Raise Your Hand If You Think This Will Stop At The Afghan Border
We've grown accustomed to search sans probable cause of every passenger at every airport. How long until the government reaches a little more and a little more? People who pooh-pooh how the TSA is violating our rights in the name of "safety" need to look forward a little.
Via Lisa Simeone, a New York Times story by Rod Nordland, "Afghanistan Has Big Plans for Biometric Data," about how Afghanistan fingerprints and photographs all travelers who pass through Kabul International Airport, arriving and departing. But that's not all:
Nor do Afghan authorities plan to stop there: their avowed goal is to fingerprint, photograph, and scan the irises of every living Afghan.It is a goal heartily endorsed by the American military, which has already gathered biometric data on two million Afghans who have been encountered by soldiers on the battlefield, or who have just applied for a job with the coalition military or its civilian contractors.
The Kabul airport program is also financed by the United States, with money and training provided by the American Embassy. Americans, like all other travelers, are subject to it.
. . . Gathering the data does not stop at Afghanistan's borders, however, since the military shares all of the biometrics it collects with the United States Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security through interconnected databases.
I realize that most of you do not believe in the Bible but the book of Revelation prophecies that the United States starts out peaceful with two horns like a lamb but then starts to speak as a Dragon and forces everyone to accept the Mark of the Beast. See Revelation 13. This peaceful animal rises out of the wilderness (i.e. not an inhabited land) according to scripture. It starts out peaceful, then starts to pursecute and use force. This behavior is starting to occur today.
dragonslayer 666 at November 21, 2011 11:54 AM
Hello Amy,
I'm going to say something controversial (it's no fun otherwise) and suggest the unthinkable: We might as well finish this already. Hear me out:
Most of us are dependent upon our credit profiles and online identities and these need to be protected and the best way is via biometrics. In addition, we have a severe problem with a different type of identity theft: illegal immigration.
This slippery slope method we're going through has the worst consequences in that not only do lawabiding citizens wind up being tracked by big brother anyway, but fellow people, citizens or no, are able to steal our identities and engage in criminal activity with the tacit approval of corrupt government officials.
In addition, big brother is creeping up in other ways that don't require our direct biometric identity: They scan our license plates with speed and red-light cameras.
We need to pass legislation which sets up STANDARDS for our biometric identities in addition to protocol for identifying when we're scanned. The police should not have a right to set up speed cameras or traps or photograph our biometrics without notifying us in a manner that we can ensure we're aware of including via a smartphone.
Otherwise, we're just letting them win by pretending like this technology is never going to be used. It will. GET USED TO IT.
Quite frankly, regarding Afghanistan, after WWII Japan was under occupation and glad that we didn't nuke the rest of the place. The military should have required every person there get a tracker chip installed and setup a database showing whereever people were. If Terrorist X meets with Terrorist Y at a friend's Z house and then meets at another Friend's J house with terrorist C, the computer could figure that out? Sound unfair? Well, don't live in a place that sanctioned terrorist actions against a superpower that invaded!
PK at November 21, 2011 12:35 PM
Wow, the United States is mentioned in the Bible? How did I miss it? Is Rick Perry there too?
Ray at November 21, 2011 12:36 PM
Don't pooh-pooh the TSA!
anon15319 at November 21, 2011 1:26 PM
"We need to pass legislation which sets up STANDARDS for our biometric identities in addition to protocol for identifying when we're scanned."
Legislation passed by the government is practically never meant to restrict the government. And even if it is meant to do so, the government will interpret the legislation in such a fashion as to allow them to do what thay want, anyway.
Not Sure at November 21, 2011 9:12 PM
PK - sadly, you haven't seen that the only way to avoid ID theft is to not be identified.
Period.
Ask around.
I'll tell the family you just asked them to bend over and take it. You're welcome.
Radwaste at November 21, 2011 9:24 PM
"...and forces everyone to accept the Mark of the Beast."
Woo, woo!
If you have another suggestion for managing the affairs of a large nation, have at it. First, the M.O.B. was going to be your SSN. Then it was the barcodes on potato chips. Then, fingerprinting. One fellow says it's the Bible itself, which I find appealing because an awful lot of people worship the book, and not a character in it.
You may look here for more on what is an ordinary number - part of a system of numbers, which has a structure capable of dumbfounding people who didn't pay attention in school.
Radwaste at November 27, 2011 4:31 PM
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