4 ms·
No fan of the TSA, but this is a reach. There was another (better) article about this explaining that tightly packed books appear on x-ray scans as big solid op
by iamnothere 9y ago
No fan of the TSA, but this is a reach. There was another (better) article about this explaining that tightly packed books appear on x-ray scans as big solid opaque blobs. This makes it difficult to distinguish them from chemical material.
The TSA has 1001 ways to harass you for whatever they want, and that sucks. This won't make that situation any better. That said, I'm tired of "speculative journalism" pieces that attempt to paint the worst possible scenario imaginable in order to raise people's fear level or (in this case perhaps) to gin up donations from supporters.
- RhodesianHunter 9y agoThe point is not that the TSA wants to or even ever will use your reading material against you in some way. The point is the slow and steady erosion of privacy rights one tiny inch at a time. In the far future when a government DOES decide to use these things against its people, they will have no defense against it because the practice has become a long accepted fact of life.
- iamnothere 9y agoI do agree with the ACLU's mission and with the notion that privacy rights are being eroded. At the same time, I personally feel that this kind of polemic is becoming so common that its usage risks numbing us to the biggest risks. (If everything is an emergency, then nothing is.) Criticism is possible without relying on cheap speculation and exaggeration.
- clamprecht 9y agoHere's a time saver: Any news article whose title contains the word "could" or "may", is probably speculative and not worth reading. If the article is about a cure for cancer, it's 99.9% probably not worth reading.
- navbaker 9y agoI read a similar time saver quite some time ago that posited that if an article headline is asking a question, the answer is usually "no".
- __derek__ 9y agoThis post details two possible justifications for this action. It then offers civil liberties-friendly recommendations for conducting such screening. That seems directly in-line with the ACLU's mission. It's cheaper to have policies implemented correctly from the outset than to rely on lawsuits when they're overly broad.
- iamnothere 9y agoI do appreciate that part of the article; I was just taking issue with the speculative, fearmongering aspect of it. Normally I wouldn't even say anything. I think I just hit some kind of limit. Maybe I need a break from media!