Flying with Possible Terrorists?

[geldonyetich]

Most importantly, though, I can't see how putting 14 men on 1 flight would be an efficient use of resources. I mean it took 3-5 men for the 9/11 flights. If the operation is a suicide bombing, that's 14 agents/resources removed from future operations by a successful operation. And it's only 1 plane. Wouldn't it be more efficient to use 3 teams on 3 separate planes?

Yeah, but then if these Terrorists were at all smart they'd know that creating fear in the populace just makes the current regime stronger, not weaker.   Conservatives are an excellent choice when the best your average voter can do is curl up into a fetal position asking, "oh god why?!"

[HaemishM]

Terrorists WANT our government to freak the fuck out and start cracking down on the populace. They WANT that kind of fascistic, oppressive thinking to become the norm, because that means our democracy has been weakened. If the US (or any enemy of terrorists who wish to create oppressive regimes like Al-Qaeda) gives up on its democratic ideals, that's a victory because they can point at it and go "Allah did not bless their democracy, because it did not follow the tenets of Allah's law. Now put your burkah on, bitch."

In short, they WANT silly little bitches like this to freak out every time they see an Arab man, because of the way they will react. Every time they "oppress" or hassle another innocent Arab man, that's one more potential convert or at least a sympathizer. Terrorism is a weapon in the battle for the hearts and minds. Destrcution is the tool, fear is the goal.

I'd say we're about 50-50 right now.

[MrHat]

Racial profiling makes logical sense, but in application it causes more terrorism than it prevents.    Despite what one's ego might suggest, sadly fascism has time and time again proven failed experiment versus the human spirit.   Maybe if we had chips in the back of neck, Syndicate style, but who would like to volunteer for first fittings?

These people would:


Clubbers in Spain are choosing to receive a microchip implant instead of carrying a membership card. It is the latest and perhaps the most unlikely of uses for implantable radio frequency ID chips.

Good times.

[HaemishM]

That kind of thing will become much more prevalent, but it'll take a while for the real privacy paranoids to accept that the chip won't be used to spy on their closet furry games.

[Arcadian Del Sol]

After a handful of squadrons in which all planes were piloted by asian men, decimated our Pacific Navy, we instituted racial profiling by warehousing all our Japanese (and Chinese!) Americans into military bases.

Fear racial profiling. Its bad medicine whose side-effects are twice as deadly as the illness they promise to cure.

[Alkiera]

That kind of thing will become much more prevalent, but it'll take a while for the real privacy paranoids to accept that the chip won't be used to spy on their closet furry games.

You mean these people?

--
Alkiera

[daveNYC]

That kind of thing will become much more prevalent, but it'll take a while for the real privacy paranoids to accept that the chip won't be used to spy on their closet furry games.

I'd be more worried about getting signed up for the Pottery Barn catalog by just walking by the store.

[HaemishM]

That kind of thing will become much more prevalent, but it'll take a while for the real privacy paranoids to accept that the chip won't be used to spy on their closet furry games.

You mean these people?

Holy Fuck. Yeah, those people.

1. With today's bar code technology, every can of Coke has the same UPC or bar code number as every other can (a can of Coke in Toronto has the same number as a can of Coke in Topeka). With RFID, each individual can of Coke would have a unique ID number which could be linked to the person buying it when they scan a credit card or a frequent shopper card (i.e., an "item registration system").

2. Unlike a bar code, these chips can be read from a distance, right through your clothes, wallet, backpack or purse -- without your knowledge or consent -- by anybody with the right reader device. In a way, it gives strangers x-ray vision powers to spy on you, to identify both you and the things you're wearing and carrying.

3. Unlike the bar code, RFID could be bad for your health. RFID supporters envision a world where RFID reader devices are everywhere - in stores, in floors, in doorways, on airplanes -- even in the refrigerators and medicine cabinets of our own homes. In such a world, we and our children would be continually bombarded with electromagnetic energy. Researchers do not know the long-term health effects of chronic exposure to the energy emitted by these reader devices.

Don't they know you can defeat these electromagnetic rays with tinfoil?

[Murgos]

1.  When you buy a can of coke at the grocery store and pay for it with any method other than cash you could already be tracked as a 'coke drinker'.  Why aren't you?  NO ONE CARES.

2.  Unlike just looking at you and reading the Levi label on your jeans?  Or the Nike swoosh on your shoes?

3.  Radio waves are all around you already every minute of every day.  You can test this at home by turning on your radio.

All that said I have some issues with RFID but more along the lines of being bombarded with advertising that 'thinks' it knows what you want.

edit: I love this one:

Gillette is leading the pack, and recently placed an order for up to 500 million RFID tags from a company called "Alien Technology" (we kid you not).

[daveNYC]

They're probably overreacting, but if someone had told me ten years ago that people would be buying cellular phones as fashion accessories I'd have laughed at them too.

[Murgos]

I'm not bothered by the fact that they're overreacting, it bothers me that they are overreacting to trivialities.

Come up with a real issue with RFID and then blow up about it.  But screaming about radio waves?  Gimmie a break.

[Dark Vengeance]

http://thecrowshow.com/swf/squoosh.htm

How many white people do you see in this game? Just sayin'.

Racial profiling is morally objectionable, but has some measure of practicality if used intelligently....just like most forms of profiling.

Yes, this lady is probably a kook, but 14 Sysrians with instrument cases is a little odd....if nothing else, who the fuck has ever heard of a 14 piece Syrian band with enough notoriety to land a gig in the US? I'd be a little antsy if each of those same 14 people started going into the same restroom one right after the other. The McDonalds bag and the little red book are certainly no more cause for suspicion than what she had already seen.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[Alluvian]

I welcome RFID with wide open arms.  When I can wheel my cart up to the checkout line, have it display all the items in the cart, the unit prices, and the total without me having to take anything out of my cart, my life has just gotten a hell of a lot better.

Taking groceries off the shelf, into the cart, out of the cart, across the register, into bags, back into cart, out of cart, into car, out of car into house, off the floor/counter into fridge/cabinets is just fucking annoying.  Removing a few of those steps along the way would be wonderful.  As far as bags, I imagine there would be bag dispensers around the store and you would bag them as you take them off the shelf.

At the local wallmart and a few other stores I see they have the help yourself checkout lines where you scan your own stuff... But it is the dumbest thing I have ever seen, because each fucking station STILL has a clerk watching you like you are about to steal some cans of soup.  What is the point anyway?

[HaemishM]

When in Connecticut last week, I saw the self-checkout lines at Stop-n-Shop, and went through one. They didn't have a clerk for every line, but they did have a roaming clerk you could ask for help. The asking for help part took up enough time (especially on produce items) that it seemed not much labor cost or time was saved. For pre-packaged items, though, I imagine it's a great deal faster.

[WayAbvPar]

I *heart* the self-checkout stations. I do it nearly every day at lunch at QFC- they have 4 stations, with 1 clerk in between to monitor them. It works like a charm, and I don't have to make small talk with someone while we are waiting on the debit card approval.

I am with Alluvian- bring the RFID on! It would be nice to have a running total on my shopping cart, for instance.

[Dark Vengeance]

Well, you could get RFID chips in every item, and a scanner on every entrance/exit in the building....plus an RFID chip implanted in the body that would deduct the funds from your bank account. There would need to be measures to prevent people from walking out with items they couldn't afford, or applying any overage against a singular personal line of credit.

Of course, such a scenario would be remarkably close to the "mark of the beast" as foretold in the Bible....particularly as it would dictate who is able to participate in commerce. My guess is that a big chunk of religious folks will fight tooth and nail against such a system for that very reason.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

[HaemishM]

My guess is that a big chunk of religious folks will fight tooth and nail against such a system for that very reason.

Then I can walk around these stuck-up prigs displaying my RFID chip mark on my arm saying "I'm THE DEVIL! THE DEVIL!!! LAJOJa3#r5#RUE"

Now that's fun you can't buy.

[daveNYC]

Isn't the Mark of the Beast supposed to be on the forehead or something?

[Paelos]

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

[daveNYC]

Ah, career chips.

[Alluvian]

Well, you could get RFID chips in every item, and a scanner on every entrance/exit in the building....plus an RFID chip implanted in the body that would deduct the funds from your bank account. There would need to be measures to prevent people from walking out with items they couldn't afford, or applying any overage against a singular personal line of credit.

Of course, such a scenario would be remarkably close to the "mark of the beast" as foretold in the Bible....particularly as it would dictate who is able to participate in commerce. My guess is that a big chunk of religious folks will fight tooth and nail against such a system for that very reason.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

I am not thinking about implanted RFID chips at this point.  But lines like the current self checkout lines.  You pull your cart up to a terminal, it scans your cart, lists all the items so you can see if there is a mistake or a pricecheck problem, then you insert your credit/debit card and pay like you nomally do.  No new problems manifesting, no new banking/credit infrastructure required.

Implanting things like RFID chips is abit too much at this time for society I think, and not really needed or productive either.

I will stick with the only implanted RFID chips being the ones in our pets that have our address information for the pound to contact us if they ever get lost.

[geldonyetich]

Course', the chips in Syndicate did more than just mark people for easy tracking.   They were installed in the back of the next and actually overrode their very mind.   They were combination addictive drug (as the chips could change people's perceptions to make them think life is great) and control device (capable of turning people into meat puppets for the Syndicate bosses to do their dirty work).

One hopes that this vision remains firmly mired in Science Fiction.  However, it would be a way in which fascism could be successful considering the human spirit to rebel (by destroying that spirit entirely).