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Anti Terror Honor System
Fortunately for us, the FAA has imposed the honor system as our next best defense against terrorism. Hopefully this will allow them to increase the volume of non-bladder liquid I'm allowed to take on planes.
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This is a link to College Humor... did Taco even mouse over? Why is this on the front page? Quit wasting my time while I'm wasting my employer's time!
I find that a hilarious option on my US entry form. Because you see if I was actually there to do something illegal, I'd be declaring it when I enter. Yeah, right.
But it makes sense as a sort of "But ... but ... but ... he said so!" legal CYA move. (Wait, CYA ... that sounds like something else).
I think from what I've heard, Israel does the most ardous security check ever and they do it without being dicks about it. They have intelligent agents, who ask the right questions and do not invade your personal space to intimidate you. And it seems to work for them, especially since they back it up with the kind of stuff Mossad did at Entebe (despite the international legalities of doing so),
The video is actually fairly funny, heh the "never do it again".
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
The following URL is a petition for permanent residence in the United States of America.
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-485.pdf
Part 3 is the part that catches terrorists.
Similar checkboxes were on my security clearance application. The way I see it, it's so they can charge you with lying on a gov't form later if it turns out you are a terr'ist.
Put this in Idle, not in Tech where I expect actual news.
Well, that is a minute of my life I won't get back.
DHS is responsible for the Security Circus, not the FAA. Please put the blame where it belongs!
I'm OK with the idle section, so long as articles that belong there are categorized as such.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
Is it such a slow tech news day that we're going to see links to 4chan and xkcd all day?
Jeebus.
As humorous as that was, this is exactly the sort of security that actually works: looking people in the eyes, asking questions, being trained to skillfully detect what constitutes an honest response.
The general stupid masses of the western world see the fancy x-ray machines, silvery conveyor tables and shiny rent-a-cop badges and think this somehow translates to better security. But this is not security, this is an illusion of security. This is just put on for show so that your representatives in government (hahahaha... I know) can appear to be doing something about those dern terrrrists.
Security is not a product or a technology. Security, in the case of an airport, is an active process of identifying risks through layers of highly-trained intelligence personel; not high school drop-outs hired to press buttons.
Wait, why does that sound familiar?
"A few years ago, I was moving a new bed into my apartment, and this woman who lived in the building opened the front door for me with her key. She said, 'I'm not worried because a rapist wouldn't have a bed like that.' That's how she started the conversation. Now, what I should have said was nothing. What I did say was 'You'd be surprised.' '
My big problem with that form is that you can't change your mind later. I mean, what if I am visiting the US on holiday, and I have only good intentions when I arrive, so I don't tick the box. But when I get there, I realise that the arrogant running imperial dogs must all die and decide to martyr myself for the cause.
Who do I see to get my form back to change the option? There are no contact details on the form and it seems to me that your government make it as hard as possible to update my details. So you see, it's not my fault that I have to break the law when I change my mind - you've forced me to this by not providing a simple way to update my details!