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DHS Official Considered Shock Collars For Air Travelers
"The Washington Times is reporting that the DHS wants to replace your boarding pass with a GPS-enabled shock bracelet. Plans for the device include subduing passengers remotely as well as onboard interrogation. There's even a promotional video."
Perhaps Paul Ruwaldt (the official named in this story) has been watching "The Coneheads" a bit too much, or not actually flying enough. Expressing interest is not quite the same as ordering mass quantities, but it's scary enough.
http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/news/upload/pg2HomelandSecurity7_06.pdf
TFS liks to a blog post which itself links to part of a letter (page two, so we don't even get to see the whole letter).
Well, WRT page 1, I used my superior hacking skills to alter the URL http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/news/upload/pg2HomelandSecurity7_06.pdf to http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/news/upload/pg1HomelandSecurity7_06.pdf.
I don't think it is so far fetched for the FAA to want to know about this technology. Wanting to know about it doesn't necessarily mean they intend to mandate it for general use. In fact the letter mentions what occurred to me to be some obvious legitimate applications of the technology, such as prisoner transport.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I hate to break this to you, but a 747 is not rated for aerobatics. It doesn't have the power for the kind of vertical climb you are talking about, and the wings would fall off if you tried the other stunts you suggest. There is a reason that the NASA's "Vomit Comet" was as expensive as it was -- it is not a bog standard plane, and was specially designed and reinforced to take the Gs.
Rhapsody in Numbers
If a mob of 1,000,000 people march on the white house with pitchforks and tourches demanding justice, there will be justice.
No, they will be labeled a "Violent Mob", and the Anti-Riot control Sonic weapon vehicles can be deployed to drive away the protesters. Or the National Guard, Military etc.
You Americans may have the right to unseat an unwanted government via a second revolution, but the Government also has the right and duty to preserve the peace and can use any means required to stop a violent protest can't it?. I have never understood that dichotomy personally speaking
To me it looks like the US is sliding slowly down the path to fascism of a sort, all in the name of supporting corporate profits and the continuation of the current government. Its kind of frightening to watch actually, but I hope it all turns out well :P
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
There are no "plans for the device" on the part of DHS. The idea for outfitting passengers has originated from the company trying to sell them, Lamperd FTS. Why? Because selling tens of millions of these bad boys is a lot more exciting to the business than selling a few thousand.
By reading the response from the DHS (http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/news/upload/pg1HomelandSecurity7_06.pdf) you'll see exactly what they think of the idea. DHS asks for a written proposal, and outlines the areas of interest for them, which are almost solely around prisoner detention and transport. The official also finds it "conceivable to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes," but the tone of the letter effectively takes Lamperd's pie in the sky multi-billion dollar contract off the table. Lamperd sends DHS a brochure with their cockamamie idea, DHS responds saying "we can see how you got there. Now here's how *we* would use it, so send us a proposal that focuses on our needs."
That's it. End of story. Yet some kook at the Washington Times puts two and two together and gets ZOMG THE BUSHNAZIS WANT TO PUT SHOCK COLLARS ON US!!!11!!!!ONE!!1!!
If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. -- Daniel Webster
I am pretty damn sure that screaming something about Allah and then trying to take over a plan is going to be a good solid way to be torn limb from limb for a couple of decades. The only way I could possibly conceive of hijacking a plan in the US now would be actually be the plane's pilot from the beginning. Even if you could overcome the passengers by having enough men armed with guns to kill the majority of able bodied people before they tear you limb from limb, that still won't save you from the fact that US pilots are now taught to do very unpleasant things if some asshole tries to break into the reinforced doors or starts shooting a gun (the only conceivable way of subduing an airplane full of people).
Even if you had half a dozen men with guns they slipped by security, the pilot is going to have you sitting on the ceiling the second he hears a gun go off. If he wants to be a real dick, he can also see how long you can go without oxygen by depressurizing the airplane, all the while tossing you from one end of the airplane to the other.
Can planes be blown up? Sure. Can they be used as cruise missiles? Sure, but it isn't going to happen on a commercial airliner any time soon. If it happens again, it will be because someone smuggled themselves aboard a FedEx plane and shot the pilots before they knew what was happening.