The land of the slave

[wildgoose]

By Jeffrey Denning

Just when you thought you’ve heard it all...

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

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/ ... r-peanuts/

[Universal_001]

[JCSkinner]

No laughing matter. They already fingerprint you when you enter their country and are currently seeking details about your job, credit card payments and so on.
As these sort of things disseminate, they'll add up to an end of air travel, I believe.
Conditions boarding, on planes and disboarding are now atrocious, air rage is an accelerating phenomenon, the whole experience reeks of a cattle truck experience. And now the EU are to take a 50 euro slice of every ticket, and the US wants to torture the passengers if they raise their voice.
Nothing to do with the cost of fuel or the effect of carbon emissions. Air travel will grind to a halt because it's literally becoming torture:

http://skinflicks.blogspot.com/2008/07/ ... wings.html

[Universal_001]

No laughing matter. They already fingerprint you when you enter their country and are currently seeking details about your job, credit card payments and so on.
As these sort of things disseminate, they'll add up to an end of air travel, I believe.
Conditions boarding, on planes and disboarding are now atrocious, air rage is an accelerating phenomenon, the whole experience reeks of a cattle truck experience. And now the EU are to take a 50 euro slice of every ticket, and the US wants to torture the passengers if they raise their voice.
Nothing to do with the cost of fuel or the effect of carbon emissions. Air travel will grind to a halt because it's literally becoming torture:

http://skinflicks.blogspot.com/2008/07/ ... wings.html

I think it's really funny actually
They rant all the time about freedom then pull this ************************...with a straght face! it's priceless!

[cyberianpan]

This is a silly season story, it is on a Wahington Times blog and the letter concerned is from a relatively junior official in Homeland Security to the vendor.

The thrust of the letter is on uses in temporary prisons at borders and prisoner transportation, he then throws in "In addition, it is conceivable to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes"

So at the end of a paragraph a junior civil servant has a stalinesque flight of fancy and it makes world headlines ?

cYp

[JCSkinner]

This is a silly season story, it is on a Wahington Times blog and the letter concerned is from a relatively junior official in Homeland Security to the vendor.

The thrust of the letter is on uses in temporary prisons at borders and prisoner transportation, he then throws in "In addition, it is conceivable to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes"

So at the end of a paragraph a junior civil servant has a stalinesque flight of fancy and it makes world headlines ?

cYp

You're misreading the situation. This is not silly season fare. This is a floater, to see what the response would be to the proposal. Hence it emanates from a mid-level official so that it can be withdrawn by higher-ups if the reaction is sufficiently negative, which is currently is.
But this will eventually be introduced, I have little doubt, unless there is a serious change of attitude at institutional level in Washington towards what they actually require to feel secure.
It's no more of an imposition on civil liberties (arguably less) than fingerprinting innocent people, demanding personal details about their lives which they have no legitimate reason to demand, or indeed kidnapping people in other countries and shipping them to a torture chamber without trial.

[wildgoose]

You're misreading the situation. This is not silly season fare. This is a floater, to see what the response would be to the proposal. Hence it emanates from a mid-level official so that it can be withdrawn by higher-ups if the reaction is sufficiently negative, which is currently is.
But this will eventually be introduced, I have little doubt, unless there is a serious change of attitude at institutional level in Washington towards what they actually require to feel secure.
It's no more of an imposition on civil liberties (arguably less) than fingerprinting innocent people, demanding personal details about their lives which they have no legitimate reason to demand, or indeed kidnapping people in other countries and shipping them to a torture chamber without trial.

If nobody criticised this it would probably grow into something bigger and then maybe could end up on passengers' arms.
But if there is criticism it will end up as the ridiculous idea it is.
Too bad some of the other bad ideas like it managed to grow in the dark, at least this one is public.