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U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Sep 20, 2007 02:39 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.
Parent
No problem for me. (Score:5, Funny)
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)
Parent
Good. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:Good. (Score:5, Funny)
*TWEET!*
Flag on the play! You're presuming TSA goons can read.
Parent
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)
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.
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)
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.
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.
Parent
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.
Parent
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?
Parent
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.
Parent
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
Parent
Re:Statanic Verses is always an airline favorite.. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent