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U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read
boarder8925 writes "Be careful what you read when you fly in the United States. What you read is being monitored by airport screeners and stored in a government database for years. 'Privacy advocates obtained database records showing that the government routinely records the race of people pulled aside for extra screening as they enter the country, along with cursory answers given to U.S. border inspectors about their purpose in traveling. In one case, the records note Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Gilmore's choice of reading material, and worry over the number of small flashlights he'd packed for the trip. The breadth of the information obtained by the Gilmore-funded Identity Project (using a Privacy Act request) shows the government's screening program at the border is actually a survelliance dragnet."
I swear those books on kitten huffing & freedom hating are purely for research on my next acting part in a play!
My work here is dung.
I only read Catcher in the Rye.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
"Chuck, have a look at this one."
"So he's reading something on a laptop, is it a document or the internet?"
"Use the higher magnification, it's a website."
"Ok, I see it now. Something about Patenting a knife and fork... he's typing something."
"Looks harmless enough."
"Oh, my god, he's making some reference to life in Soviet Russia! Security security move on I-424, Victor section!"
"Code yellow! He's obviously some kind of subversive."
"Wait! There's something about a Beowulf Cluster, sounds like a cell!!!"
"Code Orange, Code Orange!"
"Holy sweet mother of Jesus! He's welcoming his new overlords!"
"CODE RED!! CODE RED!! Take that m**********r down!"
[NO CARRIER]
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
It might expose some government employees to some good books.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
In other news, be careful what you post on the internet. Whoops, I mean our beloved Government is there to protect you from yourself. Amen.
Soon this will all be a faded memory as the government will require everyone to board planes like this
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
You will be baked, and there will be cake.
...an economics student reading both Adam Smith and Karl Marx? divide by zero error?
A copy of The Constitution and The Bill of Rights
"...perhaps a selection of DIY PDF pamphlets which you print out yourself and carry through security, with titles like 'These Security Measures Aren't Doing Much For Your Public Relations, You Know' and 'Could You Work Harder At Making This Screening Process More Efficient And Effective Please?'
Sort of like a bug report."
And then:
"Here's a selection of DIY pamphlets:
[Link]
Why not make your own, print out some open source book you've been wanting to read? A flight, and the necessary long wait in a security line, is the perfect opportunity."
The last time I flew I took with me my copy of 1984...
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
The Government knows you're a damn dirty islamo-fascist who would love nothing more than to abort babies, show obscenities to children, and place lite-brites all over the wonder city of boston.
We need to start stoning these people. It's the only way to protect our way of life.
... of Ann Coulter's latest book and Atlas Shrugged.
Come on. What kind of bullshit is this? Wouldn't it be easier to be "classified" as "safe" just by carrying the right book?
Radical Muslim extremists could just walk through security with a copy of the Torah while wearing a kippah/yarmelke.
...sometimes I get real pissed off about this stuff. But other times I just say "fuck it!" I mean really, what do I care really about if some government peon wants to jot down in the big brother database that I'm reading Muscle & Fitness on my flight? I mean compared to the C4 bomb hidden in my MacBook, it's really of little consequence. ;)
[Note to all federal eavesdroppers: THE ABOVE IS A JOKE! CHILL OUT! I'VE NEVER EVEN BEEN ON AN AIRPLANE BEFORE!]
Sugapablo
You could always try the other way by using known titles and changing them. For instance:
How to kill a mockingbird
Blowing up the bridges of Madison County
Putting bullets through the looking glass
Attack the rear window
The Stand and shoot method
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Heck, about a year ago, I was coming back from a trip to San Francisco. My wife and I were waiting in the departure lounge for our plane. She went off to the bathroom and to look in the shops. I got bored just sitting there. I'm a student pilot, so I dug out my big red Gleim "How to Fly a Plane" book, and my ham band handheld radio, with headset. I tuned into the ground control traffic, hoping to get some experience with a big airport's procedures, and commenced reading my book. When my wife came back, she looked shocked, and asked me if I knew what I looked like. She told me to get that radio off and put that book away before the TSA sees you and things you're a terrorist. I hadda laugh...
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
Damn guess I wont be able to read the lastest version on this during my next flight to the US.
When we get to O'Hare, we all go through security without incident. Except me. I set the metal detectors off. I panic. What could I possible have on me that's metallic. Oh. Fuck. So they bring me over to the side and start wanding me in front of my family. Of course, the wand always goes off when it comes within proximity of my pocket with said prophylactics in it. "Son, please remove any items from your pocket", says the security dude. Reluctantly, I toss the condoms out of the pocket on to the table, in front of my entire family (my brothers, dying from laughter this whole time knowing what was in my pocket).
Who knew condom wrappers contained metal?
(posted anonymously in case I run for office some day)
...lecturing the rest of us about 'spelling' and 'grammar' as you clearly have neither. ;)
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
"Cheers."
I take it you're in the U.K.? Smile, you're on camera.
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!