Stupid Security Competition
by nex on 2/18/03, 10:11 AM in opinionated
When you see someone making a call in a locker room of a gym, you have to make a decision: Call the police, or just say "cheese"!
Top story this morning at Wired News: Are You Scared Stupid? Do Tell, about the Stupid Security Competition of Privacy International, which is about how ...
Even before 9/11 a whole army of bumbling amateurs has taken it upon themselves to figure out pointless, annoying, intrusive, illusory and just plain stupid measures to "protect" our security.... and will give an award to whoever implements ...
the world's most pointless, intrusive, stupid and self-serving security measures.At the same time in the 'quote marks' section of their frontpage, Wired had an excerpt of their second-placed story, New Privacy Menace: Cell Phones?:
"Some of these phones can be used as cameras. If someone ... takes a photo and puts it on the Internet, it's not very good for our members and their privacy." — Why a chain of gyms in Hong Kong may prohibit patrons from making cell calls in the locker room.Rules that ban cameras from locker rooms of gyms or at least prohibit taking photos are in place anyways. Of course, there could be staff members or patrons of the gym who are not able to determine wheter I have a camera hidden inside my phone, but those also couldn't determine wheter I have a camera hidden inside my sneakers, wallet or bubble gum pack. Consequently, such rules comply with the criteria pointless, intrusive and stupid. Maybe someone who already had his phone confiscated because of this should file a nomination for a Stupid Security Award.
This is like not allowing passengers to take carry-on luggage aboard an air-plane, because it could contain a pair of scissors which could be used as a weapon, while completely ignoring the possibility of carrying a ceramic knife (doesn't trigger metal detectors) in your trousers. "Sorry, ma'am, you can't take this bag on board; it could contain something with sharp blades. No, we can't just search it, we are not qualified to search bags; you just have to leave it here. Yes, you're right, you could be carrying something with sharp blades on your person. Maybe we should also ban passengers."
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