You don't need a particularly good crystal ball to foretell that the Underwear Bomber will jumpstart interest in biometrics security deployment.
But unlike retinal scan or voice recognition technologies that are relatively non-invasive, full-body scans are going to give the Transportation Security Administration (and its overseas agents) their clearest picture yet of every airline passenger with a U.S. destination.
Big-city mayors are making the politically astute move of calling for installation of body scanners at the country's busiest airports. What's less clear is whether this imaging technology can accurately detect toxic or dangerous chemicals that could be used in an onboard bomb.
False positives, the biggest drawback to biometrics in general, can be expected to add expense and delay to commercial travel. Just this week, authorities briefly shut down the airport in Bakersfield, Calif., when a jar of honey was mistaken for an incendiary device.
Oops.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center are already decrying the security changes, new or impending, comparing them to virtual cavity searches. And what happens to scanned images -- are they automatically dumped or retained? It's a privacy advocate's worst nightmare come true.
There seems to be little disagreement that new measures are needed to combat this threat. And President Obama's skull session this week with the federal government's top security personnel took notice of the lack of information sharing and general awareness that contributed to the 9/11 attacks. Can the Internet help there? It's nice to think so, but people and politics are a tougher nut to crack.
What is abundantly clear is that this bungled terrorist will test Obama's assertion that "we need not sacrifice our security for our values, nor sacrifice our values for our security." These kinds of rhetorical flourishes wither quickly when things explode or lives are lost.
Like hackers and malware writers, terrorists will find and eventually exploit a vulnerability. Just how ruinous that opening may be remains to be seen. So is mitigation the best we can hope for -- a low body count, ideally no U.S. citizens, and not on American soil or airspace?
All pretty bleak to contemplate, I realize. Perhaps this escalation/erosion of personal privacy was just as inevitable as the next attempt at terrorism and violence. But privacy just got a lot more personal, and like it or not, we will trade principles for safety. Politicians can spin it any way they like, but best we resign ourselves to this new reality in the first week of a new year.
This blog is part of Internet Evolution's Security Clan, which examines the future of Internet security and the changing nature of risks and vulnerabilities. To join the Security Clan,register here.
I understand your frustration, but do not give up just yet. I agree there have been some fundamental flaws in the way government has handled recent events, but I do not think they are totally to blame. A lot of the blame should be laid at the feet of those that think we should treat everyone fairly regardless of who they are. I on the other hand believe that "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck".
We have to let the world know that we can no longer treat everyone fairly and if you fit a certain profile (e.g. terrorist), you will be searched, questioned, detained and possibly prevented admission into the United States via, plane or any other mode of transportation. You will not be allowed to be I am not an "isolationist", but I believe it can no longer be business as usual for non-citizens. On the other hand, citizens of the United States deserve to have the liberties they have either by birth or naturalization.
This may not solve all of the issues, but it will focus a majority of our limited resources toward the problem instead of trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Some years ago I used to order some walnuts for Christmas. Always there was the decision of whether to receive them via USPS, UPS, Federal Express or else. In the process of getting those dear packages I learned of amazing things people are able to get by plane or cargo. Natural coconuts with the address printed on and many other things.
Now that the underwear bomber busted up its time to think in parallel terms. We may focus on airport security for people and forget about cargo. Or we may forget that you can send cargo in the same airplane you travel and just call the cargo bomb via cellular phone at a given time. Just go online and see the LEGO site and you'll discover a lot of kits with which you can build almost any automatic gadget. And you can operate it by wireless or else. The possibilities are endless.
I think it's not a matter of scanning everything but on scanning behavioral patterns and detecting conduct BEFORE some wild idea happens. That's what the President is signaling consistently, the system HAS a lot of detectors in place, its just not coordinated from the start with intelligent human beings around.
In the mean time, here are some DOWN UNDER TEN:
Everyone go to the airport in beach pants and bikini's? It would be easier to SEEEE.
Cellular phones should be eliminated from flight to prevent calls to automatic bombs.
People carrying suspicious cylindrical long tubes (bazookas) in the airport vicinity should be detained.
No liquid anything on board. Period.
Anyone attempting to ignite his parts on boards should be, well, you get the idea...
Anyone with electronic or metal parts should not be allowed on board.
If you come from one of those suspect countries of origin you must travel to the US by UPS or FED Ex. And by the way, UPS has SOME seats available, check on that.
If you passed through one of those countries, the same route...
People with glasses should travel without glasses.
Whatever you are suspicious off, GET OUT OF THIS PLANE!
The underwear bomber was a known problem, but the TSA wasn't paying attention. If the TSA and anyone else in the security chain is not doing their job properly, no additional searches and regulations can help. It's easy for the politicians to say, as you have said, that we will have to take a hit on our privacy in return for some more security. That is fallacious if the TSA will continue to work as that have. Until the security personnel up the quality of their performance, there's little chance of more security, no matter what new laws are put into place.
At the moment, the terrorists have won this war. They don't even have to kill anyone now in order to provoke panic and silly reactionary policies. The airline security system needs a complete overhaul, not just tweaks or new technologies providing the same or less security. PaulJ is right in that there doesn't seem to be a plan and I'm pretty sure there isn't one other than "more of the same".
There needs to be a concerted effort by multi-disciplinary committees to come up with something that works for keeping terrorists off of planes and business people and tourists on them.
I think what I hear you saying is "I'd like to feel safer than I do." I'd like to think the government and its intelligence gathering (and sharing) capabilities are one step ahead of those bent on destruction and violence. But I think that's a bit naive. I'd also like to think that the crummy/nonexistent intra-government communication identified in the 9/11 Report had been fixed, but that would be off the mark too. And it will be a potent and cynical element of the upcoming midterm elections, without a doubt.
On Christmas day, I went to the Newark Airport to pick up a relative. I was surprised by the absence of the ever-vigilent patrol who usually tells me to move my car. I thought to myself, "it's a good thing that today is a holiday, and everyone including the patrolling police and any would-be terrorist can take a break." I'm kidding about the last part.
It seems to me that security in the post-9/11 era is reactive and temporary. Why are we so short-sighted? I would love for the TSA and anyone else involved in protecting us to show me a bigger plan that includes multiple techniques and tools, and a persistent effort without gaps like my Newark Christmas experience.
Maybe unfortunate events are the impetus needed to overcome politically charge issues like privacy, budget, etc. But, boy, I'd like to know that there is a proactive plan.
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Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks organization are incredibly dangerous, subversive, and bad for the status quo. And they should be widely copied around the world.
Whether you're fighting some nasty cold or trying to fix the economy, all too often the remedy can be worse than the actual condition. Windows users are getting their own taste of this dynamic with an automated tool Microsoft released this week to address a newly discovered Windows vulnerability.
I scan my spam summary in email every day for the same reasons I click on over to Tweeteorites: a bit of pulse-taking and the possibility of a good laugh. "The Holy Infant Jesus of Prague Miraculous Sculpture," anyone?
Google's changes to its content provisioning services in China have meant it needs to reapply for its license as part of an annual renewal process. But a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology indicated the application isn't exactly on a fast track.
The Obama Administration turned a fresh new page in its bid for more transparent government, this time via the proposed creation of an Identity Ecosystem in which individuals, enterprises, and other organizations could safely conduct business with verified identities.
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In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
Cyber Warfare may be the next frontier for tactical hacking. It has already reared its head in Estonia, Russia, and Georgia, and some say it has been used by North Korea, China, and other world powers. The implications and the potential are both fascinating and scary.
An email from Ukraine teaches us that perhaps those who complain about the Internet just haven’t figured out how to spam people’s inboxes with requests for pens and balloons… or something.
What kinds of companies are doing the most innovation in the data center? Turns out it's midtier enterprises that are taking the "Just Right" approach.
Data mining of social networks means people might face unforeseen consequences as a result of their seemingly innocuous personal choices and associations.
There's a public-policy war on copyright that nobody is winning, and inconsistencies in viewpoint and interpretation seem to be multiplying. We need to step back and think our policies over again, or we risk having a strategy that fails everyone.
Ultraviolet is an industry-wide attempt to standardize video content delivery across multiple platforms. Apart from the fact that it’s based in the cloud, relies on the DRM system, and isn’t backed by Apple… it sounds great!
The FCC's Sixth Broadband Report has a hidden secret. But here’s a hint: The regulatory body plans to regulate broadband as a telecommunications service.
Once defined by epic journeys, planning, and maps, the phrase "on the road" takes on new meaning in a digital age, where we can make all our decisions using our connected devices en route.
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