Posts tagged ‘Bruce Schneier’
We have one network in the world today. Either we build our communications infrastructure for surveillance, or we build it for security. Either everyone gets to spy, or no one gets to spy. That’s our choice, with the Internet, with cell phone networks, with everything.
Tags: 8UbImuwXfL4, Bruce Schneier, encryption, GhWJTWUvc7E, police state, security theater
A couple of weeks ago, I was scheduled to take a trip from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles on JetBlue. Every year, my family goes on a one-week pilgrimage, where we put our work on hold and spend time visiting temples, praying, and spending time with family and friends. To my Jewish friends, I often explain this trip as vaguely similar to the Sabbath, except we take one week of rest per year, rather than one day per week.
Our family is not Muslim, but by coincidence, this year, our trip happened to be during the last week of Ramadan.
. . .
The onslaught of NYPD agents was broken when a South Asian man with a Homeland Security badge walked in and said something that sounded unintelligible. After a second, I realized he was speaking Hindi.“Sorry, I don’t speak Hindi.”
“Oh!” he said, noticeably surprised at how “Americanized” this suspect was. We chatted for a few moments, during which time I learned that his family was Pakistani, and that he was Muslim, though he was not fasting for Ramadan. He asked me the standard repertoire of questions that I had been answering for other agents all day.
Finally, the FBI agent returned.
“How are you feeling right now?” he asked. I wasn’t sure if he was expressing genuine concern or interrogating me further, but by this point, I had very little energy left.
“A bit nauseous, and very thirsty.”
“You’ll have to understand, when a person of your… background walks into here, travelling alone, and sets off our alarms, people start to get a bit nervous. I’m sure you’ve been following what’s been going on in the news recently. You’ve got people from five different branches of government all in here – we don’t do this just for fun.”
Tags: 63e8v7lXDoM, 6QkRgV8v31E, Bruce Schneier, cPIf0V8wv2U, Ozymandias, police state, security theater, TSA
Should airlines show only G movies during flights that have kids on board? Wouldn’t that be unfair to adults traveling without children? And what about families who have a total no-movie, no-media policy and don’t want their children watching anything at all? After all, what one parent deems permissible for their child may be against another parent’s rules. I know I would have been angry, not only if the movie being shown was inappropriate for kids per its rating, but inappropriate for MY kid according to MY maternal barometer. Does that mean airlines should stop showing films entirely? Or should they all adopt single-screens (at a cost to all of us, of course)?
Plane Diverted After Family Complains In-Flight Movie Is Inappropriate for Kids
Our answer is easy: don’t fly. Why teach your children to meekly accept authority from government agents engaged in security theater? And if you do fly, avoid airlines like United where delicate flowers (such as the “captain” of the United flight above) are in command.
Tags: Bruce Schneier, GC5NBGx00H4, security theater, United Airlines, wQJC2MMB8nA, wu2yzPYGsfk
[Bruce Schnier:] Without trust, society collapses. And without societal pressures, there’s no trust.
. . .
As an individual, what security threats scare you the most?[Bruce Schnier:] My primary concerns are threats from the powerful. I’m not worried about criminals, even organised crime. Or terrorists, even organised terrorists. Those groups have always existed, always will, and they’ll always operate on the fringes of society. Societal pressures have done a good job of keeping them that way. It’s much more dangerous when those in power use that power to subvert trust. Specifically, I am thinking of governments and corporations.
Schneier on Security (blog)
Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs to Thrive (Google Books)
The TSA’s mission is to make them look good and to keep them viable, to get more money. Kind of like drug “warriors”. Jokes.
Tags: 3VA4EyT4ezE, Bruce Schneier, drug war, hgEQfDV6NnQ, security theater, TSA
