Security First, Requirements Later

I find it interesting to watch the mad rush to beef up security at the US border points without any real thought to requirements.

Sure, keep out the baddies.

But, how exactly? There is the constantly escalating method or there could some semblance of a plan?

From IDG Norway:

News continues to worsen for business travelers carrying sensitive information. In a troubling ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can continue its practice of warrantless searches through computer data held by U.S. citizens and foreigners alike. With no cause or suspicion, the CBP may inspect, copy or seize data devices carried by anyone returning to the U.S. I’m not convinced that passive compliance is the best response to this situation.

The CBP put its best nonlinear thinkers to work on the case, convincing the court that the doctrine of routine border inspections to “prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering [the U.S.]” can rightly be served by searches for expressive thought and personal communication. In keeping with a common pattern in which privacy rights are eroded, the CBP used a child porn suspect as a test case — in which there was probable cause and reasonable suspicion based on other factors — to justify why probable cause and reasonable suspicion would be unnecessary for the entire traveling populace.

So, by running in circles waving our hands in the air are we providing better security? Or have we played into the ne’er do wells hands? Heck, even Nelson Mandela is on a terrorist watch list.

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