Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?
Jan. 13th, 2004 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilman(thanks ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
isabeau, for the above line!)
So I'm barely awake this morning, the news is on, and I hear this guy doing a Q&A about the new airport screening set-up they're about to bring online, which is apparently called "Yellow light Red Light." Or something else suitably brilliant. And it's this:
If you're all in the clear, green light, you get to go through airport security. Yellow light means there's something in your past that, when your name is checked against A List, you get pulled aside for further questioning.
If your name clicks on the red light, apparently, you're detained.
All well and fine, in theory. Because I've always been for airport security, even before I was emotionally and psychologically scarred by the events of 9/11. I've flown El Al. Nice people, know their job. Very safe.
But...
The guy who was doing the Q of the A asked some very good questions. You know -- what is your right of appeal if you're tagged red or yellow? What sort of "triggers" in your past are they looking at (Parole violations? Murder convictions? Overdue library books? Your name is an anagram of someone on their most wanted list?)? How long does such a 'tag' hold if, say, you're yellow and fly fifteen times without an incident? When is the tag removed from your name so you don't have to go through all that? How long can they hold you before you get to see a lawyer?
And without fail, in answer to these questions the representative they sent onto a national news program to discuss this security plan said a variant of "I don't know."
Which does not fill me with warm fuzzies, because either a) they haven't really thought/told their spokesperson about the practical execution of this security plan (Bad! When will you people learn that not having a clue is BAD?) or b) they really don't want us to know what, if any, our rights are if the government decides to screw with us.
(and before anyone starts trying to Explain all this to me, be warned that I have both a brain and a temper and if you don't know by now that I dislike being patronized you'll learn when you draw back a bleeding stump. I understand the fear and pragmatism that is driving a lot of recent smudging of our Constitution. That doesn't mean I think it's either wise or appropriate. Or, damn it, acceptable. And yes, I do believe in freedom before security. That's the kind of American I am. And I think forefathers George and Tom and Ben and etc would be pleased.)
isabeau, for the above line!)So I'm barely awake this morning, the news is on, and I hear this guy doing a Q&A about the new airport screening set-up they're about to bring online, which is apparently called "Yellow light Red Light." Or something else suitably brilliant. And it's this:
If you're all in the clear, green light, you get to go through airport security. Yellow light means there's something in your past that, when your name is checked against A List, you get pulled aside for further questioning.
If your name clicks on the red light, apparently, you're detained.
All well and fine, in theory. Because I've always been for airport security, even before I was emotionally and psychologically scarred by the events of 9/11. I've flown El Al. Nice people, know their job. Very safe.
But...
The guy who was doing the Q of the A asked some very good questions. You know -- what is your right of appeal if you're tagged red or yellow? What sort of "triggers" in your past are they looking at (Parole violations? Murder convictions? Overdue library books? Your name is an anagram of someone on their most wanted list?)? How long does such a 'tag' hold if, say, you're yellow and fly fifteen times without an incident? When is the tag removed from your name so you don't have to go through all that? How long can they hold you before you get to see a lawyer?
And without fail, in answer to these questions the representative they sent onto a national news program to discuss this security plan said a variant of "I don't know."
Which does not fill me with warm fuzzies, because either a) they haven't really thought/told their spokesperson about the practical execution of this security plan (Bad! When will you people learn that not having a clue is BAD?) or b) they really don't want us to know what, if any, our rights are if the government decides to screw with us.
(and before anyone starts trying to Explain all this to me, be warned that I have both a brain and a temper and if you don't know by now that I dislike being patronized you'll learn when you draw back a bleeding stump. I understand the fear and pragmatism that is driving a lot of recent smudging of our Constitution. That doesn't mean I think it's either wise or appropriate. Or, damn it, acceptable. And yes, I do believe in freedom before security. That's the kind of American I am. And I think forefathers George and Tom and Ben and etc would be pleased.)
no subject
Date: 2004-01-13 07:45 am (UTC)You can't. That's the simple, painful, truthful answer, and why everyone's so damn scared. You can't protect yourself from someone who is willing to die to get to you. Not without extreme measures that basically mean you're already dead.
I'm much more frightened, personally, by a government trying to "protect" me by taking away my rights and liberties than I am by the thought of a mad(wo)man willing to die in order to make a point. I could die from a loon driver on the roads any day of the week, too. More likely, actually, the way people are driving these days...
no subject
Date: 2004-01-13 05:20 pm (UTC)It sounds as though no one really thought this through, including accounting for identity theft, computer glitches, innocent duplications of identity, and so forth. Which is IMHO inexcusable in government security/defense contracting. The CONTRACTORS know better. Even if the politicians don't, the CONTRACTORS get PAID to know better.(sigh)
(Illustration of innocent duplications of identity: I knew someone whose SSN was just about the same as his cousin's--off by a few digits because they were born in the same state/county/whatever. His name was the same as his cousin's. His cousin got caught cheating twice on the SATs. The guy I knew took the SATs, got a perfect score, and ETS threw it out as cheating. Kept him from getting into college though he did the best he could to prove his identity was NOT his cousin's...ETS did not believe his tale. On the one hand, I could sympathize with ETS, having dealt with students trying to cheat the government for financial aid purposes and ETS was looking at the perfect score and saying "Whoa, wait a minute...statistically that's not that common and WHAT was the name again?" OTOH, if I'd seen a birth certificate and an affidavit from a parental unit and so forth, I'd have lightened up a tad.)
Said not-thinking is typical of many policies I've seen of late. And not-thinking when it comes to my rights and questioning my patriotism should I choose to =think= about what all this means to me...not good. Not American. Not at ALL, IMHO.