Hacker News Reader

Comment by zkoch | Hacker News Reader

People aren't in uproar simply over 'airport security screenings.' They are in uproar over certain practices that they believe greatly infringe upon their rights. The majority of individuals, myself included, feel that we shouldn't have to make a choice between being touched inappropriately by a stranger or allowing a stranger in a back room somewhere to look at our genitalia to travel by plane.

You're probably correct that there should be greater public outcry over civilian casualties in war, but that doesn't mean we can't rally against privacy-invading things like full body scanners.

View on HN

How come there was no big outcry over The Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps, CCTV all over, enhanced interrogation, suspension of haebeous corpus.. etc...?

Most people are not that worried about me eavesdropping on half of their cellphone conversation (I wish they were, then they might STFU) or watching them walk from their car to the mall. They probably wouldn't even care if I spied on their banking details as long as I didn't buy stuff with their CC.

On the other hand, most people would be bothered if I touched their balls or viewed nude pictures of them on my computer.

Apparently some people feel similarly about homeland security doing these things.

This is easy: Most people don't and will never directly feel the consequences of that stuff. Millions of people fly every day and directly experience the TSA nonsense.

This is just my opinion, and I'd love to hear whether people agree or disagree with it.

I think part of the reason for the lack of outrage over The Patriot Act was the timing. When the Patriot Act was created, it was a short enough time after 9/11 that the US was still strongly emotionally effected by it. It was easier to say "This will prevent terrorism" and be believed.

Years later, it's become easier to take a rational look at the risks and benefits, and see that it's unlikely that such measures will prevent enough terrorism to outweigh the costs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com