I posted a few months ago about my dismay that airport police at ABIA are now conducting random searches of vehicles driving up to the terminal. In the very same post, I linked Bruce Schneier’s site. He’s a well-known security expert who gives very good explantions of why random searches are ultimately ineffective.
Fast forward to today – I’m a frequent reader of John Perry Barlow’s blog and noticed that he hadn’t updated much lately. Today’s update explains one of the reasons. His experience goes a step farther than what I blogged about at ABIA. At least you’re simply directed away from the terminal if you refuse. Thankfully, he and co-founder of the EFF, John Gilmore are fighting this affront to the 4th amendment for the rest of us.
As a completely random aside, I googled for “i fought the law” because I couldn’t remember the name of the artist most often associated with the song. It was, of course, Bobby Fuller. However, he didn’t write it. It was originally written and performed by The Crickets, as in “Buddy Holly and”. It was written after Holly’s death. The link responsible for my musical enlightenment appears to belong to a site about the roots of the Grateful Dead. Those who know anything about JPB know that he was the lyricist on several Grateful Dead songs. How’s that for a little Internet daisy chain?