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U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Sep 20, 2007 01:39 PM
from the just-forget-about-rights dept.
from the just-forget-about-rights dept.
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."
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You've Got the Wrong Guy! (Score:5, Funny)
That's why I always carry an extra copy ... (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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Re:That's why I always carry an extra copy ... (Score:4, Funny)
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Something to really worry about. (Score:5, Interesting)
I have PC support techs that travel everywhere in the country and one thing they carry is an IDE HD with the standard images of all of the different models of computers we support. This is an amazingly scary source of danger for the American public! (apparently...)
The TSA in LaGuardia confiscated one of my tech's drives because it looked suspicious: He had affixed an orange DHL "10:30 AM Urgent" sticker on the drive so he could make sure it wasn't overwritten by mistake. Apparently those orange stickers are either a powerful explosive or an extremely efficient oxidizer. (In that case we should all cringe when we see a DHL cargo plane go overhead.)
. . . or maybe the TSA's airport security is one of the stupidest things to ever be seen on this planet.
As a rule: Security is a logical exercise. If it doesn't make sense then it can't be an adequate security model!
(so there!)
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No problem for me. (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No problem for me. (Score:4, Funny)
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One Fine Day at ORD (Score:5, Funny)
"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]
Re:One Fine Day at ORD (Score:5, Funny)
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Good. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Good. (Score:5, Funny)
*TWEET!*
Flag on the play! You're presuming TSA goons can read.
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Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Steal the text, but leave out the hyperlink. (Score:5, Informative)
Someone steals the text of the actual article (not unusual, I know), instead of providing an actual summary... but leaves out the hyperlink that's actually IN the stolen text for the Identity Project [papersplease.org] referenced in the article.
Why bother with editors?
Have a nice day (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry (Score:5, Funny)
Book covers are easy to print (Score:4, Interesting)
My typical book cover usually says "Word of the Day" with other harmless jargon under it, and on the spine. When those morons/monkeys (not ad hominem attack, the employees really are morons) go through my bags, they only look at the fake cover.
Re:Book covers are easy to print (Score:5, Funny)
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
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what would happen to (Score:3, Funny)
I know what will really bother them... (Score:5, Funny)
Phillip K.Dick (Score:5, Interesting)
I was returning from a trip abroad to England and Sweden. On the way back I was reading a copy of the Phillip K. Dick story "The Man in the High Castle". For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a story set in an alternate world where the Axis won WWII, and American is evenly divided between the Germans and Japanese, along the center of the country.
The cover art on this particular printing was an American flag where the start had been replaced with Swastikas. As I went through customs I was pulled aside for a little of the ole' extra screenin'. (Damn you again, full beard and being under 30!)
Things were going smoothly until he came across the book, at which point things became extremely hostile and many questions were repeated until I started to explain that the book was sci-fi, and about a postulated alternate universe. I think as soon as I said 'alternate universe' his eyes glazed over, and he began to loose interest in me and I was let go. So based on this article, I guess the government knows I'm a PKD fan. I hope Space Nixon doesn't get word of this, or I'm in real trouble. I'll probably just end up informing on myself to the government anyways.
Re:Phillip K.Dick (Score:4, Funny)
We need to start stoning these people. It's the only way to protect our way of life.
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is it time for americans to stop lecturing... (Score:4, Insightful)
Cheers.
Re:is it time for americans to stop lecturing... (Score:4, Funny)
I take it you're in the U.K.? Smile, you're on camera.
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A Little Culture Jamming? (Score:5, Funny)
"...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] [filefront.com]
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."
Oh the Irony (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Funny, so did I (as well as Huxley's Brave New World and a book by the Dalai Lama).
I'm afraid, I am no longer willing to travel to the US. The current situation scares me, and I refuse to consent to being fingerprinted without cause. I think more countries should start fingerprinting Americans.
Cheers
You know... (Score:4, Funny)
[Note to all federal eavesdroppers: THE ABOVE IS A JOKE! CHILL OUT! I'VE NEVER EVEN BEEN ON AN AIRPLANE BEFORE!]
Nothing New (Score:5, Interesting)
That is a letter from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) sent to its members shortly after the PATRIOT Act was signed into law. The PATRIOT Act gave the federal government powers to search records of any business selling books and any library. Then they slap a gag order which makes it illegal to tell anyone for up to a year.
It just sickens me to have to be paranoid about the things I read, or having to avoid using a credit card when paying for a book.
Any terrorist who reads on an airplane isn't going to be reading a book on bombs, explosives or how to be a terrorist. If a terrorist were dumb enough to do that, it sure as hell wouldn't be in english. This is just another example of the government amassing data on ordinary citizens all in the name of national security.
Significance (Score:5, Interesting)
Could this be used for other purposes? Probably not, because of the volume of the information and what it is going to take to really get down and start mining it.
The biggest single problem in the US today is there are indeed terrorists and we have had some incidents blocked. But almost no information about what has been blocked has leaked out. So everyone thinks it is all nonsense. As some people have mentioned, it would be the best thing all around if 3 or 4 indicidents were not blocked and successfully killed hundreds of people. Better yet, if a bunch of foreign nationals got blown up at the same time. Perhaps people would realize there is a problem and we're not anywhere near as isolated as we were in 1850.
So when would all this collected information be of value? After something big happens. What if it doesn't? What if everything is successfully (and secretly) blocked in the planning stages as it has been so far? Any program like this would be considered foolish and pointless, and invasion of everyone's privacy for no gain whatsoever.
But let one incident happen and the newsmedia will be all over the government for "not doing something." Today the criticism is for doing seemingly pointless things when still nobody can figure out what would be (a) acceptable and (b) useful. Would El Al style interrogations before boarding a plane produce useful results? Probably not - we're not looking for hijackers now. What we are certainly going to see is some kind of different attack vector. What would be useful to know about the (dead) perpetrators of that event? I don't think anybody knows.
The other approach that doesn't have much favor in the US government right now is to treat terrorism-related attacks like a tornado. It just happens and messes up a lot of stuff but there isn't anything that can be done about it. As far as I know, no government is taking that attitude - certainly not UK, Germany or Israel where attacks have ocurred. Would this work in the US? Sure - until the first attack. It is difficult to play the role of standing up and saying "it just happens" to a crying mother/father/brother/sister on TV. So incredibly difficult that no elected or unelected member of the government is ever going to do it.
Re:Significance (Score:4, Interesting)
I am aware of exactly zero efforts to repeat 9/11. Zero.
Please enlighten me.
As far as I know, in the last decade we have had a far greater incidence of tornadoes here in the states than we have terrorist attacks. That being said, where the heck is the War on Weather?!?!?!?
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Suggested travel reading list (Score:5, Interesting)
That collection is likely to drive security people nuts, yet those are must-read books for anyone who wants to have an informed opinion on the current wars.
Canada is pretty easygoing (Score:5, Interesting)
I was reading a 2600 article about breaking into secure and staff-only areas in an airport while waiting at the gate to board my flight. I was given no trouble with my reading materials whatsoever.
Truth be told, we were given more grief at customs regarding the wax-encased gouda in our suitcase than the bubblewrapped bong in my carry on.
Re:So they know that I'm a fan of Alan Dean Foster (Score:5, Insightful)
whoop-de-fucking-do.
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Re:So they know that I'm a fan of Alan Dean Foster (Score:4, Insightful)
Additionally, it seems this procedure also applies to books in your luggage, which you may have deliberately chosen not to read in public.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Jesus Christ. It doesn't fucking matter who started it. It's stupid regardless of which side of the aisle!
Stop to think for a minute. Suppose we do have this massive cross referenced database of interesting facts about people who act like they might be a terrorist. What can we do with it?
Absolutely nothing!
Are we going round these folks up and vanish them for fear of what they might do? Not bloody likely.
The cold hard fact of the matter is there is no
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And the democrats are better how? Both parties are working for the same ends. The only way we'll have any hope of a shift away from the coming police state is if a couple/few third parties rise up and kill off the current bi-factional ruling party.
Re:The End of the Republic (Score:4, Informative)
Your link shows that this is false.
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Sununu (R-NH)
voted for restoring habeas corpus.
On the other hand the following senators voted against the constitution despite the example of their fellow senator of (supposedly) the same party and state:
Lieberman (ID-CT) (former Dem., lost primary)
Collins (R-ME)
Gregg (R-NH)
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Re:The End of the Republic (Score:5, Insightful)
At the state level (both state and Congressional elections), the districts have been so gerrymandered, you get extremist after extremist. Do you live in California by chance? The extremism is destroying this state.
At the presidential level, any sane people get culled out even before the primaries. It's the media's fault here. Any sane person will occasionally suggest a solution that is diametrically opposed to the status quo, and the media will make that person out to be a lunatic when the exact opposite is true. What were left with is a choice between a small number of sociopathic megalomaniacs.
And I'm no Republican, but you don't *really* think the Dems have any solutions, do you? I go to their web pages, and it's the same old broken crap.
Go look at Edwards statement on energy. The first half of it is "No nuclear power! It's scary! Don't care about technological advancements. No nukes! Naaa naa naaa! I'm not listening!"
Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Dems are just as close-minded as Rep, but on different things.
And, no, I don't have any answers, hence the frustration.
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Re:The End of the Republic (Score:5, Insightful)
You know when it stopped working? WHEN PEOPLE STOPPED PARTICIPATING!!!
I know political agenda is a bad word, but damn it all to hell how else is a representative democracy supposed to work if you don't have a political agenda and make an effort to see that agenda through?
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Re:The End of the Republic (Score:4, Insightful)
When somewhere above 2/3 of the American Populace wants to close the southern border (regardless of whether or not you want to) and yet it STILL doesn't happen, there is a problem. Then there is this article about people LEGALLY coming into this country being tracked while Millions are streaming over the boarders are not.
It is all a matter of perspective I guess. More people have been murdered by illegal aliens than the 20 guys who happen to hijack 4 planes. Part of living in a free society is that sometimes bad stuff happens, by bad people. Stuff happens. We cannot protect everyone all the time.
The best we can do is take reasonable precautions. Keeping track of who is reading what isn't reasonable on any level. It's not going to stop anything or anyone doing a bad thing. It just is annoying noise.
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re: but voting doesn't work anymore.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Meanwhile, we don't bother with much of the "smaller stuff", when in reality, THAT is precisely where one's vote really counts!
You may have noticed, it's not too often someone comes out of nowhere to take on a high-profile political career as president, vice-president, or Supreme Court justice.
These people "grow into" their jobs, after getting elected first at a local level and working their way up the ranks over the years. By the time they've made all the political connections and accepted all the bribes in a higher-ranking position, your "say so" in keeping them around (or even expecting them to do what they initially promised you) is pretty much zilch.
Where you STILL have control is at the bottom of the pyramid, instead of up near the peak. I know not everyone has time to research all the candidates for judges in their district and so on
Just by going to the occasional city/county council meeting, you're able to have say-so in issues that directly affect things right near your own home and workplace - and you may be one voice out of only 10 or 20 taken into consideration at that meeting.... Not 1 vote out of hundreds of thousands or millions!
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Re:The End of the Republic (Score:5, Insightful)
In a true police state he would never have been allowed to speak at all. America is not a police state. America is a country where a small amount of freedom has been removed from the people in order to insure their security. A large number of American's (myself included by the way) believe that that is wrong but calling America a police state just makes you seem like a crazed fanatic, someone completely out of touch with reality. Calm down and think rationally about the freedoms you have right now. Now think about the freedoms allowed to people in a police state. Once you understand the difference between the two then you will stop looking like a fanatic and start looking like a rational individual.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
-b.
That's not what I was taught in the fifties. (Score:5, Insightful)
At least that's what they taught me during the fifties... when Soviet citizens did not have that right but U. S. citizens still did.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Privilege not a Right (Score:4, Insightful)
and it's a privilege to use buses and subways
and it's a privilege to have electricity
and it's a privilege to have running water...
So at what point does a privilege become a right when we are talking about being a functional member of society. Do all our 'rights' guarantee us is living in a shack outside of town? (ignoring of course the privilige of property ownership.)
I'm not saying it's a right to fly...but where do we draw the line?
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Re:Statanic Verses is always an airline favorite.. (Score:4, Insightful)
You might as well have been flashing around the King James Bible.
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Re:Statanic Verses is always an airline favorite.. (Score:5, Funny)
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