Core Dump

Once again, let me quote a recent Bruce Schneier blog post:

The recently publicized terrorist plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, like so many of the terrorist plots over the past few years, is a study in alarmism and incompetence: on the part of the terrorists, our government and the press.

Terrorism is a real threat, and one that needs to be addressed by appropriate means. But allowing ourselves to be terrorized by wannabe terrorists and unrealistic plots — and worse, allowing our essential freedoms to be lost by using them as an excuse — is wrong.

Apparently someone was thinking about maybe, possibly blowing up some fuel tanks at JFK Airport. Never mind that they are well-protected tanks, and that blowing them up would do basically nothing (the pipelines shut off automatically in the event of fire), or that the tanks couldn’t be really “blown up” because they are enclosed and there’s no oxygen to fuel a fire. I mean, the person in question didn’t even have a map of the freakin’ airport.

You couldn’t tell that from the press reports, though. “The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable,” U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it “one of the most chilling plots imaginable.” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) added, “It had the potential to be another 9/11.”

Thanks for scaring the crap out of people, guys. Real reassuring.

The only voice of reason out there seemed to be New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said: “There are lots of threats to you in the world. There’s the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can’t sit there and worry about everything. Get a life…. You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist.”

And he was widely excoriated for it.

This is the world we live in. As I have said before, with this kind of attitude, the terrorists have basically already won – we’ve been terrorized and are now living in fear, which is exactly what they wanted. And if you don’t think that this is something you should be very concerned about, just consider this:

Arresting people before they’ve carried out their plans means trying to prove intent, which rapidly slips into the province of thought crime.

Big Brother is watching you.

I refuse to be terrorized, and I won’t have this country evolve into a “Big Brother” society. Will you?

Let me let Bruce Schneier sum it up for you:

The Department of Homeland Security has published draft rules regarding REAL ID, and are requesting comments. Comments are due today, by 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Please, please, please, go to this Privacy Coalition site and submit your comments. The DHS has been making a big deal about the fact that so few people are commenting, and we need to prove them wrong.

Please people – for the love of God – send in a comment about how utterly wrong this whole idea is. Here is the letter I sent in:

Department of Homeland Security
Attn: NAC 1-12037
Washington, D.C. 20538
RE: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DHS-2006-0030

Dear Secretary Chertoff:

Because a successful implementation of the REAL ID Act creates a de facto national identification system, I write to urge the agency to withdraw the regulations and seek repeal of the REAL ID Act. This attempt to create rules for the establishment of a national identification system is unlawful for the following reasons:

1. The law that created the Department of Homeland Security prohibited a national identification system. By trying to implement REAL ID, the Department of Homeland Security is breaking the law and violating the public trust.

2. The plan will create a massive national identification system without consideration for privacy and security safeguards. It will make it easy for identity thieves, stalkers, and corrupt officials to get access to such personal information as a home address, age, Social Security number, and a digital photo.

3. The regulations endanger the privacy of domestic violence survivors’ personal information, exposing them to stalkers in all 50 states.

Furthermore, it should be obvious that the intended purpose of the REAL ID Act, to “improve the security and lessen the vulnerability of federal buildings, nuclear facilities, and aircraft to terrorist attack,” cannot be realized through this legislation. Knowledge of IDENTITY does not give us knowledge of INTENT.

Respectfully submitted,

Keith M. Survell

Take action. Don’t sit on this. Make your voice heard – in this case, it can be! Don’t let the United States of America become a police state. A national ID is wrong and is counter to the principles upon which this country was founded. This act must be stopped!

TrueCrypt – Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows XP/2000 and Linux

I think this is GREAT software. The ability to make encrypted disks anywhere on your computer (or USB memory device) is a boon to security nuts like me. And the encryption that’s available from this software is very, very good. (As an added bonus, it’s open source – so you can be sure the government hasn’t put any secret back doors in there!)

A great new article up on Bruce Schneier’s blog:

“A reliance on ID cards is based on a dangerous security myth, that if only we knew who everyone was, we could pick the bad guys out of the crowd.”

WHEN will people understand this? I, for one, am glad that Maine is standing up to it – and from what I hear, other states (including my new best friend state, New Hampshire) are doing the same. Well done!

This just blows my mind – a story of how FedEx wouldn’t ship some (empty) containers simply because they were labeled (humorously) as “rocket fuel” or “N2″ (Nitrogen). From the post:

I sympathize with people who aren’t making very much and are probably forced to comply with arcane corporate rules and who have to deal with weirdoes coming in with cans labeled “Rocket Fuel.” I really do. But… c’mon. How much effort is involved in *not* being part of the common-sense-negating, spirit-crushing, Bush-era fear-slash-stupidity machine? The terrorists win again.

Indeed.