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The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

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Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#21

Post by jdreaver »

cdooh wrote: post #4

While the TSA is messed up and all that, Americans shouldn't be too quick to turn to private companies. Private companies would be profit focused, this means that any way to minimise costs will be taken which may compromise security. I give you Blackwater in Iraq as a good example

I hope we get someone profit focused, because if they repeatedly violate our rights, then we (or the airlines) can do something about it and fire them, therefore removing their profit. In the current system, the incompetent TSA suckles on the taxpayers teet regardless of the quality of their work. The politicians justify their existence with the biggest lie ever used to take our rights: safety.

Also, since when is "profit" a bad word? Using the means of free trade to improve one's situation is the foundation of civilization. People act as if the quest for profit turns you into some sort of Scrooge McDuck figure who counts dollars and stashes money away never to be seen again.

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#22

Post by cdooh »

mikeash wrote: post #18
cdooh wrote: post #4

While the TSA is messed up and all that, Americans shouldn't be too quick to turn to private companies. Private companies would be profit focused, this means that any way to minimise costs will be taken which may compromise security. I give you Blackwater in Iraq as a good example

Security is already highly compromised, and apparently isn't too necessary.

I'd rather have a public entity than a private entity with poor oversight

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#24

Post by tokenizer »

codex wrote: post #15

HN has quite an anti-TSA bias. The TSA has problems, but so does every large organization. I suspect HN'ers glare at the TSA because they travel frequently, and it would benefit them disproportionately to cut down on travel time and inconvenience. This is like the trucking lobby arguing for fewer restrictions on driver safety--the perspective is not exactly objective.

But you're missing the point. The TSA does literally nothing. It adds 'no' value. It's only an expense. To who? Everyone. For who? No one...

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#25

Post by uses »

codex wrote: post #15

HN has quite an anti-TSA bias. The TSA has problems, but so does every large organization. I suspect HN'ers glare at the TSA because they travel frequently, and it would benefit them disproportionately to cut down on travel time and inconvenience. This is like the trucking lobby arguing for fewer restrictions on driver safety--the perspective is not exactly objective.

The HN audience, and the hacker community in general, also has a libertarian bent, a question-everything bent, and an interest in secure systems.

This all makes the TSA pretty uncool, even for people like myself, who barely ever take the opportunity to fly.

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#26

Post by rayiner »

smokeyj wrote: post #9
cdooh wrote: post #4

While the TSA is messed up and all that, Americans shouldn't be too quick to turn to private companies. Private companies would be profit focused, this means that any way to minimise costs will be taken which may compromise security. I give you Blackwater in Iraq as a good example

You trust a private corporation to strap you to a flying hunk of metal, but not to ensure your safety? Sounds logical..

Airlines, at least in the US, are quasi-government corporations run by courts and unions in a state of near perpetual bankruptcy.

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#28

Post by betterunix »

codex wrote: post #15

HN has quite an anti-TSA bias. The TSA has problems, but so does every large organization. I suspect HN'ers glare at the TSA because they travel frequently, and it would benefit them disproportionately to cut down on travel time and inconvenience. This is like the trucking lobby arguing for fewer restrictions on driver safety--the perspective is not exactly objective.

The difference is that there is no objective evidence that the TSA's airport security checkpoints benefit anyone; there is more evidence that the checkpoints actually put us in danger. There is also the matter of having my tax dollars poured into such a dubious program while simultaneously being siphoned away from non-secretive programs that benefit everyone.

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#29

Post by betterunix »

pmb wrote: post #19

The whole trick of designing institutions is to make sure that when they act for their own self-preservation (as they will and do) they will simultaneously be achieving the goal we want them to be achieving.

So what is the TSA's goal with airport security?

Re: The TSA's True Focus Isn't Safety - It's Self-Preservation

#30

Post by fleitz »

codex wrote: post #15

HN has quite an anti-TSA bias. The TSA has problems, but so does every large organization. I suspect HN'ers glare at the TSA because they travel frequently, and it would benefit them disproportionately to cut down on travel time and inconvenience. This is like the trucking lobby arguing for fewer restrictions on driver safety--the perspective is not exactly objective.

Yeah we do, but there's a reason we're biased against the TSA.

It's because we believe they fundamentally undermine the 4th amendment, and they are a market distortion forced upon us that results in a subpar consumer experience.

There's nothing wrong with being biased towards our inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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