Stephanie's clues
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Disclosure
esbie44 — 20 years ago(March 25, 2006 10:53 AM)
I understand that Stephanie had to use a pseudonym whenever she e-mailed Tom. What I do not understand is why she did not simply give Tom the information, instead of those obscure clues. Clearly, her e-mails could not be traced by Tom. I mean, she could have sent Tom an anonymous letter or called him from a public phone. I am sure the cryptic clues she wrote were for dramatic effect, but I found them to be unnecessary and beyond belief. When it comes to anonymous informants, Stephanie is clearly no "Deep Throat."
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mel_anie_98 — 19 years ago(June 02, 2006 10:02 AM)
It wasn't Stephanie sending those clues, but rather her son, who didn't work for the company, just knew about the situation. He couldn't as well come in and tell Tom that stuff without being kind of obvious.
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esbie44 — 19 years ago(June 03, 2006 08:10 PM)
Appreciate the feedback, but the son could not have possibly known about Meredith's previous trip to the Malaysia factory. Regardless, I don't see how giving the information instead of the clues would be obvious. Also, why was it important for Tom not to know the source of the information?
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Psyche-8 — 19 years ago(June 06, 2006 04:51 AM)
Tom didn't get the information about Meredith being in Malaysia from Stephanie/Spencer, he got it from Mohammed Jafar and from the files he saw in "The Corridor" virtual reality program (communications between Meredith and Arthur).
Stephanie was communicating with Spencer (her son) everything that was going on within the company so the information was coming from her (indirectly). The reason why it had to be anonymous was more for her own protection than for Tom's. When Tom tells Catherine Alvarez that he is receiving these anonymous emails, she says "Well let's hope we find him before they do." and then goes on to say that the cleaning lady has been suddenly and mysteriously sent on extended vacation, and will probably be followed by Mrs Ross. If anyone at the company intercepted the emails it couldn't be traced back to Stephanie (and probably not Spencer either), and the messages were cryptic enough for people not to guess that they were from an insider. Moreover, it was important to keep her identity a secret from Tom in case he told anyone or the information was forced out of him somehow through bribes or something.
"He murders his wife every night. Other than that, I think he's pretty harmless." -
ss5mmyers — 16 years ago(November 14, 2009 01:06 AM)
There were no anonymous e-mails, they could trace them back. She probably wouldn't go to his house for the same reasons he sent his family away, they were in the middle of a big suit and his house was likely being watched. Sending through courier wouldn't have been as practical because the messages wouldn't arrive in time and if they were found, the handwriting might be recognized.
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crashoften-2 — 16 years ago(October 21, 2009 10:18 PM)
The above explanation wasn't realistic. The original poster basically answered his own question. To add mystery and intrigue to the movie. There are hundreds of ways that Tom could have been told by Stephanie he was being set up. Courier, Fedex, anonymous email, stopping by his home, calling his wife, asking a janitor to leave an envelope on his desk. I would think since his kids could email "We love you daddy", at the end of the movie, a computer was used at home. He could have gotten notice there. To have a son use his professors office and leave messages like "things are not as they seem", or "You know all you need to know about Merideth, solve the problem" is hardly a realistic way to tell a friend there about to get beep
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Disclosuredude — 15 years ago(February 11, 2011 08:41 AM)
I disagreeI believe Psyche-8's explanation was realistic and I will further elaborate.
- Stephanie Kaplan would not have relayed any warning "in specific detail" to Tom, even by phone or in person. Why? Keep in mind the only people in Seattle who knew about the changes at the plant were those who made up DigiCom's "power base" (Garvin, Phil, Meredith, Kaplan). It is apparent that no one else in the APG (Advanced Products Group) knew about the changes. If Tom were to solve the problem soley based on direct-info from Kaplan, the others in the "power-base" would have suspected her, because a) she was the only one in their group that would be most likely to expose anything (the others were completely standing behind Meredith), b) Tom was locked-out of access to the company database & DVL files, and c) Arthur Kahn wasn't talking (he had been threatened by Meredith), but mostly d) Kaplan wasn't going to risk the possibility of Tom spilling-the-beans at a later date under pressure, especially if he couldn't produce the "evidence" (the faxes from Malaysia) to "prove" he wasn't incompetent. Like a chess game, I believe the others were already watching Kaplan.
- In the book, Garvin had already hired Gary Bosak (hacker) to keep an eye on Tom, possibly others. It goes without saying, any calls to Tom's cellphone, homephone, or e-mail's from within the company could be easily traced, especially by Bosak.
- Kaplan found a way to cover her tracks well. An e-mail sent by "A FRIEND", even though tracable back to University of Washington & directly to Professor Arther Friend, meant nothing and would yield no results. Arther Friend was out of the country in Nepal, unable to be contacted, and his computer behind a locked office door. Even if an inquiry was made at a later time, he wouldn't know anything about the e-mails. Presently, nobody would have been able know that Kaplan's son Spencer had access to Friend's office and the password to his computer and was sending the e-mails.
- By not giving Tom all the information, but only "Solve the Problem!", Kaplan was able to push Tom into solving the problem on his own. Tom was smart enough (and already knew) he could access the company database (locally) via the "Corridor" VR computer, which he knew was the only computer in the company that was set up to grant "guest" users full access to the database. Kaplan also knew this, and was banking on Tom solving the problem & collecting his "evidence" from there.
Unfortunately, Tom kept ignoring the e-mails until it was too late to gather the evidence (Meredith deleted all the files on Thursday evening, including the local backups). However, Tom was fortunate enough to receive a phone call from Malaysia from Mohammed Jafar. Tom was also smart enough to figure out that all the deleted faxes, e-mails, & DVL files had also been backed-up on DAT in Malaysia as well. Tom had Mohammed gather the data, then instructed him to e-mail the DVL files and fax the documents to him the next morning at 7:00am PST, 2 hours before his presentation on Arcamax.
Also, I didn't pick-up in the book where Kaplan was Meredith's employee. Traditionally, a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) like Kaplan, or any other chief officer of a company is only answerable to the CEO and maybe to the company's Chairman of the Board of Director's. VPs (Vice-Presidents) are usually answerable to the CEO or their respective chief officer above them.
Sidenote: In the book, the next morning, Tom fires Arthur Kahn and promotes Mohammed Jafar to his position as Malaysian plant manager.
Watch your back, trust no one, stay one step ahead, always have a backup!
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bpollen — 11 years ago(October 12, 2014 08:50 AM)
Yes, there were a number of ways. Including anonymous email from an obscure email address. No matter which way had been chosen, you'd be asking the same questionwhy THAT way, when there were other ways?
That was the best way, IMO. Fast, anonymous. (Of course, in the real world, the co. could have been spying on Tom & seen the emails, and tracked the IP address to that professor and figured out the connection to Stephanie.)
As for the cryptic content, that was for mystery and intrigue. In the real world, no one would give such obscure hints of impending doom. But that's okay. It was a movie. -
Neuronhead — 11 years ago(October 22, 2014 07:06 AM)
An explanation for the obscureness of the emails might be that Stephanie didn't want to reveal anything that might lead back to her. She wasn't doing it for Tom, she was doing it for herself.
I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe -
kellymariekitty — 12 years ago(May 07, 2013 05:02 AM)
Yeah I know, in the book there is a guy who gives Tom riddles all the time and won't help him.
He says ill give you advice and then reels off a riddle. If I was him,I would have to say speak English you twat. There's a bit in the book where this guy tells Tom "your checking the wrong company, check the right one" and tom says "what's that mean?" Then this guy says "can't you understand English?" I got pissed off with him in the book and would have to shout "try speaking bastard English then you twat" -
dread-knight — 10 years ago(February 08, 2016 02:56 AM)
Indeed, it's as simple as that, the ending of the movie gives it away. Tom finds out that the kid has access to the office and after his mother is promoted, Tom says that she's an extraordinary woman and smiles
Not sure why others tend to make things super complicated, it's all clear in the movie. -
Hanz-Willhelm2 — 10 years ago(March 18, 2016 08:07 AM)
Yes, plus they didn't help him at all. They didn't give him any info. I guess the best they did was to make him realize there's still more happening, after he won the arbitration case and he may not have spied on Meredith to overhear their plot. It isn't cut and dry but arguable that he wouldn't have spied on them if he hadn't gotten the last e-mail.
He basically lucked out and saved his job at the last possible second and Stephanie was just going to sit back and do nothingother than "fix the problem".
bung macht den Meister -
commaspace9 — 9 years ago(May 23, 2016 06:55 AM)
He basically lucked out and saved his job at the last possible second and Stephanie was just going to sit back and do nothingother than "fix the problem".
Frustrating, yes, but you have to put yourself in S Kaplan's position She did NOT want to implicate herself, and if Tom was too "dense" to realize, even with the emails, that there was more to the whole scenario, it really is just on him.
Most people don't get helpful emails in situations like that they just get blind-sided and fired. -
akingofcomedy — 9 years ago(August 13, 2016 05:37 PM)
I thought it was just an interesting way to shield the informant as "a friend." Unfortunately if I ever needed to use that trick, I don't happen to know anyone named A. Friend. Best I got is R. Carpenter, who actually is a carpenter.
It made me think of Hitchcock's Ambrose Chapel, being an actual Chapel and not a man's name as thought. Just a nifty trick that I did think was clunky. Why not just set up an anonymous email rather than have your kid impersonate a staffer at his college?