When taking pictures is a "suspicious activity"

[Throckmorton]

I don't see it much different, but only on a larger scale then i'd react if it was my neighborhood. If I saw a guy taking pictures of a neighbors house and they weren't home, you can bet that the least i'd do is walk over and question them. For a couple of the neighbors i'd call 911 and do the walk over to question suspicious activity. Write down license plate numbers etc.

Why exactly would a criminal be taking pictures of your neighbor's houses?

 

[zsdersw]

I'm not so sure what's so significant about taking pictures of buildings/structures, even if the person taking the pics actually had malicious intentions. It's not as if there's something secret and hidden about them that you can't find freely in any of a million different ways.

 

[hal2kilo]

Apparently this is what Americans want, because we keep electing the same people who put this kind of system into place.

My biggest disappointment with the Obama administration is the continued support of this crap.

 

[zsdersw]

My biggest disappointment with the Obama administration is the continued support of this crap.

Mine too... and Obamacare.

 

[Texashiker]

Am I being detained? Am I free to go? If not, I would like the presence of a lawyer.

You forgot "bring me a donut while your not doing anything officer"

 

[monovillage]

Why exactly would a criminal be taking pictures of your neighbor's houses?

That's why you go over and ask. It also let's potential thieves/burglars know that people are an active part of neighborhood security. I know my neighbors, we talk when we get a chance, they know when we're out of town, we know when they're gone. Animals, plants whatever get taken care of, it's a neighborhood! Kind of a cross between family and friends, they're a part of our extended family.

 

[shortylickens]

That's why you go over and ask. It also let's potential thieves/burglars know that people are an active part of neighborhood security. I know my neighbors, we talk when we get a chance, they know when we're out of town, we know when they're gone. Animals, plants whatever get taken care of, it's a neighborhood! Kind of a cross between family and friends, they're a part of our extended family.

Yeah, plus a lot of times it NOT the delivery man or the plumber or the guy looking for charitable donations. That guy usually does his normal legit thing and then goes home at night and tells his buddy all about how secure or not secure the neighborhood is. Its THAT guy you gotta watch out for, the one who's collecting data on individual houses or whole streets, whether its organized or he just happens to overhear loudmouthed plumbers talking about their day.

If you go over and say Hi and ask a buttload of questions, he'll go home and tell his buddy that the neighborhood is full of nosy people. The buddy knows not to bother, theres easier chickens to pluck.

 

[Jaskalas]

Americans have become...

Americans have become North Koreans.

Mark my words, if power is not returned to the States then the DPRK will be a freer nation by 2100.

 

[JTsyo]

I bet I can get the street view, sky view and satellite view of any these sites online. Terrorism has been a great boogeyman for the government to tighten it's grip in the name of safety. I don't think there's any overall plan by government officials to turn America into a fascist nation but it seems natural entropy is leading us in that direction. If we create a system close to that state it will enable someone to try to take power and push us the rest of the way.

 

[Broheim]

funny thing is that I don't doubt for a second that all the people getting their panties in a bunch over this is the same people that would have raged over why the police didn't investigate this, had this turned out to be related to terrorism and the police had chosen not to act....

damned if you do and damned if you don't.

 

[BoberFett]

funny thing is that I don't doubt for a second that all the people getting their panties in a bunch over this is the same people that would have raged over why the police didn't investigate this, had this turned out to be related to terrorism and the police had chosen not to act....

damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Funny thing is... no, nothing funny about it. You're making a big ass-umption there and an even bigger ass of yourself.

I wouldn't give a damn if either of these guys had turned out to be terrorists. There are tens of millions of people taking pictures around this country every day. Should they all be interrogated?

Frankly, I never blamed anybody for 9/11 other than the terrorists. It's impossible to believe you can stop people who are truly motivated to doing harm. You could spend every penny we have on security and still have things slip through the cracks.

So take your ass-umptions and cram them where the sun don't shine.

 

[Texashiker]

I wouldn't give a damn if either of these guys had turned out to be terrorists. There are tens of millions of people taking pictures around this country every day. Should they all be interrogated?

My opinion, the sheep have grown accustomed to someone always watching over them. Instead of being willing to take care of problems themselves, people have 911 on quick dial.

But then again, when you have people killing each other over a parking spot, I have to ask what this nation has come to.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/justice/diguglielmo-new-york-deli-killing/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

I think people today are spoiled. We are spoiled to being able to go to a store and buy what we want when we want. When a problem comes up, everyone freaks out. Its like the mcdonalds videos of the customers assaulting the people behind the counter.

Unlike in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, we have nobody we can point to and say "they are the enemy". Instead, we look inward, and find the enemy inside ourselves.

Once again, and just my opinion, humans are designed to be leary of others. We are social animals who also watch our backs. This comes from tens of thousands of years of tribal warfare. We are designed to hunt and gather. But with the innovation of modern society, we are like a wolf that has been caged. We have lost our natural instincts. Instead of fighting over food or women, we fight over parking places and cheeseburgers.

 

[Paul98]

If this is something that is supposed to keep us safe we are fucked. We use resources on something where there is an almost zero chance that anyone will find something, on the premise that terrorists take pictures of their target we might get lucky. We give up our freedom, have the chance to get harassed for a false sense of security.

 

[Doppel]

Terrorism, despite being responsible for virtually no lives lost in the past decade, continues its unchecked growth into the common consciousness, scaring the easily-scared into acting like frightened sheep.

 

[BoberFett]

Terrorism, despite being responsible for virtually no lives lost in the past decade, continues its unchecked growth into the common consciousness, scaring the easily-scared into acting like frightened sheep.

More Americans die in swimming pools than at the hands of terrorists.

I demand a War on Swimming!

 

[woolfe9999]

Gosh sorry, I was talking about my own life and own experiences. I wasn't talking about the outrage i'd feel if aliens landed and ate my family, or did I want to invoke Godwin's Law.

idiot

You rate the TSA a "9" because, why? You're inconvenienced at the airport? If we're talking about government actions that are overreaching, it seems a bit extreme to call anything here in the U.S. a 9. At the very least, you could have explained that you were relating it to your own personal experience. In which case, BTW, the incident described in the OP is a literal zero, right? Oh wait, you didn't actually frame it as your own personal experience, did you? You referred to what the TSA does every day to "thousands of citizens" as rating on 9 in outrage. Like I said, hyperbolize much?

And you need schooling about what "Godwin's law" actually means. Godwin's law is when you compare someone's views with that of the Nazis. At no time did I imply that. I used the Gestapo as an example to put things in perspective. Too often we complain about things here as if we think we're in a "police state" when we have no idea what an actual police state really is.

- wolf

 

[monovillage]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

"Although in one of its early forms Godwin's law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[6] the law is now often applied to any threaded online discussion, such as forums, chat rooms and blog comment threads, and has been invoked for the inappropriate use of Nazi analogies in articles or speeches."

It's my opinion that the TSA is a violation of my 4th Amendment rights. That's enough to me to put it in the #9 slot. The incident the OP related is a 1.

 

[IonusX]

You rate the TSA a "9" because, why? You're inconvenienced at the airport? If we're talking about government actions that are overreaching, it seems a bit extreme to call anything here in the U.S. a 9. At the very least, you could have explained that you were relating it to your own personal experience. In which case, BTW, the incident described in the OP is a literal zero, right? Oh wait, you didn't actually frame it as your own personal experience, did you? You referred to what the TSA does every day to "thousands of citizens" as rating on 9 in outrage. Like I said, hyperbolize much?

And you need schooling about what "Godwin's law" actually means. Godwin's law is when you compare someone's views with that of the Nazis. At no time did I imply that. I used the Gestapo as an example to put things in perspective. Too often we complain about things here as if we think we're in a "police state" when we have no idea what an actual police state really is.

- wolf

the TSA have had nothing but bad PR. and home many threats have they prevented.. zippo, nada.
so far (as far as public opinion goes) they have only hired sicko's and given those folks a giant x-ray to play with..

 

[woolfe9999]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

"Although in one of its early forms Godwin's law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[6] the law is now often applied to any threaded online discussion, such as forums, chat rooms and blog comment threads, and has been invoked for the inappropriate use of Nazi analogies in articles or speeches."

It's my opinion that the TSA is a violation of my 4th Amendment rights. That's enough to me to put it in the #9 slot. The incident the OP related is a 1.

You left out this part of your link:

In other words, Godwin observed that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope—someone inevitably criticizes some point made in the discussion by comparing it to beliefs held by Hitler and the Nazis.

Since I did not compare your beliefs to the Nazis, your reference to Godwin's law is off point. If the "Godwin's law" insult applies every time Nazis are mentioned in a discussion, it's meaningless. Nevertheless, next time I'll confine my comparison to the NKVD and leave out the Gestapo if that makes you happier.

You're entitled to your opinion that the TSA is an "outrage" ranking a 9 on a scale from 1-10. I think it's a huge exaggeration.

- wolf

 

[woolfe9999]

the TSA have had nothing but bad PR. and home many threats have they prevented.. zippo, nada.

How the hell do you know "how many threats they've prevented"? You do know that the purpose of security is primarily to deter attempts rather than to actually catch perpetrators, right? So tell me how you know that no hijacks have ever been prevented by the TSA.

- wolf

 

[monovillage]

You left out this part of your link:
Since I did not compare your beliefs to the Nazis, your reference to Godwin's law is off point. If the "Godwin's law" insult applies every time Nazis are mentioned in a discussion, it's meaningless. Nevertheless, next time I'll confine my comparison to the NKVD and leave out the Gestapo is that makes you happier.

You're entitled to your opinion that the TSA is an "outrage" ranking a 9 on a scale from 1-10. I think it's a huge exaggeration.

- wolf

I left that part out because it didn't apply to your post, the part I quoted though, did. Many words and terms have more than 1 definition.

What do you rate the TSA and security procedures for travel in the U.S.? How about the elderly women being strip searched with one having to show her colostomy bag? It's a 9 to me, but what is it to you?

 

[BoberFett]

How the hell do you know "how many threats they've prevented"? You do know that the purpose of security is primarily to deter attempts rather than to actually catch perpetrators, right? So tell me how you know that no hijacks have ever been prevented by the TSA.

- wolf

So it's an expensive, abusive, unresponsive government agency with seemingly little oversight and absolutely no metrics available to measure its success?

Who wouldn't want to keep that around!

 

[woolfe9999]

I left that part out because it didn't apply to your post, the part I quoted though, did. Many words and terms have more than 1 definition.

What do you rate the TSA and security procedures for travel in the U.S.? How about the elderly women being strip searched with one having to show her colostomy bag? It's a 9 to me, but what is it to you?

Anecdotal incidents are bad public relations, but unless those experiences are common place, they mean very little. Much like the OP's discussion of a few police officers in LA. I don't dislike police in general any more because of that or lots of other stories I have read about bad police behavior any more than I dislike the TSA because of the small clutch of stories I've read about this or that TSA agent overreaching in some way. To me that means someone should perhaps be disciplined.

If you want me to rate the individual incident, I don't see why it's relevant but I'll give my answer: it rates relatively low compared to the abuses of individual rights that governments are capable of in the worst scenarios. If that is the worst we have to complain about here, then we have it pretty good. If that were me, yeah, of course I'd be pissed. Who wouldn't?

- wolf

 

[woolfe9999]

So it's an expensive, abusive, unresponsive government agency with seemingly little oversight and absolutely no metrics available to measure its success?

Who wouldn't want to keep that around!

Never said I wanted to keep it around. It's a tradeoff of x amount of privacy/convenience/taxpayer money for y amount of security. Not really sure myself about the actual values of x and y, in part because every variable other than money is impossible to quantify. I do think we've overplayed the threat of terrorism here. I would agree with that in general. However, torture/detentions are far worse manifestations of that than the TSA, IMO.

 

[monovillage]

Anecdotal incidents are bad public relations, but unless those experiences are common place, they mean very little. Much like the OP's discussion of a few police officers in LA. I don't dislike police in general any more because of that or lots of other stories I have read about bad police behavior any more than I dislike the TSA because of the small clutch of stories I've read about this or that TSA agent overreaching in some way. To me that means someone should perhaps be disciplined.

If you want me to rate the individual incident, I don't see why it's relevant but I'll give my answer: it rates relatively low compared to the abuses of individual rights that governments are capable of in the worst scenarios. If that is the worst we have to complain about here, then we have it pretty good. If that were me, yeah, of course I'd be pissed. Who wouldn't?

- wolf

Thanks for the reply. I'd like to apologize for an earlier crack, it was rude.