The FBI has just completed a long press conference in which it reported its "no terrorist activity suspected" conclusions. Having watched most of it, and having seen the CIA animation shown at the press conference, I agree with their conclusions.

(Cypherpunks arch-enemy James Kallstrom, Assistant Director of the FBI, nevertheless did a fine job, both in the investigation and in the reporting. Credit where credit is due.)

However, now that the Flight 007 explosion has been ruled a non-terrorist event, will we get our freedoms back?

The other big "terrorist event" of that summer of 1996 was the bomb in a crowd at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. The "fits the profile" perp, Richard Jewell, was finally cleared of all charges.

So, these were the two big events which stimulated the FAA, under higher orders, to require mandatory ID of all travelling passengers. And more multimillion dollar sniffers to be installed in airports.

It seems that each such event ratchets down certain civil liberties, and even the later repudiation of terrorists and other Horsemen in these events never results in the liberties coming back....

Actually, even when their knee-jerk security measures are relaxed it isn't publicized, probably for concern it might encourage would be mules and terrorists to take advantage of 'relaxed' security measures. Case in point profiling and John Gilmore's run-in with airport security last year. As I recall, John purchased his ticket with cash within 24-hour of departure and had only carry-on items. He was subjected to what he felt were requests for an unnecessary search of his carry-on and person. At the beginning of November and unannounced to the public, and seemingly unknown to most airline employees, such searches are now unnecessary under FAA regulation (don't have the particular citing). Although notice of this change should have been posted in most airline employee break areas, few if any airlines offer regular rule update training to their ground personnel. As a result many airline service agents continue the practice since its better to be safe... If a passenger objects and asks for a supervisor and assuming the sup is up to date on the regulations, they should not now be required to undergo this ordeal. --Steve

At 12:11 AM -0700 11/19/97, Bill Stewart wrote:

One of the parts that's irked me most about this (as distinct from outrage at the loss of civil liberties) is that the thugs won't even come out and say "The Government Requires You To Have Papers To Travel", since they can't do that, at least without PR problems. Instead they bully the airlines into requiring more obedience to avoid arbitrary $10,000 FUD penalties than a direct law could require. And the airline employees keep telling me "it's always been this way" a couple of weeks after each change of the rules.

"We have _always_ been at war with Eastasia." I've also noticed that the drones who work for the airlines have even less common sense and humor than before. Any hint of a nonstandard answer results in a stern look and perhaps a trip to Security. I was picking up a boarding pass for a flight from San Diego to San Jose, and truthfully answered "Yes" to the usually perfunctory "Have any of your bags been out of your sight?" The drone gave me a stern look, as if I were admitting to being a terrorist, and immediately marched me toward the Security station. (I almost chose to remain behind, but that just would've resulted in armed men escorting me into a small room for some amount of interrogation, and no ticket back to San Jose.) The drone asked me, as we were walking, to explain further. I pointed to the restrooms and said, "The stalls are too small for my bags, so I hung one of the bags on the hooks provided." She said, "Well, I don't think that's what we mean by a bag leaving your sight. But you're supposed to take the bag into the stall with you." "Look, lady, maybe the women's restrooms are laid out differently, but the men's restrooms have stalls that are barely wide enough to get into, let alone carry a piece of carryon luggage into as well." She was clearly puzzled and befuddled by a passenger-unit actually telling the obvious truth that some large fraction of passengers just lie about.... She conferred with the security droids for several minutes, as I was told to stand off in an empty area of the terminal. I just stood there calmly. She told me to follow her back to the boarding area. She handed me a boarding pass without another word being said. I suppose a negative remark was placed in my permanent file. --Tim May The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^2,976,221 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."