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IP: I second Lauren's comments -- Re F.A.A. Announces Stricter Rules; Knives No Longer Allowed -- get out your dull chopsticks
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 13:07:54 -0400
To: farber () cis upenn edu cc: lauren () pfir org Subject: Re: IP: F.A.A. Announces Stricter Rules; Knives No Longer Allowed -- get out your dull chopsticks Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 08:18:04 -0700 From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Lets see -- no razor blades sold? No food knives on planes? No screwdrivers? If this is the security we are going to get, we willcontinueto be in trouble. djfI appreciate that the FAA wants to look like it's doing *something*. But none of the new rules being promulgated would have stopped the recent events, and some of them are just plain stupid. Stopping people from having even plastic knives is going to have an effect on terrorists? Give me a break. What's to stop a determined terrorist from hiding a (possibly folding) *real* plastic weapon in a can of deordorant? Or a sharp weapon hidden in their eyeglasses frames, or in a hundred other places? For that matter, terrorists may be able to achieve the same effect without any real weapons at all, just by *claiming* to carry explosives. Some airports are said to be planning to ban all carry-ons, including, reportedly, women's purses. Already people are asking what would happen to people carrying medicinal supplies who can't risk having their materials lost in the baggage maze. This is insane. People are reacting with their glands, when what is needed right now is cold logic. Unless the next plan is to force every passenger to fly naked and be treated like prisoners being flown around by the U.S. Marshals Service, chained in their seats after undergoing body cavity searches, these sorts of measures are *not* going to prevent terrorism, though they may well wreck the airlines. The wrong part of the equation is being attacked. The focus needs to be on the planes, not on the airports and the passengers. Having a law enforcement officer on more flights could make sense. Better security for the cockpit crew has long been known to be necessary. While we're at it, it shouldn't be possible to disable the voice and data recorders or transponder simply by pulling easily-accessible breakers. While pilots won't like it, video recordings of the cockpits should be instituted. These devices should all have independent power supplies not dependent on the plane's main power. Most of this is really only aimed at commercial aviation of course. What about general aviation? A small plane could carry a significant bomb. Cargo flights? Remotely piloted vehicles? What about container ships and trucks? Terrorism must be fought, and the criminals involved in terrorist attacks must be brought to justice. But there's a largely unspoken and painful truth that we will need to consider sooner or later. Terrorism by its very nature often has an unending supply of operatives, and will take advantage of whatever resources are available in a society to accomplish terrorist goals. Even Israel, probably the most secure democracy in the world in terms of anti-terrorist measures, still undergoes frequent deadly terrorist attacks. Even if we slowly, a step at a time, convert the U.S. into a security police state, with civil liberties gradually eroded for "good causes," there will still be terrorism. Terrorists will adapt. We'll ourselves have accomplished the goal that the terrorists could never have accomplished on their own -- the destruction of the United States as we know it today. Fight terrorism? Yes, of course! But before we start shredding the Constitution, we'd better think long and hard about the importance of the values we're trying to protect. In the wake of Tuesday's tragedy, one U.S. Senator was reported to have said (more or less the exact words): "Bomb them to hell. I don't care about collateral damage." It's easy to understand this emotional reaction to Tuesday's massively murderous acts. But one wonders if the terrorists, driven in their case by evil zeal, didn't express similar sentiments. We must fight our enemies vigorously, but we must take care not to become them. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy "Reality Reset" Columns - http://www.vortex.com/reality
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- IP: I second Lauren's comments -- Re F.A.A. Announces Stricter Rules; Knives No Longer Allowed -- get out your dull chopsticks David Farber (Sep 13)