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Re: Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:47:18 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Stewart Baker <stewart.baker () gmail com> Date: September 20, 2009 9:53:25 AM EDT To: Russ Nelson <nelson () crynwr com> Cc: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] WORTH READING Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints
Russ, You're right that my sentence wasn't self-explanatory, but I think you've fallen into a common fallacy of government critics in this area -- arguing that iIf a measure doesn't address every conceivable risk, it isn't worth doing. That's plainly wrong; there's room for steps that reduce risk and make attacks more difficult even if those steps aren't complete solutions. To address your comment more directly, I agree that IDs don't magically prevent terrorism by themselves. But good ID is part of a comprehensible, and probably inevitable, screening system. If you know who you're looking for -- the no fly and selectee lists, for example -- then you need to make sure the people you're looking for can't easily change identities. Hence a good ID system is crucial for an effective screening system, at least one based on watching for a few risky passengers. (Of course we have other screening systems that don't look for risky people, but look for risky stuff. That's mostly what the TSA magnetometer and x-ray checkpoint does. I am guessing you don't like that much better than the identity-based screening; the ACLU, for example, usually refers to non-identity-based screening as "treating everyone as a suspect.") So, why didn't we catch the 9/11 hijackers if they used ID in their own names? Two problems: we didn't know that most of them were risky, and we didn't have a way to communicate the names of risky travelers to the airlines, who were doing the screening for us. We have taken steps to address both of those problems, and as the government finally takes over screening from the airlines, we'll do a better job in the future. Stewart On 9/20/09, Russ Nelson <nelson () crynwr com> wrote:
From: Stewart Baker <stewart.baker () gmail com> Date: September 19, 2009 11:59:10 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints TSA has taken another couple of steps to improve air security. For starters, airline ID checkers are actually checking IDsNahhhh, not worth reading, Dave. Stew's train left the tracks after his second sentence, which, although physically antecedent to the first, does not follow logically. A non-sequitur. How does knowing WHO someone is, allow you to increase air security? I mean, we accuse governments of closing the barn door after the horses have left; of building a Maginot line. And yet solving the ID problem doesn't EVEN prevent 9/11. Those terrorists flew under their own names. The Maginot line at least worked. It forced the Nazis to go through the Ardennes Forest. This "security" system isn't going to stop the next set of terrorists flying under their own names. I can't wait until the TSA's employers start running our health care. Did I say "running"? I meant ruining. -- --my blog is at http://blog.russnelson.com Crynwr supports open source software 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-323-1241 Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | Sheepdog
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Current thread:
- Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints David Farber (Sep 18)
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- Re: Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints David Farber (Sep 20)
- Re: Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints David Farber (Sep 20)
- Re: Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints David Farber (Sep 21)