Example number 1.
It’s pretty much impossible for any good to come of this. It’s going to be really, really expensive (it’s already expensive to dispose of all the collected cigarette lighters), and the bad guys will simply do something different. It’s really frustrating to see a terrorist threat cause so much panic and overreaction. Imagine if a terrorst threatened to drive a car at high speeds into a crowded outdoor area, playing GTA with the pedestrians and all nearby speed limits were lowered in response to 15 miles per hour. Oh, and one was a highway. It won’t actually stop a terrorist who wants to kill all those people, he’ll just do it in a slightly different way that evades whatever detection or restrictions you set up, and it annoys the crap out of everybody else. That’s basically what you’ve got here.
Heck, it’s possible to mold explosives into plastic. So all you have to do is make a laptop entirely of molded explosive and you don’t need fake liquids.
This “security-through-paranoia” is getting really old. I actually like to travel when I don’t feel like I’m entering a jail to do so, but this may impact my travel plans in the future. As if the airlines weren’t already struggling enough financially and we had to go and enact some capital retardation like this.
Nice post. But you’ll only have to delay your travel plans until after November, because the terrorists are only a threat in the few months before the elections every two years.
Left by Rehmeyer on August 13th, 2006
It does make one wonder. To bad Jaime and I want to travel to china in early november. Might be perfect timing for some further restrictions…
Hopefully people will realize what sort of things actually do help and not put up with futile protection measures.
Speaking of which — the head of canada’s spy organization apparently thinks racial profiling is “fundamentally stupid“.
While it’s got a lot of flaws, it certainly more effective than, say, not allowing toothpaste on a plane, and can be a useful factor as a piece of an overall analysis (a piece only though, never alone is racial profiling useful). In case you need convincing, take a look at photos of all of the 9/11 hijackers or folks arrested in the most recent terrorist scare. Assuming, of course, that the folks recently arrested weren’t totally set up. I doubt they’re actually innocent, though I do have to say, “I agree with Eric” that the timing is interesting.
Left by Jordan on August 16th, 2006
It was all bullshit anyway, unless British luggage screeners let a full-on chemistry set slip onboard undetected.
Dimethylmercury, which the article I linked to mentions at the end, is scary as balls, though.
Left by John B on August 23rd, 2006