Interesting People mailing list archives
more on search experience on "border"
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 16:40:30 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com> Date: August 3, 2006 12:40:40 PM EDT To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com Subject: RE: [IP] more on search experience on "border"One consequence of knowing that the thought police are watching is the fear of appearing on political donation lists since there is the perception, if not the reality, that science appointees are vetted for their political affiliations. While requiring public disclosure of the lists is supposed to assure “fair” funding it has the side- effect of exposing the participants to other pressures. In a way it defeats the purpose of keeping ballots secret.
Along these lines, it’s hard enough to do disruptive research if one is committed to delivering a result rather than surprises – if one presumes science is about discovering the one truth then why tolerate surprises? It reminds me of the Greeks’ reaction to the heretic who showed that the square root of two was irrational.
Preventing the import of bad ideas seems to be a “reasonable” extension of such attitudes. No need to understand them if you can isolate yourself from reality.
Focusing on “pornography” just adds a touch of absurdity to the whole thing but remember that it’s not about this world – it’s about the next one.
-----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 08:45 To: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: [IP] more on search experience on “border” Begin forwarded message: From: Tom Fairlie <tfairlie () frontiernet net> Date: August 3, 2006 8:24:14 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com, travis () redswoosh net Subject: Re: [IP] more on search experience on “border” And to what end?We know that the Bush administration has long tried to earn points with religious fundamentalists. We also know that this same administration operates incompetently the majority of the time (both objective facts). Thus, creating a speed bump at our borders to keep out evil porn would be a good example of a policy that fits both MOs— it’s appealing to prudes and ineffective/costly at the same time.
We also know that the Bush administration has accelerated our descent into fascism. This isn’t hyperbole; anyone who studies such things would at least admit that this is a debatable assertion. The stopping of good travelers at our borders for a little personal interrogation, while not effective at stopping anything, is a marvelous form of thought control (e.g., “Let’s remember to not bring anything with us that might be considered offensive to our government.” begets “Let’s not say anything offensive to our government.” begets “My government knows best.”)
I think the real answer is somewhere in the middle. As we’ve all discussed, the TSA has been largely ineffective and they aren’t free. However, they have also now done a long list of things that, for better or worse, have forced millions of Americans to think twice before performing many different innocuous actions before traveling. Given that this list is growing and not shrinking based upon public outcry, I gather that my second option above is either part of the plan or just a happy coincidence.
Tom Fairlie ----- Original Message ----- From: “David Farber” <dave () farber net> To: <ip () v2 listbox com> Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 11:25 AM Subject: [IP] more on search experience on “border” Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: July 31, 2006 12:21:00 PM EDT To: travis () redswoosh net Cc: dave () farber net, lauren () vortex com Subject: Re: [IP] search experience on “border” From: Travis Kalanick <travis () redswoosh net> ... While operating my laptop he said that we was tasked with preventing illegal pornographic material from entering the United States ... He returned my laptop after this warrantless search saying I was free Dave, And to what end—other than going through the motions—is such a search?Given a quick check, the border agent would be unlikely to find a cache of porn photos that was compressed and archived in a single encrypted file named C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB911567 or some other obscure name—not a single JPG porn file to be found in a file scan.
Perhaps what’s really going on in such border cases is some sort of “amateur test”—since any pro who wanted to bring porn (or any other data) into the U.S. on a laptop would never leave the data in an easily discovered form. But then again, why bother using the laptop? How about putting an innocuous looking file on that cute keychain memory dongle? Or on an iPod? Porn could be easily rigged to look like an mp3 file, that could even play properly. Or why not use some spare cell phone memory area? Or how about that 2 Gig memory stick in the camera, or a miniSD memory card inserted into an electric razor or the binding of a book?
To quote the wonderful episode “OBIT” from the original ‘60s television series “The Outer Limits”: “The machines are everywhere!” Anyone with half a brain who wants to bring data into the U.S. can do so without meaningful detection, short of a full body cavity strip search and prolonged forensic analysis—and even then the true nature of any data might well be undiscovered.
All of the rest is for show, and perhaps to cull the low hanging fruit. · Lauren— Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR · People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, IOIC · International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren’s Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com You are subscribed as tfairlie () frontiernet net To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/ You are subscribed as BobIP () Bobf Frankston com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ipArchives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/
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- more on search experience on "border" David Farber (Aug 03)
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- more on search experience on "border" David Farber (Aug 03)
- more on search experience on "border" David Farber (Aug 03)