The right balance... is not what we get
This is the not the first time I found "inspiration" from LastKnight.
[ 'UnderWHERE', CC picture by J.Star ]
This time he quotes Cory Doctorow (one of the guy behind boingboing) about "Security and the statistics of rare events":
This is the same calculus that allows the fear of terrorism to take away our liberty: the statistically super-rare terrorist attacks present, on average, a much lower risk to our health, safety and person than, say, depriving us of our liquid medications, or of requiring us to leave our bags unlocked in flight so that sticky-fingered handlers can make off with our laptops and financial data and valuables.
The everyday threat of having our goods stolen, our ability to travel and earn our livings curtailed, and our personal information harvested by every junior terrorist fighter who wants to see your ID before letting you do anything is overshadowed by the one-in-a-billion confluence of someone with terrorist goals, the means to accomplish them, and the intelligence to bring them off (hint: you can’t really blow up an airplane with hair-gel and iPods).
He's completely right: they (the policy makers) let the citizen face daily the fear of a very-rare attack and they manage to take your rights apart.
We can't board liquid on a plane because the british secret service blanketed a terrorist attack where the bad guys planned to use some mysterious liquid explosive (nitroglicerine anyone?). When you've to board a plane leaving for the US they control your shoes because some dumb-ass put explosives in his shoes and, during the flight, tried to blow the plane striking a match.
I just hope that no one will try to blow a plane with his underwear...
E invece c’e` da sperarci, che qualcuno provi a far saltare un aereo con le mutande. E poi coi calzini. E poi con i libri o meglio ancora con i portatili.
Perche` l’unica strada che vedo per tornare indietro da questo empasse di “sicurezza paranoide” e` esagerare e provocare una rivolta.