I heard about it on the radio and then I found this story online. This is the story of a guy who, uh, dropped his iPod in the toilet by accident and the outcome. It’s a funny story, but it highlights the increased fear that we all have because of terrorism.
Declan McCullagh of Politech and CNET News.com has an article at News.com about a Turkish hacker that provided information that has lead to the arrest and conviction of two U.S. citizens on child porn charges.
While I applaud the conviction of two pedophiles, what I find interesting is that one man has found a way to take matters into his own hands. Technology often creates opportunities for advances in culture and society that the law (and law enforcement) have a difficult time keeping up with. It is clear that law makers, while acting with good intention, create flawed laws that lack clarity and enforcibility with the potential for misapplication.
One man, acting alone, took it upon himself to use tools that are normally used maliciously for a good purpose. I am not saying that the ends justify the means, obviously we live in a world that has rules - be they right or wrong - and the rules have been created by society (in the case of the U.S. through our legislative system) in order protect society from its fringe elements. Society must find a quicker way dealing with those fringe elements that cause damage while protecting the freedom that we all enjoy.
That said, it’s pretty cool that a hacker got a couple of pedophiles convicted of a crime.
Wow.
Really, all I can say is wow. I don’t even know what else say about yesterdays news that several suspected terrorists were arrested in England and that there was even someone arrested in Pakistan.
Now we have increased security at airports. Water, cologne, makeup, and toothpaste have all become suspect. Some airlines have even begun to ban cell phones, iPods, laptop computers, and portable game systems.
It makes me wonder how much freedom and liberty we will give up for the appearance of safety. I’ve already had a friend, who just happens to have a skin color other than white, be subjected to a secondary screening on his way back from a business trip. It is unfortunate that we have a group to victimize, a group that can become isolated and treated like pariahs, a group that we can readily profile.
While we should be focusing on “subjects of interest” not the everyday business traveller, the unfortunate fact is that in the current situation profiling is a valid tool. Is it realistic to think an 80 year old white woman with a bottle of water is going to blow up an airplane? It would be much more realistic to think (unfortunately so) that a 20 - 35 year old man with a beard and darker skin is a terrorist. Unless you include one little fact that I heard briefly on the radio today - 2 women and a few white guys were among the 24 people arrested in the England.
So, what’s the answer? I think we go about things normally. We let the terrorists know that we can continue to go about our lives in a normal manner without fear. They are attempting strike fear into our hearts. We need to reject their fear mongering and continue as normal. Governments can increase their intelligence gathering, but the citizenry needs to continue as normal.
We also need to avoid causing division within our communities by treating the other people around us like untouchable criminals just because their religion, country of origin or skin color is different than our own.
