Wikileaks Unveils SMS Messages Sent on 9/11 [500,000 Sept. 11, 2001 Text Messages Made Public]

Do you feel thankful today? And I am not just asking those of you that are celebrating Thanksgiving with your families today but everyone reading these lines. You should feel thankful for a bunch of things, and most importantly for being alive and well.

There are many people that have given their life on September 11, 2001, and while we won’t start talking about the ramifications of the 9/11 attacks here on TFTS we will take a look at it from the tech point of view. Coincidentally we’re talking about those horrid attacks on Thanksgiving as Wikileaks has just released half a million SMS text messages sent via pagers nationwide on September 11, 2001.

Beside personal messages you’ll also find intercepted texts sent from the Pentagon, NYPD and other government agencies. Is it moral to leak such messages? Does it do us any good? Will they bring closure to some people or will they open forgotten wounds?

The index of messages starts at 3:00 AM, Sept. 11, 2001 and ends on the same hour the next day. According to Wikileaks “the world has a chance to objectively see how the tragedy progressed.”

The number of sent messages is simply astonishing considering that back then, in 2001, cell phones were not as popular as they are now. In fact, cell phones were not capable of the performances they deliver today. There were no MMS, no video calls, no touchscreen smartphones, no cameras, no GPS support, no apps!

The complete SMS list is available by following the read link below. They are presented in chronological order so you can really follow what happened that day. You’ll find plenty of messages that will show you what people went through during those hours, like the one below:

Terrorist attack on the world trade towers. One plane crashed into each building. They’re saying the planes were hijacked. Footage is scary. We saw the second attack, live. Idella (2001-09-11 09:20:20)

It’s like a written transcript of a day that will never be forgotten. So what do you say? What are you thankful for today?