Suspected Terrorist?

I ran across this website a little while back, and while I found the writer John Gilmore a little on the stubborn-for-the-sake-of-being-stubborn side, he does make some good points.
Gilmore was recently involved in an incident on a British Airways flight for refusing to remove a lapel pin that read "Suspected Terrorist". His reason for wearing the pin is this;

"it refers to all of us, everyone, being suspected of being terrorists, being searched without cause, being queued in lines and pens, forced to take our shoes off, to identify ourselves, to be x-rayed and chemically sniffed, to drink our own breast milk, to submit to indignities. Everyone is a suspected terrorist in today's America, including all the innocent people, and that's wrong."

Do the current restrictions on travel serve as a sign of future rights to be lost and restrictions to be imposed as the government feels necessary? Is this an erosion of our rights to travel unimpeded, or a necessary step to prevent us from becoming a nation held at bay by terrorism?
Myself, while I find the screenings to be a little intrusive and degrading, I can't help but wonder if they are really the only way to insure security.
I began to think about this more after he was interviewed in this month's issue of a popular men's magazine(sorry, no link).

Thoughts?


Peace,
BG

i say we all walk about with pins saying it.. it doesnt change anything one bit, he is only stating the obvious.. people just ignore it.. sooner or later we are going to have no rights what so ever because we are all suspected terrorists...

thats when the fun starts...

absolutly anybody could be a terrorist... anyway what the hell is a terrorist?

seams to me it becoming somebody who doesnt agree with the goverment...

i should walk about saying suspected open minded person?

is that going to make me more dangerous because i make it obvious i think for myself...

the world has gone completely crazy...

never mind the world lasting my life time.. ill be suprised if it lasts another 10 years..

You should Strip all passengers naked
and issue them disposable paper suits
after a good ol body cavity search
There is no right to travel
Weve Already Relinquished ALL Our Rights
Patriot Act
Welcome to the party

Whats wrong with searches in airports? They had x-rays and bomb-sniffing dogs for years.


And wearing that pin in a airport was in poor taste. The employees still remember the tension in the airport when 9/11 happened (they probably had it harder than most of us). It would be like me wearing a shirt saying "Suspected rapist" in a rape victim support group or something.

[Edited on 2-11-2003 by gooking]

Originally posted by gooking
Whats wrong with searches in airports? They had x-rays and bomb-sniffing dogs for years.

I agree, but what we have now goes beyond a simple x-ray and search. For example, There is new technology called "back-scatter x-ray" proposed for use in American airports.
link

"Why would ASL pursue such impractical technologies? �Part of the job is figuring out how to integrate security into airport traffic flow without compromising customer service,� Null says, pointing to a �back-scatter� X-ray machine currently undergoing pilot testing in airports.
Backscatter X-ray technology uses X-rays that can penetrate clothing, but not skin, to create an image of what a person might conceal under his or her clothing. The process takes about five minutes, but clearly reveals objects hidden in clothing. Unfortunately, the technology also images an essentially nude body."

A bit of an invasion of privacy if you asked me.

Peace,
BG

The FBI now has the right to look at your last name and decide, �I don�t like the sound of that,� barge into your home unannounced and take any possessions of yours that they�d like. If they find something they don�t like in your home, they haul you off to prison without telling you why. At least you used to be able to check the search warrant to see if the name on the paper was right or the address was correct. Not anymore. They don�t eve need a search warrant. They go to a judge before they knock on your door, but he or she doesn�t even have the right to say, �No. You can�t go there.�

In prison, you are detained for an unknown amount of time�no access to council, no expected trial date. Basically, any rights you thought you had are revoked. And what�s worse is if you are truly innocent, you have to deal with all of these circumstances for as long as the guilty people do.

Besides using your last name as �evidence,� they can barge into a library and demand to see a list of people who checked out a certain book. Brown mentioned this in his article. Let�s say I checked out a hypothetical book called, Our Mission to Impeach Bush and Ashcroft.� They can haul me off to wherever they take people. Just for writing this opinion, they can come and get me if they choose to.

In fact, a college student had a poster on her wall, which expressed some negative opinion of George Bush. Someone leaked to the FBI, and they stormed into her apartment and detained her while they dug into all of her personal records.

Another story is about a Muslim college student who left the country to travel on vacation. When he returned, the security guards searched him extensively. They found a pay stub from three years before. Basically, he wasn�t allowed to be working at that time in his life, but before he started working, the university cleared him. The FBI detained him. His choices were to either be deported without the chance to return to the country for 10 years, or leave voluntarily and have a chance of returning to America at a later, unknown date. What does this have to do with terrorism?

People, this is just the beginning. There are stories upon stories of people stripped of their rights and citizens of the United States deported for no reason. And, it�s all because our president, George Bush, and his good friend, Attorney General, John Ashcroft.

�This is unacceptable, and we�re not going to stand for it.�

____________________________________________
It�s not going to be an easy fight, but the more we push and push, the more we can make a difference. Good things are happening slowly,
We have an advantage because we�re already in a huge group.


[Edited on 2-11-2003 by ALLEGIANCE]