8 years ago
5
The U.S. Government Is Putting Americans on Its No-Fly List on a Hunch
And it won’t even tell them why. By Hina Shamsi.
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I was under the impression that group dynamics had more to do with terrorist acts than lone people's inclinations. This might be more of the basis for these names appearing on the no-fly list, especially if FBI surveillance picked up jihadist or extremist content.
Another problem with terrorists is that if there is a prior crime, the terrorist is dead or in jail. Most terrorists don't get away with such a crime twice, due to America's aptitude for finding those who do such crimes. However, just once for things such as 9/11 is too much, which is why this list is in place. The no-fly list is about prevention, not court procedure.
It’s easy to assume the no-fly list is meant for terrorists. Time and again, though, measures supposedly meant for use against terrorism turn out to be used against ordinary Americans. A total lack of due process is typically a giveaway to intentional abuses, like when Sen. Kennedy was put on the list the day after he backed out of a deal with the Bush White House on an education bill. Measured by results, reprisal against imagined internal enemies is more what it’s about than stopping terrorists too stupid to use a fake name or get the kind of fake ID high school kids get all the time.
The 99%,in my way of thinking, is who they see as the real enemies.
Amazing that the department of precrime uses hunches. At least Tom Cruise got the psychic girls.
I'm not surprised, you can't predict this stuff at all.
As good as predictive analytics can be (I do it for a living) its gotta be small comfort to the few who are on a list for nothing.