Pretty much since it's birth security experts such as Mr. Schneier have spoken out about how it's more or less a sham, Security Theatre being the preferred term, and over time the general attitude has been one of growing loathing and recognition of that fact... but it wasn't until the Backscatter scanners that people really started to speak out.
Mr. Schneier gives an excellent
summary of the situation so far. Airline personnel are refusing to cooperate, airports are seeking to use the opt-out provision to find private security, foreign airlines and nationals are demanding their countries refuse to cooperate with american security demands, and now regardless of the validity of his behavior
"Don't Grope Me Bro" has become a sort of Rosa Parks figure.
The problem is while we can probably all agree on the general incompetence of our current security... I don't think we can successfully
"Israelify" our system:
Quote:
"First, it's fast — there's almost no line. That's because they're not looking for liquids, they're not looking at your shoes. They're not looking for everything they look for in North America. They just look at you," said Sela. "Even today with the heightened security in North America, they will check your items to death. But they will never look at you, at how you behave. They will never look into your eyes ... and that's how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys."
That's the process — six layers, four hard, two soft. The goal at Ben-Gurion is to move fliers from the parking lot to the airport lounge in a maximum of 25 minutes.
This doesn't begin to cover the off-site security net that failed so spectacularly in targeting would-be Flight 253 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — intelligence. In Israel, Sela said, a coordinated intelligence gathering operation produces a constantly evolving series of threat analyses and vulnerability studies.
"There is absolutely no intelligence and threat analysis done in Canada or the United States," Sela said. "Absolutely none."
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I don't think our culture supports the process. i think that we don't even need to worry about the political corruption behind all of our Security Theatre because if we tried any sort of meaningful "Israelification" in America we'd have people suing left and right over profiling and privacy breaches. Even if we didn't we then DO need to deal with the political problems in the field, that its extremely convenient for a great many people to get everyone used to being bullied and afraid.
What do you guys think, am i being too pessimistic here? Does this backlash actually have a chance of accomplishing anything?
I wonder what effect it would have on the economy if the entire TSA just got put on hold in time for holiday travelling...