Random Subway Searches: Invasion of Privacy AND Pointless

Mayor Bloomberg says random bag searches on the subway are supposed to be making New Yorkers feel safe.  On TV (I know, bad for the brain, bad for the brain!) I saw cops rifling through briefcases and dainty purses.  Um, did anyone bother to explain to them how big bombs are?  The corporate news apparently couldn't find anyone who considered this erosion of civil liberties problematic, which isn't so much surprising as it is saddening, especially given the minuscule bump it will actually provide to our security

Unless you're the Green Goblin, you'd need a big backpack like the London bombers had to do the kind of real damage we should be afraid of, so searching random bags is more PR scare tactic than effective solution to the problem.  Incompetence is not reassuring.  If we'd ease of the middle-eastern imperialism a bit, we wouldn't need to waste our time anyhow.  Gothamist found this great privacy-lamenting t-shirt on cafepress, though Jen Chung, though she suggests the back should read "I'm going to the next station entrance, sucker." which points to another flaw in this BS security: random searches at popular entrances to the subway are just for show. 

Terrorists have demonstrated intelligence and ingenuity in the past, so it's a safe bet they could manage to figure out they can just get on a train in Queens.  This duh would be funnier if our actual safety weren't involved.

Comments

[Matt]

Regarding the subway searches, be sure and check out The Citizen's Guide to Refusing New York Subway Searches put out by the Flex Your Rights Foundation. It teaches subway riders exactly what they need to know in order to assert their rights when they encounter a subway search. Thought you might be interested.

http://www.flexyourrights.org/subway/

[ryan]

thanks!