Hmmm. Just because we have branded these people as terrorists is it therefore true that they must be exactly that? The leaders of the groups responsible for the attacks against the West are doing so with very specific goals and a comparatively small pool of resources. Of course they are going to fight assymetrically and that kind of warfare is incredibly hard to counteract. The only way of doing so is by effectively instituting a lockdown
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[[[ Of course they are going to fight assymetrically and that kind of warfare is incredibly hard to counteract. The only way of doing so is by effectively instituting a lockdown. ]]]
I have to take issue with this. And so does Schneier in his article. The recent arrests were nothing to do with a "lockdown". They were about intelligence-driven policing. Like the arrests that were happening at the same time that the 90-day extension to police powers was being debated.
[[[ So our choices are put in place restrictions and react to perceived threats, or ignore it all and hope it goes away. ]]]
No. Again, the article makes this point very well. The police are _currently_ using a third way. And it is apparently being successful. (The success rate is hard to measure, of course, because politicians and the media benefit from screaming about each and every arrent and foiled plot, no matter how ridiculous.)
No idea. Probably. I don't keep track of when I am being ironic, sarcastic or just downright rude. Changes so fast I can't keep up with myself.
Thing about intelligence driven policing is that it is only useful when you have useful and understandable intelligence in the first place. The difficulty right now appears to be that the useful intelligence is out there but sifting through all the dross to pull out that which would make a difference is monstrously difficult. Mistakes happen; false leads are followed and positive leads are ignored. In the former, unsuspecting people get shot in the arse. In the latter, unsuspecting people get blown up on the aircraft/trains they are commuting on. Personally, I'm amazed that tghe boys in blue have any degree of success at all.
Intellectually I agree entirely. But - and I hate this - emotionally I was at Paddington the week after the London bombs and there was a stereotypical out-of-place Arab foreign type: shifty, nervous, ratty beard, rucksack. I felt edgy and my eyes flicked to the nearest copper and I'm still furious at the manipulators involved for making me feel that way: I was being a racist twat - albeit just inside my head.
But in the cool atmosphere of the ivory blogosphere, I agree absolutely.
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Of course they are going to fight assymetrically and that kind of warfare is incredibly hard to counteract. The only way of doing so is by effectively instituting a lockdown.
]]]
I have to take issue with this. And so does Schneier in his article. The recent arrests were nothing to do with a "lockdown". They were about intelligence-driven policing. Like the arrests that were happening at the same time that the 90-day extension to police powers was being debated.
[[[
So our choices are put in place restrictions and react to perceived threats, or ignore it all and hope it goes away.
]]]
No. Again, the article makes this point very well. The police are _currently_ using a third way. And it is apparently being successful. (The success rate is hard to measure, of course, because politicians and the media benefit from screaming about each and every arrent and foiled plot, no matter how ridiculous.)
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Thing about intelligence driven policing is that it is only useful when you have useful and understandable intelligence in the first place. The difficulty right now appears to be that the useful intelligence is out there but sifting through all the dross to pull out that which would make a difference is monstrously difficult. Mistakes happen; false leads are followed and positive leads are ignored. In the former, unsuspecting people get shot in the arse. In the latter, unsuspecting people get blown up on the aircraft/trains they are commuting on. Personally, I'm amazed that tghe boys in blue have any degree of success at all.
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But in the cool atmosphere of the ivory blogosphere, I agree absolutely.
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