Quoting Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com):
From: "Thomas C. Greene" <tcgreene@bellatlantic.net> To: <declan@well.co4m> Subject: Rand urges face-scanning of the masses Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 06:14:30 -0700 [snip] Chief among these are the detection of terrorists and pedophiles, as we said. No matter that these sick individuals comprise a mere fraction of a fraction of normal human beings. No matter that detecting them requires the most outrageous government intrusions into the natural comings and goings of millions of innocent people. [snip] ----- End forwarded message -----
Personally, I see nothing wrong with this type of technology. Those `millions of innocent people' which comprise the populace are, as we all know, criminals in thought if not in deed. Considering the laws as currently instantiated, we all know that each so-called innocent person will commit a crime in the future, or has committed one in the past for which they were not convicted. There is no reason to bother considering the `rights' of criminals to not be face-scanned as only innocent people deserve that kind of respect. Therefore, installing smart cameras in every corner of the world in which man might conceivably tread is a task which should be undertake soonest. All this whining about invasions of privacy, unreasonable search and seizure, Constitution this, Bill of Rights that, etc. is just so yesterday. Regards, Steve -- ``If religion were nothing but an illusion and a sham, there could be no philosophy of it. The study of it would belong to abnormal psychology.... Religion cannot afford to claim exemption from philosophical enquiry. If it attempts to do so on the grounds of sanctity, it can only draw upon itself suspicion that it is afraid to face the music.'' -- H. J. Paton, "The Modern Predicament"