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Ah, fear and loathing… Though the Airport is the only contact that I have with The Department of Homeland Security (could they have picked a more fascistic term?) and I don’t fly often, I still find the DHS to be annoying. All of that ridiculous stuff about water bottles and no liquids or nail files would be funny, if it wasn’t so funny. But I’ve been thinking about this stuff as I am in the process of getting a security pass for the airport, for work reasons, and I am somewhat wary about giving such a dubious organization access to about the only personal information I have that isn’t already on file somewhere, my fingerprints. I didn’t even know until today that fingerprints are taken directly by
scanning, ugh.
But then, to continue the practice of making matters worse, my always reliable new source, Slashdot, directed me to this unsavory piece of information today:
A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.
This bracelet would:
• take the place of an airline boarding pass
• contain personal information about the traveler
• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage
• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes
That’s really great. Wearing control/shock bracelets just to take a plane ride. I don’t know why they don’t just make passengers unconscious and store them naked in locked caskets for the trip. Think of all the potential problems that would solve!
Anyway, you can read all about it here at the Washington Post:
Want some torture with your peanuts?
Not that I am completely anti-security… I think that metal detectors and lockable armored doors for cockpits are reasonable measures, but that’s about where I draw the line. All of this cataloging of people and excessive control measures can’t be leading us in a very good direction.