say what?

Next up we have the Brief Guide document, which was originally sent as an attachment, and in later emails to operatives was sent in the body of the email. And this is where we encounter our first "are they fucking with us, or are we reading too much into this?" moment of the day. (Heh, welcome to the Cam, right?)

Although the guide was labeled as a .doc, it was revealed upon opening (in MS Word) that the thing was encoded in Japanese (Shift-JIS). (I have no idea what the Shift-JIS means, I only know there's three different options for Japanese text encoding, Shift-JIS, JIS, and EUC. If you know why the distinction might be significant in this particular instance, please speak up.)

So the guide had the typical machine gobbledy at the top and bottom -- hundreds of pages of it, mostly white space. In the middle was the intended message. Although I could read the message, I sent the following email to dear leader:

Ms. Fischer,

...

I have one question, however:

While the "brief guide" document you attached was, for the most part, readable, it was encoded in Japanese. Thus, there is a significant amount of gibberish at the top and bottom of the document. Most of this consists of dots, squares, and Japanese characters, but there are some English words (and fragments of) interspersed -- including, at the end of the document, the name Brendan Lee. Was the Japanese encoding an oversight that has inadvertently obscured information? A deliberate means of obscuring information? Or something else?

...

To which she replied: "This was a technical oversight on our part, our apologies. Here is a copy of the document as it was intended - please excuse the formatting." The cleaned-up version reads:

A brief guide to being a Neurocam Operative

The Neurocam Operative

There are multiple streams of Neurocam involvement, however the majority
of recruits commence their relationship with Neurocam as a Field Operative
(or simply ‘Operative’). For this reason the following section addresses
several frequently asked questions in relation to the practical aspects of
becoming, being and retiring from being an Operative.

Operative Life

Recruitment
Recruitment into Neurocam and our organisation is undertaken via a range
of methods, both standard and innovative. Operatives are recruited from a
range of backgrounds. Each brings to our programme a unique range of
skills required by our organisation and together our network of operatives
form an indispensable aspect of this endeavor.

Despite repeated speculation otherwise, potential recruits self-select.
Following selection they undertake a preliminary assignment while
mandatory administrative activities are undertaken. While appropriate
verification and positive vetting methods are resource intensive, to date
we have been able to obtain information on all operatives adequate to our
needs. We have no reason to anticipate any change to this situation.

Human Resource & Security further employs a range of investigative
techniques  in support of recruitment and vetting processes.
NB: Further information in relation to background checks shall be made
available to operatives engaged in Human Resource-related assignments.

Recruit travel and residency

Neurocam International is part of a multifaceted organization with
operations throughout the world.  We have operatives in countries such as:
Australia; New Zealand; the United States of America; Nigeria; Nairobi;
Japan; Netherlands; Germany and the United Kingdom.

Residence in Melbourne, Australia is not a requisite of continued Neurocam
involvement. Recruits may communicate with their contact via their usual
channels (where these are available) while traveling. Alternatively,
secondary, or replacement, arrangements can be negotiated (at the
discretion of Neurocam International) to support you during travel, or
following relocation.
In extraordinary circumstances, Neurocam may contact you while away from
your general residence in relation to its current assignment needs.
Participation at such times is voluntary.

Retirement

The Executive of Neurocam International regards any cessation of an
Operative's involvement as regrettable; however we accept that this will,
on occasion, be unavoidable.  Recruits and/or Operatives wishing, for what
ever reason, to terminate their involvement need only send an e-mail which
expresses this wish. Upon receipt of such an e-mail, all contact with the
individual will immediately discontinue. There will be no further
correspondence with you.

Assignments

As a recruit you will be placed on assignment. Our requirements are highly
varied and recruits are frequently called upon to undertake both
diversionary and directly productive assignments. At this point, the exact
number and nature of Neurocam assignments must remain confidential,
however all applicants who enter the recruitment process will be invited
to participate in one, or more, assignments. As recruits progress through
initial assignments and as mandatory administrative processes progress,
they may be offered Field Operative status.
Field Operatives are vital to the organisation achieving its aims with the
Neurocam programme. Field Operative status ensures your continued
inclusion in Neurocam endeavours. The frequency of assignments varies in
accordance with programme requirements. In general Operatives are
activated once every 20-30 days.

Public Relations/Assignment Security

We do not actively discourage general discussion about Neurocam. We would
prefer that Operatives display a high degree of discretion when relating
details of Neurocam’s operational practices.
Inappropriate disclosure of details pertaining to upcoming assignment(s)
that result in the compromise of the assignment(s) can result in
disciplinary action.

Participant health and safety

Neurocam International prides itself on its safety record. Unforeseen
circumstances not-withstanding, Neurocam attempts at all times to provide
operatives with all the information they require to undertake assignments
in a safe and secure manner. Operatives are not knowingly sent into
situations that pose a significant risk to Operative health or safety. In
short, we will never intentionally place our operatives or employees in
overly risky or dangerous situations without their prior consent.
NB: Neurocam premises are protected by state-of-the-art security measures,
including both passive and active protections.

Contact between operatives

Operatives are not prohibited from entering into correspondence, or other
contact, between Operatives during the completion of assignments, or
otherwise. Operative are expected to fully report such
correspondence/contact.

Operational intelligence (including media)

Operational intelligence in the form of tangible media, or the electronic
means to produce such, relating to an assignment is always both
appropriate and welcome unless the Operative is specifically advised
otherwise within the assignment brief.

Time zones

Assignment dates and times always refer to an Operative’s current time
zone upon receipt of the assignment brief.

Failure

The nature of consequence is relative to the nature and cause of
non-compliance. The most severe penalty, however is generally termination
of an operative's involvement with Neurocam.

We'll end this here before I manage to accidentally annihilate another post.