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Comdex Bans Bags From Show Floor
ckd writes: "CNET is reporting that COMDEX organizers have a new security policy--no bags except vendor supplied plastic bags will allowed on the show floor. "While on-site, you should CARRY A PHOTO ID (DRIVER'S LICENSE OR PASSPORT) ON YOU AT ALL TIMES." They want you to leave your laptop in your hotel room, too! Oh, and no cameras at the keynotes, either. But they haven't announced that they're planning to strip search people ... yet."
...because all the companies exhibiting at COMDEX are so broke they can't afford to give me new t-shirts. What a clever way to save money on promo items!
But, what am I supposed to wear for the next year!?! I guess my Penguin Computing T-shirts will have to be worn twice!
I can understand a no bags policy, but barring people from entering COMDEX (fricken tech show for pete's sake) with laptops is just stupid. I note (IIRC) it doesn't say anything about PDAs, but still, wtf were they thinking? A better idea would be to have people turn it on quickly at the door (although this might slow things down a lot).
My other sig is funny!
I've noticed a trend lately. More and more places are banning things that they've wanted to ban in the past, but were worried about the backlash from under the guise of "increasing security." Banning non-vendor bags and laptops in no way increases security, but the first does increase the visibility of vendor advertising. The second improves traffic flow by minimizing those cumbersome laptop bags and by keeping people from whipping them out at a vendor table
Similarly, my college's stadium is now banning bags along with a whole slew of other items that could be used for sneaking food and drinks in, which has been their primary irritation in the past. Now, under the guise of improved security, they can ban items that would've angered fans too much in the past.
Basically, the COMDEX people are taking advantage of the current political environment to sweep some minor annoyances under the rug. It's a disturbing trend right now.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Isn't giving up your ability to carry a silly little bag worth it knowing that you won't be blown up by a hidden bomb.
Nope. I will carry a bag with me and be secure in its contents wherever I goddamn please. I pay damn good money every goddamn year to make sure I don't have to worry. Unfortunatly, the morons I give my money to are more interested in fucking spying on everyone than making me safe.
"Gee, lets continue to sell fertilizer and fuel oil to cash customers, even though we just had a building blown up with it! Even though these guys need a license to store it, we won't require a license nor even proof of identity to buy it! Oh, but we better spend a few more billion tapping everyones email. Oh, and after you get done reviewing everyone's cell phone conversations for the words "The Eagle Is Blue, Mustafa" you might want to look into stopping the sale of anthrax to nations on the known hostile list. Just make sure you get all the cell calls first, mmkay? Oh, and if you get any more phone sex calls like that last batch, save em for the office party on Friday."
Oh, and I can't just stop paying them. How's that for a contractual fuckup??!?!
.sig: Now legally binding!
Now we just have to pray that nobody carries a bomb under their coat, or a gun in their pocket, or anthrax in a plastic baggie, or a Potential Enemy Neutralizer in their shirt pocket, or a pointy steel-toed boot...
Come to think of it, I won't feel safe until everyone is naked.
Save me, O Comdex, from the evil, evil terrorists!
I use Microsoft Passport, it's a tech show afterall no?, MS passport is the Most Secure Thing available, Microsoft told us you guys do support latest technologies that big corporations shove at us, no? yeah... it's your sponsors....what? sorry, but it's in my laptop that you didn't want me to bring in at the entrance.
Joking aside, I have one word for comdex since a few years... unorganized computer flea market... And it could be so much more, computers did take off since 5 years with the internet and all that, why did Comdex go completely the opposite direction?
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
Guard: Sorry no bags!
Me: It's not a bag it's a case.
Guard: No laptops. No cases. No kidding.
Me: I left the laptop at home.
Guard: What's in the "case" then?
Me: Stuff. You know. My camera, PDA, cell phone, GPS, DriveWallet, GameBoy, portable CD player, a MP3 player, this runs a wireless Linux server (holding up a SBC with a short antennae) which is grabbing frames from the camera on my hat.
Guard (holding hand on head): Oh, just go. NEXT!!!
Guard: Sorry no bags!
Next me: It's not a bag, it's a valise.
People aren't terrified; people are hysterical. They're not really scared, they just feel like they have to do something.
People are thinking "some guy could walk in here carrying some disease and kill everyone". Yes, he could. And "someone could plant a bomb here and blow us all up". Yes, that's possible. Or "maybe some crazy terrorist has nuclear weapons and he's going to blow up planet Earth". Yep, could very well be. That's always been possible (to a degree) and that always will be possible (more so with each day that passes).
Doesn't mean it's any more likely today than it was yesterday or 30 years ago.
The attacks on the WTC and Pentagon were not based on madness or religion. They were not attempts to kill a lot of people. There are much better ways of doing that. They were political acts, against symbols of the USA's military and economic rule. Even the airline names were carefully picked. And although of course I don't approve of them, I can understand them. It seems that most americans can't.
Some time ago there was a war in Somalia. People were killing each other with knives, stones, machetes, etc. Sometimes with their bare hands. Someone asked an observer if that meant this was a particularly violent conflict. He said no, it just meant they had run out of bullets.
Using airplanes full of people to blow up buildings is no more "cruel" or "barbaric" than using a cruise missile. Certainly no more cowardly. But some people (most people) just don't have cruise missiles. And some people (most people), when left with nothing to lose, will not mind losing what they have, especially if losing something so worthless (their life) can have such a big impact.
The way to avoid being blown up or infected or assassinated is not to isolate yourself and shoot everyone that comes too near. The way to avoid being struck by your enemies is to have no enemies.
The strikes on the WTC carried a message: "you are not out of range; if we really want to hit you, we can." I've known that all my life (possibly because I live in Europe and we've had a few thousand years of history and wars and revolutions and all that sort of stuff); most americans seem to have discovered it in the last two months. And they think they have to do something about it, because they can't stand the thought of being vulnerable; of not being untouchable. Today on the BBC I saw this american congressman (or maybe he was a general) saying "We have to bomb Afghanistan because we have to do something and we can't think of anything else to do". The only problem is, it's not accomplishing anything (apart from killing people that don't even know what's going on, making more enemies and worsening the USA's image worldwide).
And this brings me back to the silly security measures and to the way this hysteria is being used to limit people's freedom. If the only thing you can think of doing has no practical effect, then don't do it. Think of something else, or don't do anything. If someone really wants to strike, they will always be able to strike. I don't know if these "security measures" are a deliberate attempt to take away people's freedom and give more powers to the state or if they're just good-natured (but misguided) attempts to keep people "safe". Either way people should stand up for their rights and refuse to have their freedom taken away. It's not that "the terrorists win", it's just that people lose. Someone said that a nation that can't balance security and freedom doesn't deserve either.
I'm not a religious person; I don't believe there's life after death. But I still consider my freedom more valuable than my life.
Now it's time for all those who wrote "Jedi knight" in their census forms to practice their "This are not the bags you're looking for".
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu