Colorized for Your Protection

Those of you who have been reading the ShortWoman for a while know what I think of the TSA, airline security, and the War on Terror.

Today we learn that the Government is still wanting to implement their traffic-light inspired traveler coding system. Remember, this system will only designate people for more security, not less. Furthermore, they estimate that as much as 2% of all fliers may be prevented from flying altogether — perhaps 5 or 10 people on each and every 747. Some analysts predict that this will mean the end of online ticket sales.

Airlines are not pleased about this. Their official concerns mirror those of the EFF, and involve issues like privacy, how the information will be used by the Government, and what happens after they are done with the data. Truth be told, they are probably also wary of the cost of the system, both in terms of implementation and lost travel revenues. In fact, they are proposing a “trusted traveler” system, where people can voluntarily submit a bunch of information to the government and get a “not a terrorist” card. It won’t work. Everyone still has to go through the metal detector, and all the luggage needs to be inspected. Besides, can anybody guarantee that William Krar or someone like him could not have gotten such a card? What about Tim McVeigh? Last week’s unknown hijacker, who foolishly tried to get a commuter jet to take him to Australia? How about the soldier who tried to take a land mine on an airplane last week?

I have said it many times: there will never be a “get out of the security line free” card.

The current flagging of travelers for additional scrutiny and the associated “Do Not Fly” list are already problematic. Two new cases illustrate my point. Even more recent than the Air France flight that was in an uproar because of passengers mistaken for international terrorists. The first involves a 6 year old girl who was placed on the CAPPS watchlist, singled out for additional screening, apparently because her mother had an expired drivers license. It remains to be seen whether this is a one time thing, or whether she will have to endure absurd scrutiny every time she flies for as long as the War on Terror takes — which is to say forever.

The second case involves the use of the Do Not Fly list to control members of certain political groups. That shouldn’t happen in the United States. We are not talking about groups like Hamas, or the IRA, or anybody else on the State Department’s official list of terrorist organizations, a list that reads like the Coliseum scene of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. We are talking about a political party that managed to drag down about 3% of the votes in the 2000 Presidential Elections.

Alas, this is not the only place where I feel the authorities have gone wildly overboard in the name of public safety.

New Years Eve was less than 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t the only one who decided to stay in. I was only mildly concerned about actual terrorist activity. After all, security was incredibly tight. In fact, in my mind that was part of the problem. Locally, there was almost a million dollars spent on New Years Eve security measures. That included things like military helicopters, rooftop snipers, and radiation sensors.

What would have happened if somebody made a mistake?

No really, the authorities mistook a 6 year old for a terrorist. Sometimes law enforcement officials and military officers make mistakes; mostly honest, sometimes nefarious. What if one of the snipers had a bad day, or a twitchy finger, or just thought he saw Osama with an almanac? What if one of the military craft decided that a passenger plane into McCarran Airport — practically walking distance from the Strip — had deviated from course too much for the gunner’s taste? What if somebody turned on a microwave too close to the radiation sensors?

I don’t care to live in a police state. I prefer to live someplace where the Bill of Rights is respected.