Month: November 2010

I just realized the solution to all this security stupidity. A solution so simple, rational, and agreeable that it's basically guaranteed to never happen.

Let the people choose. A lot of people, including the TSA head, have claimed that if you let people choose they'd choose the invasive security measures. So let's let people choose. Just not between no security and invasive security. Let people choose between the invasive security and the metal detector + luggage X-ray that we've used for years.

It's quite easy. Allow airlines to fly low-security and high-security flights. Allow the employees of the airline to choose which flights they'd like to fly. Run them out of separate terminals at the airports to keep security areas separate. For small airports designate the far-end as high-security and the closer end as low-security. You pass through low-security first, then high-security passengers continue through the enhanced screening to their gates.

Logically the low-security flights would cost less since all that screening costs a lot of money. Then we'd see how the American people really feel. For $10 more each way you can fly high-security. Problem solved.

If people really don't mind the added cost and hassle of the high-security flights then we can realistically expect the low-security flights to be empty. And if that happens, cancel the flights and reduce their frequency. I doubt that would be the case though. I imagine you'd find many people would be happy to take the cost reduction (and supposed security reduction) and get on the low-security flights while enjoying a greater level of freedom.

Sadly this solution is so simple, logical, and un-divisive that it will probably never happen. I'd happily fly again with such a setup.

Now that the cockpit doors are reinforced and locked from the inside hijacking is not a credible threat. The only remaining risk is almost entirely limited to those on board, so let them choose what level of security they want.

From KMOV 4 in St. Louis. Even if you are okay with the X-ray backscatter devices, you're not safe from the groping:

Business traveler, Penny Moroney, was flying home from St. Louis to Chicago. Like all other airline passengers, she had to go through security first. When the metal in her artificial knees set off the detectors, she had to undergo more screening. When Moroney asked if she could go through a body scanner, she was told none were available.

Moroney explains “Her gloved hands touched my breasts...went between them. Then she went into the top of my slacks, inserted her hands between my underwear and my skin... then put her hands up on outside of slacks, and patted my genitals.”

Why are there so many people that think this kind of screening is acceptable in order to board a plane? Why are people so afraid that everyone around them is a terrorist just waiting for an opportunity to kill them? Why do so many people say things like, "Anything that makes the plane safer is OK with me."? Yet these same people will happily walk into a grocery store, or mall, or church without any fear of the supposed terrorist threat. Do they really believe that terrorists only blow up planes and if no planes are available they'll simply stay home and take a nap?

The ability to travel is a Constitutionally guaranteed right. From Wikipedia's article on Freedom of Movement:

As far back as the circuit court ruling in Corfield v. Coryell, 6 Fed. Cas. 546 (1823), the Supreme Court recognized freedom of movement as a fundamental Constitutional right.

It is not a privilege. You shouldn't have to be either rich (private planes have no security) or willing to compromise other rights. We shouldn't have to choose between the right to freedom of movement and the right to be protected from unreasonable search. And yes, freedom of movement applies to all forms of transportation:

For much of American history, the right to travel included the right to travel by the vehicle of one's choice, and courts occasionally struck down regional regulations that required licenses or government permission to travel on public roadways. With the advent of the automobile, however, courts began upholding laws and regulations requiring licenses to operate vehicles on roadways. Constitutional scholar Roger Roots has referred to the forgotten right to travel without license as "the orphaned right."

Don't misunderstand me. I accept requiring driver's licenses as a matter of public safety. I accept requiring a reasonable measure of security for air travel. A metal detector resulted in no invasion of my personal privacy. It's a device which simply detects magnetic substances. I'd be perfectly happy to use a device that somehow detected explosive substances. And we had devices that supposed did exactly that. Remember the chemical sniffer devices that cost millions of dollars? What happened to them? They're gone with no reason or explanation given. Yet now we're spending a few hundred million more dollars on these new machines.

And this leads to another of the many problems with airport security. To use a favorite phrase of one of the CS Department professors: How do you know when you've won? That is, what's your metric for success? How do you know that the actions you've taken made a difference? Without a metric you have no evidence.

So what's the metric used to gauge whether new security procedures are working? The number of successful terrorist attacks carried out against planes? Well, that's been zero since 9/12/2001. So by that metric the security we had last year was perfectly safe. The number of deterred terrorist plots against planes? There's no way to measure that so it can't be used as a metric. The number of terrorists stopped because of airport security? That's also 0. The number of attempted terrorist attacks? This one sounds legitimate but is highly dependent on factors which can't be controlled (a priori efforts of law enforcement, terrorist recruitment levels, etc.) and thus you can't meaningfully compare the value from last year to value for next year.

I'd love to hear an admissible metric. Without one you may as well believe that my terrorist repellent works and just spray each passenger with it before they board the plane. Terrorists will break out in hives! 99.99999% accurate! Prove me wrong!

Hooray for Ron Paul, Congressman from Texas' 14th District. Today Paul introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act. (I haven't been able to find the text of the bill.)

Some quotes from his speech:

In one recent well-publicized case, a TSA official is recorded during an attempted body search saying, “By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights.” I strongly disagree and am sure I am not alone in believing that we Americans should never give up our rights in order to travel. As our Declaration of Independence states, our rights are inalienable. This TSA version of our rights looks more like the “rights” granted in the old Soviet Constitutions, where freedoms were granted to Soviet citizens -- right up to the moment the state decided to remove those freedoms.

My legislation is simple. It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us.