At Canadian Airports, Your Conversation May Be Remotely Recorded 211
New Jazari writes "Careful what you say when traveling, since the authorities will soon be able to zoom in on your conversations and record them for an indefinite amount of time. The story is about Canada, but I see no reason to think that this capability will not soon be installed in most places (if it's not already)."
Re:FIRST things FIRST (Score:5, Insightful)
Who gives a shit who was first? It's a bunch of wasted effort.
Terrorists are going to do shit that authorities are not going to be able to combat with tools like these. The terrorists know there are checkpoints and their limitations. They know their conversation may be overheard so they don't talk. They know that they could walk into a mall or megachurch and do the same damage they did with an airplane.
We're wasting our fucking time and money chasing ghosts which will bite us in the ass regardless of the freedoms we continue to happily and passively give up.
Re:FIRST things FIRST (Score:5, Insightful)
i highly doubt any terrorist is going to be reviewing his plan in the airport, even in a hushed voice... if he does, then he's one of those too stupid to be of any danger.
This is news? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd suspect that anyone who traveled through a post-911 NORAD-airspace airport who hadn't already assumed that their conversations might be monitored and / or recorded is either:
A) Naive, or
B) a fool (and also A.)
If you're standing inside a modern-day airport in North America, consider that you may have had more liberty hanging out in a Stalinist Gulag. The airport is just a cage slightly more gilded.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Public space (Score:4, Insightful)
There's a huge difference between maybe having a conversation reported and systematic recording of many conversations. Just like there's a difference between a cop happening to see your face in the street and full blown constant CCTV surveillance.
Re:Oh wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
Aren't we talking about public airports here? My understanding is there is no expectation of privacy in public places, and personally I don't understand why there should be. If you say something in front of other people you should expect it to be heard by other people.
Re:No reasonable expectation of privacy (Score:3, Insightful)
Those rulings are foolish and need changing. If I can see a camera pointed at me or a microphone in my general vicinity and it's a public place, fine. Hidden and secretive monitoring should not be permitted by the government, and police should be absolutely prohibited from interfering with citizens recording them. The penalties should be just as disproportionate to the offense as our stupid drug, sex, and "intellectual property" laws, complete with mandatory minimum sentencing, registering on a list when you get out of jail, and a prohibition on being within 1000 yards of protesters and others exercising their free speech rights. Oh, and it should be a felony for a cop to fail to report another cop seen doing these things.
"but...but that will prevent cops from ever working in their profession again". Welcome to the world a lot of IT folks find themselves in. Even worse for those who like to smoke plants or maybe need to pee by the side of the road on a long trip.
Re:Oh wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the stupidest thing I've heard in a while. Please read the entry again, then come back.
I wake up every day at 6 am and I go to the park. There's absolutely nobody there at that time, except for me and my wife. If I talk to my wife while I'm there, do you seriously expect me to assume that "somebody could have listened to us"?
This is like walking around with a stranger listening closely to everything you say, even if you say it in a very low voice.
I'm afraid I can't accept that.
Re:Oh wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
If organisations providing essential services to the general public can impose arbitrary conditions before you can use their services, you don't have any useful legal protection from abuse at all. That is why most first world countries have some form of statutory regulation in many key industries, such as power supply, transportation networks, communications infrastructure, etc.
Re:Oh wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
I wake up every day at 6 am and I go to the park. There's absolutely nobody there at that time, except for me and my wife. If I talk to my wife while I'm there, do you seriously expect me to assume that "somebody could have listened to us"?
As "good" people, we tend to see the world as "us," the good people vs "them," the bad people
Cops see the world exactly the same way, except YOU are not included in the group called "us"
Stop thinking of yourself as a good law abiding citizen and pretend you're a member of organized crime.
That should help recalibrate your expectation of privacy.
Re:Oh wow. (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't complain when it's your turn to be dragged off.
Re:This is news? (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, look, a angry little child with no knowledge of history! Do your parents know you're using the internet?
It's very easy to fall into the trap of "this thing that is happening right now" is the "worst/best thing in all of history!". I'm no fan of the TSA, but when you spout crap like that, all you do is drive people away from your line of thinking.