Our Civil Liberties Disappear A Dribble And Drabble At A Time
Like with pressure cooker-buyer watch lists.
Our civil liberties don't disappear all at once; they are slowly eroded as we are too busy to worry about them. We -- many of us -- find these small erosions unimportant. But put together, all of the many small erosions add up, and are dangerous to our continuing as a free society -- one started by people who wanted a society of limited government, meaning limited government power.
Here's the latest small incursion into privacy. Small, but not unimportant.
And remember that each directive like this requires more "(jack)boots on the ground" in the government industrial complex, and once those jobs exist, they don't get erased.
Tim Cushing posts at TechDirt, "DHS Wants To Expand 'See Something, Say Something' To Retailers Selling You Pressure Cookers":
Since it would be impossible to train thousands of retail store employees properly, this will likely take the form of an item watchlist, one that will be constantly subject to change. It will probably also instruct employees to view perfectly normal shopping behavior as suspicious.As has been the result of previous "see something, say something" efforts, this new directive will create another massive database of false positives for Fusion Center employees and local law enforcement to deal with. Johnson specifically cited pressure cookers (while stating the government couldn't actually forbid their sale) as one example. If so, then this directive has no chance in hell of catching terrorists and is guaranteed to serve up a lot of unsuspecting (and unsuspicious) consumers for further government examination.
Pressure cookers are a legitimate item that thousands of consumers use. Now, they're viewed as the equivalent of buying a U-Haul truck full of fertilizer. Past incidents are prompting future actions, much as they do with the TSA (shoe bomber? off with your shoes!). Constantly being one step behind the clumsiest terrorists isn't going to keep the country any safer. It's just going to make it a worse place to simply "go about your business."
Having a pressure cooker buyer watch list, is almost like having an ammunition buyer watch list.
The shear volume of sales and the places where pressure cookers can be acquired, will overwhelm anyone trying to check out the people making a purchase.
An incredible waste of time and resources by innumerate people.
Isab at September 12, 2014 11:39 AM
It's almost as bad as treating every single American boarding a plane as a potential terrorist.
Amy Alkon at September 12, 2014 1:40 PM
Amy,
You have now gone and mentioned TSA along with U-hauls and fertilizer. So, I'm predicting a future watch list (linked to the no-fly list) for anyone renting a truck or purchasing fertilizer.
There will no longer be farmers on any commercial flights. Also, no people who have ever moved more than a dorm-room worth of stuff during their 20's.
Shannon M. Howell at September 12, 2014 1:52 PM
"If you see something, say something" goes back to Stalinist 1930's Russia.
This sort of civil liberties erosion was given a name by the Nazis: "Salami tactik"... ie, one slice at a time, so nobody really notices.
jefe at September 12, 2014 2:02 PM
Do these people have no idea how many things can be turned into bombs? Take an empty aluminum can, glue BBs to the outside and fill the inside with boom. It wouldn't be a very good bomb, but if all you want to do is scare people it should work pretty well. Hell, anything with a lid should work. A fire extinguisher would be poetic. Shall we only sell pipe to licensed plumbers?
You can have my pressure canner when you pry it from my cold dead stovetop.
Steve Daniels at September 12, 2014 3:30 PM
"Shall we only sell pipe to licensed plumbers?"
CA already requires this for PVC. You might make a potato gun.
That's one of the many reasons CA is such a wonderful place to live!
Radwaste at September 14, 2014 11:29 AM
""Shall we only sell pipe to licensed plumbers?"
CA already requires this for PVC."
LOL erm, no.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at September 14, 2014 9:19 PM
What's next? the 55 gallon drum watch list? perhaps the "junk yard watch list"? you know, you have to pack the those big drums with stuff that can be turned into shrapnel.
Additionally, will there be a nail buyers registry? perhaps a 5 day waiting period?
Take an empty aluminum can, glue BBs to the outside and fill the inside with boom.
You have basically described an M-18 claymore mine. You terrorist.
Wait...should I say something?
I R A Darth Aggie at September 15, 2014 6:41 AM
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