Friday, July 22, 2005
SECURITY: Gah. You know, I realize terrorism is scary but for pete's sake, let's not all lose our minds. NY cops are now going to start searching random people's bags on the subway. All in the name of "stopping terrorists." This post by Bruce Schneier is, as usual, a good and sober commentary on the issue. He and the commentors below the post make some excellent points.
Beyond all the other problems with this scheme, none of which are small, people are missing one important fact about terror bombings. The point of a bombing on a subway is not to blow up the subway, it's to kill people. If I have a bag with a bomb in it and a cop stops me right at the entrance to the subway, why wouldn't I just blow the bomb right there? There will be lots of people around because a cop randomly searching people will cause a backup and a crowd just by being there. Plus I get the benefit of closing down the entrance to the subway for an unknown period while they repair any damage. And if I get through, which is the far more likely senario, I still get to blow up the bomb wherever I want.
Once again this is a pointless measure that puts us one more step down the road toward a police state.