maker; at concerts for example, people get very hot and thirsty. I personally would advise you against charging for water, but if you decide to, you are going to be very rich (and probably very cruel).
In conclusion, any event is a mountain of regulation and ass covering; this is an era of suits and stupdity. One must cover one's ass in a mountain of ways. Prepare for lawsuits from every direction. Learn to trust the government. Learn to hate the media. (Read the "Multiscan of the month" article for an explanation.) And remember, blatant lying and intimidation help in getting Big Brother on your side; you will need him.
Apologies to those who were disappointed that this is not pure social engineering. This is an APPLICATION of SE, and application is 50% of the process. Deal with it.
This article, while featuring the traditional con-artist SE, mainly focuses on the integral Social Engineer art of covering one's ass. Part of knowing SE is knowing how to handle red tape, and what tape is out there to face.
First of all, I would like to thank the following people for their indispensible help in our planning. I'd like to thank my (ex)-high school principal, Pamela Latt, who is blessing me twice over with a diploma tomorrow and incredible advice as to covering my ass. When planning events, one NEEDS to have the CYA attitude of the Social Engineer, and she is cool enough to have that. I'd also like to thank William Wall, a lawyer and father of a friend, who is not only an excellent lawyer in personal liability, but a constitutional crusader as well. In _Wall v. Virginia_, he defended his son's rights to publish school election results under the right to free speech. Finally, I would like to thank my grandfather, who was governor of the Iranian province of Luristan, minister of transportation, etc. and thus a master on the art of managing great numbers of unruly people on a limited budget.
Sappy thanks aside, it's time to understand the mentality of event planning. While public "meets" such as 2600 meetings require little if any legal forethought, event planning is much different. When one provides one's own materials (land, music, food, anything), one needs to charge money to at least break even. The problem is, once money changes hands, your event is no longer a private party. It is now a PUBLIC EVENT. This means you are going to have to consider:
- Personal liability
- Public liability
- Property damage
- Crowd control
- Disturbing the peace
- Resource management
- Government regulations
- Insurance
- Deadline management
- Making a profit.
For the purposes of this article I am going to refer to the context of Virginia state law, because I live there and because it's close enough to state law anywhere. And, if it's not, well the hell with you and your state then. :)
Liability is the first thing one has to deal with when making public events. If you have a concert in a field, for instance, you have to consider everything from somebody tripping and breaking their arm to someone crushing themself in a mosh pit to someone getting electrocuted by sound equipment to... well, you get the picture. People will sue because of this. They also will sue if security detains them, because they can say they were unneccesarily "roughed up." The remedies for such flagrant suing are ridiculous. For instance, security guards must be checked to see if they are certified in frisking. YES, there is a proper way to frisk that cannot be brought into question in court. Public liability is also something you must worry about. A mass trample is something one must consider in any function. While most large concert organizers or fair funders have massive amounts of capital for out-of-court settlements, chances are you do not. Thus, you must be willing to plug in anywhere from $200 to $1000 in liability insurance, which covers maybe one million dollars worth of suit. Make sure you get FULL liability insurance, which should include "comprehensive bodily injury," "unintentional wrongful death," "errors and omissions," and -- preferably -- "acts of God" insurance. This should cover most accidents.
For trampling and/or fights and riots, you must consult a lawyer. In most cases, one can sue you if they get in a fight, claiming that the environment that you set up was conducive to such violent behavior. In turn, if someone shows up drunk or high, if they are arrested they may say that your environment led them to such behavior (this is how police were able to continually harass the Grateful Dead). While most large event providers have settlement funds, you do NOT and thus need a lawyer. You must also place provisions on your ads, and include clearly posted notices reserving the absolute right to refuse service to ANY individual for ANY reason. While you may be called into question for your reasons in civil court after the fact, so long as you are turning away clearly drunk/stoned/violent individuals and not for racist reasons, you should be safe in court. Once again, get a lawyer for your event, preferably pro bono, but expect to spend some serious capital to cover your ass. Expect to raise food or cover charges to cover expenses.
Turning away the drunk and/or violent leads to the concept of crowd control and property protection. Expect, in any public event, several hundred dollars at least in property damage. Also, expect to spend a LOT of money in security. Your main expenses will be security and insurance; live with it. One thing to remember when dealing with security is that it is always better to get actual police security. The reason is this: when security detains an unruly individual, they are obigated to call the police ANYWAY. This means that the police will have to respond to your event as if someone were calling AGAINST it, and thus after a certain amount of calls, WILL shut your event down. Whereas if police security is on-site, detainments are not counted against your event, plus they are armed, plus there is a paddy wagon on-site, plus there is free traffic control. One needs traffic control to handle an influx of people and cars to make sure that there are no accidents; remember, all property damage (i.e., fender benders) or people being run into can be held against your liability insurance.
Another aspect of crowd control is bottlenecking caused by too few restroom/food facilities. Only one portable toilet, or only one food booth, leads to massive lines which cannot be easily monitored. Get a large staff that is protected by security. Where you DO want your bottleneck is near the gate. Frisk everyone, make sure the front gate is seething with security, even if inside your event there are only a few guards. Most would-be criminals and troublemakers are daunted by the authority of your guards (99% of security is psychological!) and thus 90% of trouble stops at the door. A long line also keeps people still enough for roaming security guards to patrol the line up and down.
Bottlenecking is a symptom of yet another problem in event planning: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. When you have two portable toilets, 350 hot dogs, one food stand, two grills, and a $2500 budget, you're not screwed -- you're lucky. The only advice I can give with regard to resource management is to PRIORITIZE. Security measures -- CYA -- come first. Remember this ideology: if you spend the extra money on security, liability, lawyer, etc. you will have a GUARANTEED event, and can recoup your money elsewhere. You can recoup your money at gate, with anywhere from 4-9 dollars entry (remember, if people will pay $7 for a two-hour movie, they will pay $9 for a six-hour concert). You can also recoup your losses with food bought in bulk. For instance, a large pizza from Domino's costs $5 when bought in bulk, for 12 pieces, thus giving you a $7 profit. Hot dogs, when bought in packs of 24, give you a $17 dollar profit (counting buns and condiments). But if you refuse to spend the money on security measures (and spend it on food, etc. instead), you WILL get shut down on some technicality and you will lose ALL of your money.
One way to avoid getting shut down is through the use of SE to get proper government clearance. Permits of all kinds must be obtained: food and health permits, noise and special event permits, etc. etc. YOU MUST ASK every single office as well as your lawyer if a permit is needed. Double check: many government offices have no clue as to what their other staff is saying or doing. You WILL get many contradictory messages. Remember, when in doubt, get the permit, no matter what the bureaucrat says.
Often, a bureaucrat will refuse you a permit, saying that in THEIR EXPERT OPINION, you need no permit.
They are wrong. They are not experts. They are GS-4 drones who push papers for a living. Most of them try vainly to cover their asses, fearing for their jobs. The same fear tactics can be used to bully them into giving you the permit. (Finally, some REAL social engineering!) Just say, forcefully into the phone, that you will not take NO for an answer because you spoke to <another office here> and they authorized the permits. For instance, let's say that the special events permit people say they don't need to give you a special events permit -- your party is informal, like a kegger -- but you know better, for you are charging money. The special events permit people tell you that you DO need a noise permit. Just hang up, call back, and when you are speaking to the special events permit people, notify them that you have spoken with the noise permit enforcer at the zoning office and that he said a special event permit is mandatory with every noise permit. Out of a fear and a desire to cover their asses, your permit should be issued. On the other side of the equation, you can tell the noise permit people that the special events permit people that you need no noise permit because it is an informal party and that all you have to do is to obey noise ordinances. Either way, blatant lying will enable you to filter out one half of a contradictory message you will receive from the bureaucracy.
A word of advice -- take down the names of everyone you speak to. This is to ensure that your lawyer has someone to pin blame on to should anything go wrong. Most bureaucrats, however, are pretty nice. Many permits are free, and some are even faxed to you so you won't have to stand in line. For a food/health permit, for example, the office will fax you a copy of the health regulations, and an application for a permit. Then, one hour before you have your little shindig, the health inspector comes by, sees if you have the proper precautions taken, then issues you a permit to sell food on the spot. (you need a health permit the minute money changes hands.)
Overall, the government is a hassle, but a hassle that is worth it. If you have a permit for food and somebody tries to sue you for food poisoning they "contracted at the party," you can give them a great big smiling fuck-you because you meet regulations. In this age of litigation at the drop of a hat, a large bureaucracy is your buffer. A strong parent stops quarrelling children much better than a blase one.
Once again, I cannot stress more the need to "ask the right questions" when dealing with government regulations. You MUST notify the bureaucrats that you are charging money for your events. Otherwise, you are fucked because if the officials don't know all the information and make a misjudgement, they will hold YOU quite responsible for your actions. No shit. Personal experience!
Finally, one has to deal with profits and deadline management. When dealing with large amounts of people, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to reschedule at the last minute. Not all people will be able to hear the news, and many people will show up anyway. Thus, timeliness is the key. You must adhere to deadlines, and often you must pay extra for speed. Remember, if you're too late, your event is fucked and you're making NO money. But if you pay extra to be on time, then you at least have a chance of making a profit.
This leads me to the end of your worries and your LAST priority; making a profit. Guess what, guys? Unless you are hosting a rave and are charging $30 at the door, you're massively lucky to break even. The only exception to this is if you affiliate your event with a place of business (i.e., a farm, etc.) because then the company's lawyer and insurance should cover you, thus leaving you more room to spend money on the money makers. At any event, for instance, food is the big money maker, second only to gate income. People might buy food more than once. Drinks are a big money maker; at concerts for example, people get very hot and thirsty. I personally would advise you against charging for water, but if you decide to, you are going to be very rich (and probably very cruel).
In conclusion, any event is a mountain of regulation and ass covering; this is an era of suits and stupdity. One must cover one's ass in a mountain of ways. Prepare for lawsuits from every direction. Learn to trust the government. Learn to hate the media. (Read the "Multiscan of the month" article for an explanation.) And remember, blatant lying and intimidation help in getting Big Brother on your side; you will need him.
Apologies to those who were disappointed that this is not pure social engineering. This is an APPLICATION of SE, and application is 50% of the process. Deal with it.
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