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That assumes you have a perfect list of who's a security risk and who's not, and the TSA is not Santa. The 9/11 hijackers boarded with their real names, and in
by geofft 6y ago
That assumes you have a perfect list of who's a security risk and who's not, and the TSA is not Santa. The 9/11 hijackers boarded with their real names, and in practice there are plenty of easy ways around this, like radicalizing someone.
- refurb 6y agoWhy does it have to be perfect? It could still be effective if it stops 50% of security risks.
- geofft 6y agoBecause in a free society, a system that stops crimes half of the time and arbitrarily denies people their rights half the time is considered unjust. Would it be okay for police to stop suspicious-looking people on the streets and ask them for ID and run background checks if it caught criminals 50% of the time?
- mixmastamyk 6y agoThere’s no proof it stops even 2%. Anyone with a week’s preparation could defeat it. Yet the innocent will be punished every day. Remember the German pilot who crashed on purpose? Good thing they had ids on everyone.
- refurb 6y agoWell, we know screening luggage is useless too, as the TSA doesn’t catch 10% during tests. So we should just let anyone into a plane with no screening at all?
- compiler-guy 6y agoAs long as they have no weapons, we should let anyone on a plane that has a ticket.
- refurb 6y agoHow do you supposed we check for weapons? Seems like everything thinks current checks are "security theatre" and do absolutely nothing.
- compiler-guy 6y agoShowing your id does absolutely nothing to prevent weapons from getting on the plane. If you are so dangerous that your mere identity is enough to prevent you from getting on a plane, then you need to be arrested. Identity is extremely easy to fake. If you are planning in such a way that you have a realistic chance of hijacking a plane, getting a fake ID good enough to fool the two-second check at the TSA checkpoint is the least of your problems. There is some argument that a properly built luggage and human screening system could actually prevent weapons from making it on the plane. But ID doesn't really come into it. But even if we can't develop a system that prevents weapons from getting on planes, it doesn't follow the id checks would be a suitable alternative.
- refurb 6y agoBut even if we can't develop a system that prevents weapons from getting on planes, it doesn't follow the id checks would be a suitable alternative. I never said it was. Everyone tells me the TSA can't even stop bombs or guns from being brought on, so let's skip that. ID doesn't help, so let's skip that. So my question is - do we just let people board without any checks at all?
- chillacy 6y agoI don't understand, if you actually assume that ID screening is actually 100% useless (in reality it probably has some reduction), you wouldn't screen at all yes. If you disagree with the premise that ID screening is 100% useless, then dig up some evidence of its effectiveness.