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IP: more on The Marker of a Criminal [read and think djf]
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 17:31:04 -0500
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 14:12:49 -0800 From: Ed Gerck <egerck () nma com> To: farber () cis upenn edu Dave: Current statistics in the US indicate that one out of every three US residents will be arrested (and, handcuffed) in their lifetime. It is perhaps an order of magnitude larger than in Germany, for example, or in Brazil -- where citzens are also not routinely handcuffed when arrested (only if they resist or pose a threat). But, US society seems to accept arresting and handcuffing in a way that other societies would not. It is a culture thing and has IMO nothing to do with a lesser significance of freedom in the US. Though it should make technologists that champion for faulty biometrics, faulty non-repudiation protocols in e-commerce, faulty digital signature laws, etc, think twice -- the joke may be on them, someday. One out of three is a pretty small margin ;-) Cheers, Ed Gerck Dave Farber wrote:Subject: The Marker of a Criminal by Declan McCullagh 3:00 a.m. 19.Nov.99.PDT You're driving home from a party on a chill weekend night and encounter your first unpleasant surprise of the evening: A police car behind you with its lights ablaze. Turns out you didn't halt entirely for that last stop sign, or so the friendly policeman says. But he doesn't seem nearly as congenial as he hands you a cotton swab and tells you to touch it to the inside of your cheek for a DNA sample. The second unhappy surprise: You're under arrest. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32626,00.html-- Cheers, Ed Gerck ______________________________________________________________________ http://www.mcg.org.br/authors/eg.htm egerck () nma com
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- IP: more on The Marker of a Criminal [read and think djf] Dave Farber (Nov 20)