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Tuesday, January 14, 2003 |
Alice goes to the Wonderland Airport
Airport security has become an excuse for abdicating all responsibility for oversight of law enforcement. In San Francisco, a man was put in jail for leaving a note inside his luggage complaining about the continuing invasion of privacy in America. That's not what they charged him with - they claimed that he had simulated a bomb by carrying a power supply and cord in a "suspicious" manner (stuck into his boots). Every book I've ever seen on travelling suggests sticking stuff into your shoes when you pack, to save space. Every one I know travels with one or more power supplies/rechargers these days: for their cell phone, laptop, digital camera, etc. By the standards in this incident, we are all guilty of faking a bomb in our luggage.The truly distressing thing is that no public official appears to have the slightest intention of reining in what's going on in airports: the accusation has become the trial, and there is no appeal.
Jailed man says airport cops overreacted[from the San Francisco Chronicle]
