2005-10-24—Nail Clippers & Censors |
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Of nail clippers and censors: jewishsightseeing.com, October 24,
2005 |
By Ira Sharkansky
Two recent items report what the government that does not allow nail
clippers onto airplanes is also doing in the war against terror.
An article in The Economist describes a gargantuan effort to
monitor the flow of money between banks. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5053373 The
problem is that the system is costly to administer, is not implemented
thoroughly enough to close what may continue to be major holes, has not
demonstrated any success in limiting contributions from Saudi Arabia and
other places where lots of rich people do not like western heretics,
and may not be able to do much more than increase the fees that banks charge
their customers.
A piece in The New York Times tells about the efforts of
colleges, universities, libraries and other providers of internet
connections to resist government demands that they change their systems in
order to facilitate more convenient monitoring of who is reading or sending
what through the atmosphere. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/technology/23college.html Here,
too, the people who designed the ban on nail clippers seem to be in charge.
Mandated changes are likely to cost billions overall, and do little more
than add to the tuition bills of you know who. University and library
personnel are not enthusiastic about government officials looking at traffic
on their computer systems, but a number of them have cooperated with focused
inquiries by law enforcement. They claim that existing facilities allow the
coverage of individuals there is reason to track. What they object to is
expensive changes that might allow universal monitoring. And like the
programs to check on the movement of money, those designed for the internet
will not close all the ways to transfer information, especially by
those who suspect someone may be watching.
Do not think that I object to big brother (or sister). They are
essential in a world with more than a few nasty people, especially those who
target Israelis, Jews, Americans, Britons, and other decent folk. I had
my own dust-up with Israeli military censors when I wrote an article about
my basic training 25 years ago. A major came to my office and asked that I
dump the article because it subjected the IDF to ridicule. When I protested
that humor might in fact be helpful, he handed me a version that he would
accept. It included a few minor excisions that I could accept. For those
interested, the result is "Professor
Becomes Army Recruit (memoir)," Jerusalem Quarterly, Summer,
l982.
This morning I noticed that my son
was reading the blog of an army friend who was writing about his military
experience. I asked if the censors were alert to the new technology. What I
heard in return came from a young man who was not honoring my wisdom.
So far no indication that Israeli
big brothers and sisters aspire to snoop with the universal coverage favored
by their American counterparts. But this morning we are hearing that
security forces have sent another leader of the bad guys to his paradise,
and brought a few more to keep company with their colleagues in IDF
hospitality camps.
Sharkansky is a member of the political science department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem |