more on increasing idiocy in TSA <sigh> (will fingernails be next?)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jason Weisberger <jweisberger () mac com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 19:21:42 -0800
To: <dave () farber net>, <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on increasing idiocy in TSA <sigh> (will fingernails
be next?)

Dave,

This kind of commentary just isn't helpful. If people are really
concerned with the, seemingly in this thread, draconian activity of the
TSA - why don't we see some activist groups protesting and attempting
to force them to abide by the regulations that govern them? I searched
Google and didn't see any...

Comparisons, by the gentleman who works at a company named Brandenburg,
that somehow the TSA is the equivalent to an Einsatzkommando is a bit
much for me. There is a clear need for airport security and while ours
may be flawed, it certainly isn't a horrible crime against humanity
that people are limited from bringing allen keys onto airplanes when a
TSA employee is alert enough to see them.

For people who are concerned about what they are and are not permitted
to bring on an airplane, in regulations created by our elected
Government, they provide a nice URL:
http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=183&content=09000519800720a4

I haven't seen the regulations posted at EVERY airport, but I do see
them posted - in the form of picture representations of certain items
with graphics clearly expressing their prohibited nature - at a few;
Oakland comes to mind.

I mean, seriously, I don't love our current government - but I'm having
a hard time drawing tangents between the SS and the TSA. Comments like
that both cloud the picture by creating imaginary connections and
demean the very necessary point regarding what happens when you do not
pay attention to extremist groups looking to do wrong. The TSA guards
appear, to me, mostly  a bunch of people trying to earn a buck and
follow some arbitrary rules. I don't sense any dedication, when I go
through security, of hardened defenders of what is right. I've had
conversations with them regarding items they wanted to confiscate and
it was quickly elevated to supervisors;  a decision was made by someone
as educated and as thoughtful as the paltry salary can command. We
aren't hiring our best and brightest, we're putting automatons in place
to push a button, glance at a screen and wand people through.  I am
sure the TSA tries to get as much critical thought as you can from them
- but really, what can you expect?

So - maybe we're under paying these people and not getting the customer
service and critical thought we'd like from airport screeners  - but a
group of authority abusing, mass murdered doesn't seem to be forming
behind the metal detectors just yet.

Jason Weisberger



On Jan 17, 2005, at 10:38 AM, David Farber wrote:

> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Dave Crocker <dhc2 () dcrocker net>
> Reply-To: Dave Crocker <dcrocker () bbiw net>
> Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 09:20:27 -0800
> To: <dave () farber net>, Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] increasing idiocy in TSA <sigh> (will fingernails be
> next?)
>
> On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 20:31:51 -0500, David Farber wrote:
> >   In discussing the issue with TSA, they said there is a
> >   "New" rule that says no tools of any kind are allowed as
> >   carry-on.  
>
> Given that the actual rules are not posted at inspection stations, and
> even
> supervisors frequently will not provide details of the rules, agents
> seem to
> use this assertion of new rules freely, with no concern for whether it
> is
> true.  (Alas, it often isn't.)
>
> So it has become merely another passenger "control" technique.
>
>
> >   I pointed out how much smaller and
> >   less effective small allen wrenches were, than keys
> >   or nail clippers (which are allowed).  His answer was
> >   that the higher ups know more than we do, ...
>
> Somehow, that seems strikingly similar to "I was just following
> orders".
>
> I seem to recall efforts to use that excuse in Nuremberg...
>
>
> d/
> --
> Dave Crocker
> Brandenburg InternetWorking
> +1.408.246.8253
> dcrocker  a t ...
> WE'VE MOVED to:  www.bbiw.net
>
>
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>
>
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