US Terrorist Database Growing at Rapid Rate | Hacker News Reader

US Terrorist Database Growing at Rapid Rate

news.yahoo.com

50 pointsrpm432115 comments

1.5 million "terrorists" - seriously?! This is the problem with the "haystack" mentality, instead of proper investigation-based targeting - you get a haystack of worthless leads and false positives.

It does, however, have the huge benefit for those in power of knowing everything about anyone, and about all of their "enemies" (not necessarily "national security enemies").

Also, with the current policy for identifying "terrorists", don't expect to "war on terror" to ever end.

Replace the word terrorist with communist and you have McCarthyism all over again. When citizens have to fear of being labeled as a terrorist, I can't help but see history repeating its self.

> August 2013, there were 700,000 names on the watch list

How many of those names are incredibly common names? My dad almost missed a connecting flight in LA because he was on the 'No Fly' list. He wasn't, but his incredibly common name (like Richard Smith type common) was.

Don't you have some sort of unique id to identify one person from another even if they share the same name in the US?

First off, he's not an American. His passport eventually was able to be used to prove he wasn't that 'Richard Smith.'

Of course, the TSA measures their effectiveness based on how many people they make miss their flights so they don't really want to make things better.

More importantly, these lists appear specifically to have been made to be generic. The government appears to want to catch everyone.

Yes, the TSA gives you a "redress number" if you're mistaken for someone on the No Fly List. You plug that into your airline's website, and then you aren't bothered anymore.

I have one! But only because I have TSA Pre✓. (Quite possibly the best government program ever.)

That was sarcasm right? Pay the oppressive government program to be less oppressive? And of course if you're poor too bad for you.

I wasn't being sarcastic. The program is a good idea: I pay to have my background checked, and then I'm not treated like a criminal. It has some foundation based in logic (I'm pretty low-risk, compared to anyone that shows up with a plane ticket), so I'm not going to complain. And if you're super-libertarian or whatever, you should be happy that I'm paying the cost, not the taxpayer!

The good news is, it appears the background check doesn't really matter. At JFK, they siphon people at random into these lines when the main line is full. This hints that the reduced scrutiny will be coming for everyone soon.

> I pay to have my background checked, and then I'm not treated like a criminal.

Wow. I don't think objecting to that makes someone ...

> super-libertarian or whatever

I notice that people who think don't object to these programs resort to two arguments:

1) What me worry? 2) Name calling

It makes me think that they don't have much of an argument, and adds to my growing conviction that there is no argument.

EDIT: slight reword

Isn't dismissing my argument as "name calling" name calling?

If they are terrorists (criminals) and the government is not prosecuting them, the government is breaking the law.

If they are innocent of wrongdoing (not terrorists) and the government is depriving them of rights afforded to others, the government is breaking the law.

My high school Spanish teacher has to bring a form from homeland security every time to the airport, because she married someone from Argentina with a common last name.

Names are the poorest identifier here.

How many terrorist attacks have these things actually prevented? Won't it become worthless if it keeps growing?

With a great confidence we can estimate it at zero.

Security theater is just that.

I guess it grows with the number of Tor users.

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