The Freedom Bulletin

There have been rumors that terrorists are planning to surgically implant bombs in people’s bodies to sneak through security. As you might expect, the TSA is beefing up security in response to this. But for the most part, they aren’t planning to use even more invasive measures than they already are. Instead, they are focusing on ”intelligence information about possible plots, equipment that checks for minute traces of explosives, behavior detection officers and canine teams.”

If security must be increased, this is the right way to go. Hopefully this will show people that ever more invasive, degrading security measures, in addition to violating everyone’s rights and taking away everyone’s quality of life, do not work. Just as one attempted terrorist put a bomb in his underwear to evade metal detectors, the terrorists have now come up with a type of bomb that will get through full-body scanners. There is no way to eliminate the possibility of a terrorist attack. There are two choices: to destroy everyone’s freedom and have a tiny chance of a terrorist attack, or to allow people to have freedom and have a tiny chance of a terrorist attack.

I assume (and sincerely hope) that no one wants the TSA to cut everyone open before they are allowed to board a plane. Let’s stop inflicting huge costs on everyone that will not even detect bombs.

Five elementary schools in Texas are getting a $2 million grant to install cameras to track everything students eat. Each tray, with a unique code, will be photographed when the student chooses their food and again when they are done eating, to see exactly what nutritional content they consumed. This would be an invasion of privacy even if the data was only aggregated for statistical purposes, but each student’s food consumption is tracked individually, and the information is reported to their parents! Yes, these are kids, not adults, and yes, a cafeteria is a public place, but this is going too far. Kids have privacy rights too, and the desire to improve nutrition and combat obesity should not make people forget about individual rights. People of all ages should be able to live their lives without having everything they do monitored and analyzed.

In the midst of the heightened security since Osama bin Laden’s death, I thought it would be a good time to post the above video, in case you haven’t seen it yet. Last week, Susie Castillo, a former Miss USA and Miss Massachusetts, explained her experience of being sexually assaulted by a TSA agent during a pat-down. Please listen to this brave young lady’s words and read her blog post about her ordeal.

I admire Susie for taking the side of freedom and standing up to the TSA. Please support her at her site and follow her on Twitter.

In related news, in response to these unconstitutional, invasive searches, the Texas legislature is considering a bill making them a felony. According to the bill, ”An airport operator may not allow body imaging scanning equipment to be installed or operated in any airport in this state.” Additionally, the bill would make a felon out of anyone who  ”intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly…searches another person without probable cause to believe the person committed an offense [or] touches the anus, sexual organ, or breasts of the other person, including touching through clothing, or touches the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person.”

More from the Tenth Amendment Center and the Humble Libertarian.

May 4 update: The New American has a great article about Texas state representative David Simpson, who introduced three great anti-TSA bills, and the reactions of Congressmen John Carter, Louie Gohmert, and Ron Paul. A majority of the state legislators have signed on as co-sponsors of one bill!

Here in the U.S. of A. our government decided to use strip search machines as a primary method of airport security screening in early 2010. After thousands of people have been robbed of their sexual innocence and dignity by being forced to be seen naked in order to board a plane, the TSA finally decided to start testing a version of the machines that shows a generic paper-doll-like outline instead of the person’s naked body.

Australia, on the other hand, is planning on introducing full-body scanners later this year, with the paper-doll-outline technology already installed:

“The software will detect potential threats such as weapons and explosives and show their location on a generic outline of a person. If no threat is detected, an ‘OK’ will appear on the monitor with no outline. A spokesman for Transport Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia would be getting the ‘stick-figure’ version.”

The best policy would be no full-body scanners at all, but it makes a heck of a lot more sense to ensure that the technology (at least somewhat) preserves people’s dignity and privacy before starting to use it.

Julian Assange recorded a wonderful speech which was shown on Friday at a pro-WikiLeaks rally in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. He defended his site’s work, said that he would like to return to Australia, and called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to support him.

He really sounded like a libertarian in this speech. My favorite part:

“We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinize the state. The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring, and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness. Surely it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and we asserted our rights. This brings me to another point. We at WikiLeaks recognize the difference between secrecy and privacy. Individuals, not governments, have the right to privacy. Strong powers must be held to account, while the weak must be protected. We believe in transparent power, not in transparent people.”

In related news, WikiLeaks revealed, among many, many other things recently, that the U.S. agreed to share secret information on Great Britain’s nuclear arsenal with Russia as part of the START treaty. Assange seems to be following through on his promise to step up his work on Cablegate.

Assange will be in court for an extradition hearing in his Swedish sexual assault case on Monday and Tuesday. And of course, it seems that someone else decided to leak secret police files in order to make him look bad. The Telegraph has a good write-up of the new information, noting the “contradictions and inconsistencies” and calling the case “weak.” After reading the files (a translation can be found here, which I wouldn’t recommend if you’re easily disturbed by graphic content), I’m inclined to agree. Assange didn’t really do anything wrong, as far as I can tell. It would be sad if he was extradited for this.