Thousands Of People Take Photos Every Day. What If One Of Them Seems Odd?

Insane
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Seen in chromaticorb home page (?)

Not at all if you stick to the school of thought behind it: everyone is a potential threat. Every action could mean something.

But that school of thought could easily be called insane.

Security through obscurity....

Terrorists also eat, drink and sleep... I dare you!!

OMG, you are right.
We need to report all those that display strange eating and drinking habits or have weird sleep customs.
There is no time to lose.

Be very afraid.

Do you think there is any chance the world will come to its senses any time soon?

Define "soon".
I don't see any reversal in these practices any sooner than in ten years - and that is a pure optimistic guess without any funding facts.

Unfortunately even if such a change of practices should occur, the damage that has been done will be enormous. Not only considering laws which have been introduced but also concerning the state of people's minds, since one of the key messages spread by actions as the one I wrote about in this post is: Don't trust anyone. Everyone can be a threat. Be suspicious.

Hence a term I like to use when discussing developments in surveillance, privacy, freedom, civil liberties, etc. is that of an emerging (?) society of distrust.

Along with that goes the development of technologies, esp. in the field of data collection and processing that allows automation of filtering out "potential threats" on basis of statistics and probability calculations.
In this context I am very much spooked by our firm belief in technology and numbers. If an algorithm - which we do not know and do not understand - tells us that (e. g.) Rob Young has a "threat level" of "7.5/10" we will believe in this seemingly "neutral" number and act accordingly.

This then results in the appalling situation where humans don't trust humans any more but firmly believe in their machines. (OK, that sounds kind of Sci-Fi dystopian)

You see, there are tons of aspects one could consider in this debate. What I am trying to say as a response to your remark: so many variables of so many different fields are involved that I don't dare to give a prognosis - but the sheer amount of possible terrible outcomes worries me, to say the least.

there was a man on the plane i feel i should have reported. mistakes can be made both ways.

henri banks group... www.flickr.com/groups/bigbrotheriswatchingyou

OMG, 93 pictures, 45 members.
That must be a terrorist _organisation_!

yes and i am head of the organization :-)
Proud to be a "terrorist photographer"

we have some "1984" group or something here?

Not sure, there are some groups concerned with CCTV in particular.
That's one of the things about surveillance: it tends to be "invisible", only few measures can be photographed or otherwise made "tangible".
Not only is the effect that many people are not aware of this surveillance, but also that "invisible" surveillance is even more effective than visible one - the principle of the Panopticon.

Still, somehow I feel relieved due to the fact that most people I meet and tend to find congenial share the same "scepticism" - same here now. :)

If terrorists wanted to take our freedom away, they can now lean back and enjoy.

Bejamin Franklin understood: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

They could lean back ever since the "War On Terror" was proclaimed. I don't see any individual or group _ever_ threatening the existence of a nation state [1].
Such a threat will IMO always arise from those "in power", from the "leaders".

BTW, concerning the (alleged) Franklin quote:
antiterror.blog.de/?s=franklin&submit=Suche
[in German]

__________
[1] Propagandhi: And We Thought Nation-States Were A Bad Idea
www.g7welcomingcommittee.com/discography/g7007.php

I doubt that terrorists would have these goals. I don't think terrorists are purely destructive, it does seem so, but you don't live just to destroy, you also want to create something.. in the end. I really doubt there is a master plan of destabilizing the western societies and then take them over or such. That's just ridiculous. So in the end some seem to be disgruntled and full of hate, but I doubt that can be said for all of them.

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when i grew up i was a punk and i didn't had respect for authority i was against the church, Government, and of course the cops,Movements like the red brigade,ETA ,RAF,IRA got my support,till i got older and the world was changing to,it is not good that the Government try to suck you down its not good that they get so much money and when you see what they do(childish behavior in TV)We in Europe have many problems and we have to work on that.
Whats not fitting here is the Muslim movement they better be silence ,search for the paradise in there own countries because we cant give it to them.I have so many words in my head but i am not a writer i just wish for a better world in Peace (damn i sound like a f... hippie)
I give you all a hug ;-)
Henri

Whats not fitting here is the Muslim movement they better be silence ,search for the paradise in there own countries because we cant give it to them.

I don't see such a thing as a "Muslim movement". I don't see such a thing as a "clash of cultures".
I see a world becoming ever more connected, cf. Ipernity, without a common, universally valid set of ethics and thus resulting misunderstandings and confusion.

I therefore reject any form of blanket "the $group_of_people want to tell $other_group_of_people how to live" perceptions because that only cements the notion of confrontation and conflict.

IMO there are reams of individual people out there all trying to find some sort of anchor in this world, some sort of "community" to belong to.

i just wish for a better world in Peace (damn i sound like a f... hippie)

ACK. :)

you are right the Muslim part didn't fit in that comment :-/
but i still we have more peace on this Planet (damn i still sound like a f... hippie)
LG
Henri

good and bad in all races and genders- bottom line.