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TIPS_FOR_T

                                             February 20, 2007
                                             July     15, 2007
The hacker-culture radio show at WBAI,
"Off the Hook", has a running joke:

   Someone starts making fun of yet
   another inane government move to
   suppress a hypothetical terrorist      Bruce Schneier calls these
   threat.                                "movie plot threats".

   They immediately begin thinking           Imaginative scenarios,
   out loud -- but why would a               ungrounded in reality.
   terrorist need to do that?
   If they wanted to ___, they
   could just go and do ___.

     At which point, the moderator
     ("Emmanual Goldstein") interrupts:
     "Why does this show always
     deteriorate into 'Tips for Terrorists'?"


This is a real problem for any educated
person delving into these issues.

For example, I'm long been of the
opinion that "airport security" is a
joke...  And I think it's *still* a
joke, *even now*: I suspect I'd have no
trouble getting any number of weapons
on board a plane.

  But I'm reluctant to explain the
  methods.  It would seem that they
  should be obvious to any technically
  trained person who cared to think
  about it...

        But you know, maybe
        terrorists really aren't
        the brightest bulbs
        around -- dedicated, yes,
        but smart, maybe not.

        My complaints about the idiocy
        we're subjected to could end
        up giving someone ideas --

           (And with the current
           regime in power, I could be
           subjected to an arbitrary
           amount of harrasment before
           finally -- one hopes --
           getting my "free speech"
           rights recognized.)


       And so, the idiocy remains.

       We continue to contort our
       lives, possibly feeling a little      All to make things
       better because "we've got to do       harder on the twits
       *something*!", but getting no         that can't think
       real safety benefit.                  up a threat-model
                                             that we haven't covered.

           Not a good
           dilemma to
           be in.

              And -- I suspect --
              it's not a good
              bargain that we're
              making.

                Trading off real freedoms
                for symbolic security.




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