IP: True encroachment on liberty

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 3:04 +0200
> From: krulwich () geocities com
> Subject: True encroachment on liberty
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
>
> Dave,
>
> Having read every message on IP about the WTC tragedy, I'm
> shocked at how disconnected from reality the concerns are, and
> how the messages have missed true issues of freedom and
> liberty.  Worrying unnecessarily isn't a bad thing (and may indeed
> by the price of liberty), but missing true concerns in the process
> is.
>
> I say this as an American who's lived in Israel for the past 5
> years, and has lived and breathed the reality of a country coping
> with terrorism and security concerns.
>
> As a bit of background to avoid mis-imressions: I am not a
> "settler," I live in Israeli West Jerusalem far from any borders.  I
> was a skeptical supporter of the Oslo process, and I'm not
> particularly happy to have my skepticism proven right.
>
> My first point is that increased security doesn't necessarily bring
> about significantly reduced freedom.  There are metal detectors
> in most malls here, and many large government or office
> buildings, and bags are routinely searched, but both are handled
> by mall personel, not government agents, who have no interest in
> the search other than building safety.  Soldiers or policemen who
> are there for security are specifically kept seperate from the
> searching.  The bottom line is that I've never heard of cases of
> misuse of search, and I'm convinced that this is precisely
> because the securty concerns are serious enough that the
> guards don't care abut anything else.
>
> The government does not in any way limit my movement, nor
> does it limit the movement of Israeli Arab citizens.  This is an
> important point that is deliberately muddled by the media.  There
> are border crossing restrictions for non-citizens (as wit the
> Mexican and Canadian borders), especially from the Palestinian
> Autonomy (where the bombs come from), but no citizens have
> their movement restricted for security.  This has not always been
> the case, but it is now.
>
> At the same time, there are not technology limitations for
> security.  I have ADSL at home and a better connected cellular
> PDA that can be bought in the States (because of your GSM
> issues).  Some technology exports require permits, but these are
> easily gotten if the government is sure that no tax evasion is
> going on.  Plenty of involvement in encryption, security, and open
> source, as is well known and publicized.  There are plenty of
> problems here because of an over-beurocratized government,
> but not from security concerns.
>
> To be clear, none of this is a proof that problems wouldn't exist if
> security was beefed up in the States.  But it's an existance proof
> that these probems can be avoided.
>
> Point two: My liberty is in fact significantly compromised by the
> terrorists who are turning suicide bombing into a national
> pastime.  The 22 suicide bombers that have entered Israel in the
> past year have completely compromised my freedom of travel,
> my freedom of recreation, and my sense of security in my home.
> 3 or 4 times a year we promise our kids that we'll travel around
> the country, and for the past year we've had to keep them
> occupied on vacations within our own neighborhood because
> there were too many bombs and shootings.  This is a true threat
> to my freedom and liberty.
>
> Some of you may be tempted to say that I'm choosing this
> reaction, and there may be some truth to that, but none of you
> truly understand having several terrorist incidents a week for a
> year.  Can you imagine a WTC attack each week for a year, or
> an airplane bombing each week?  I don't think you can.
>
> This has gotten longer than I wanted, so let me sum up as
> follows.  There are primary threats to liberty and there are
> potential secondary threats to liberty.  Terror attacks are a
> primary threat on liberty.  Governent responses are important to
> watch but should actually be able to restore the liberty taken by
> the terrorists without imposing significant restrictions themselves.
>
> Please give it some thought, and please let the government
> protect your freedom as vigilantly as you monitor the
> government.
>
> --Bruce Krulwich
>
>   e-mail: krulwich () geocities com
>     or krulwich () yahoo com (backup)



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/