From the YouTube description:

On June 19, 2011, after the Transportation Security Agency pulled my pants down, I was arrested at BNA for refusing to pick up my pants until I was informed as to whether the search was complete. I never got the answer to my request, “Is the search over?” The resolution search that I agreed to after my 3″x4″ microfiber cloth had been picked up as an anomaly in the millimeter wave scanner, is the same search that Senator Rand Paul (KY) refused. I am a frequent flyer, having A-list status with Southwest and flying through Nashville 3 dozen times in the past 2 years. I now opt out of the millimeter wave scanner and maintain an informal record of the search procedures of the TSA. The grab and pull of my pant legs seen in this video was not necessary as all the TSA searches I have received before and after the incident have proven.

I am looking for a lawyer to sue the TSA. The charges of Disorderly Conduct and Public Indecency are unjust. One officer, Robbie Keeler, was heard stating, “I think we’re stretchin’ it on the Public Indecency, but what the hell?! Have him tell it to the commissioner. I would like to charge the all officers involved, Officer Hardini Carter and Officer Robert Merritt, round up the pack. TSA agents Seth James and Lee (badge# 74020) are also liable. The first thing Agent Lee said upon standing up after pulling down my pants was, “Pick up your pants.” When I asked, “Is the search over?”, his response was, “Pick up your pants, sir!” His supervisor Seth James, could only offer snide remarks and the same “Pick up your pants!” command. I explained, “Is the search over? Because if the search is over, I will pull up my pants and grab my stuff.” The TSA Agents and the Police Officers had no intention of respecting my right to know whether the search was complete.

This video was obtained by requesting it from Bob Watson and Terri Barnhart. The TSA records at double time. 714p_thru_725p_11-01025_061911.mpg

As you are watching the video remember these questions:

As American citizens, have we or have we not, the right to know whether a search we voluntarily submit for is complete or if it shall continue indefinitely?

Is it TSA policy to submit American citizens to submission by dehumanization?

Am I prepared with the phone number of a friend or relative with a land line telephone, in the event that I attempt to keep my dignity at the airport?

Are the police liable for false arrest when they themselves reviewed the surveillance video and thought the charge of Public Indecency to be a stretch?

Watch out Americans. There are government agencies that do not respect your right, nor you dignity.

I am looking for a lawyer who believes in justice for American citizens. It has taken me nearly 8 months to even post this video on youtube and start to solicit the lawyer help, because the psychological toll this incident has taken can be unruly at times.

“By no means would the government admit a situation where civic freedoms and free access to information would be threatened,” Necas said.

That is why the government will analyse the issue and have it assessed by experts. “We really must look into the impact it would have in real life,” Necas said.

After learning that their country had signed ACTA, many citizens of the Czech republic took to the streets in protest . Also agreeing with the protesters are several Czech Euro ministers.

Romanian Prime Minister, Emil Boc, has publically stated that he doesn’t understand why Romania even signed ACTA. Emil Boc offered his resignation shortly after, however, the president is still asking questions.

PM Emil Boc said, on Saturday, that, for the moment, he did not hold any information on the circumstances in which Romania had adopted the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Realitatea.net informs. PSD President Victor Ponta is asking the government to publicly explain why it had signed ACTA on behalf of Romania without a prior public debate and notes that, when it goes to power, USL will suspend the enforcement of the Agreement until a dialogue with the civil society is fulfilled, he notes on his Facebook account.

This is what happens when treaties are proposed and signed in secret. Even those at the top levels of government have no idea what is happening in their countries or how such treaties will affect their citizens.

ACTA is still a very real problem and the countries involved need to take a serious look at what it is and whether they really want to be involved by informing themselves about what ACTA really is.

One of the biggest regrets came from Poland this week when it suspended its ratification process for ACTA. Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said that there were insufficient consultations made before signing it.

Tusk’s backtracking could spell the end of ACTA for the entire European Union. If Poland or any other EU member state, or the European Parliament itself, fails to ratify the document, it becomes null and void across the union. As it stands, there are already five member countries that have not even signed ACTA.

Poland has seen the biggest protests against ACTA, with thousands demonstrating on the streets last week. Hackers believed to be associated with Anonymous attacked Tusk’s website, as well as the European Parliament site, after the signing.

Critics of ACTA say it has insufficient safeguards for online liberties, particularly in signing countries that do not already have strong principles of freedom of speech and expression. In addition, the agreement negotiations, which took place without the contributions of civic groups or elected representatives, have been widely described as undemocratic.

Although Slovenia also signed the agreement, their ambassador, Helena Drnovšek Zorko, has publicly apologized to her country for doing so, saying that it was a mistake.

I signed ACTA out of civic carelessness, because I did not pay enough attention.

Quite simply, I did not clearly connect the agreement I had been instructed to sign with the agreement that, according to my own civic conviction, limits and withholds the freedom of engagement on the largest and most significant network in human history, and thus limits particularly the future of our children.

The final version of ACTA is also very watered down from what it once was.

Here are some major improvements:

The provision that proposed to criminally punish ordinary users (think college kid downloading music) with fines, jail time, seizure of computers, etc., was significantly scaled back as the negotiation process moved on and finally eliminated in the final text.
The provision that required all ACTA countries to hold third parties, such as ISPs and consumer electronics manufacturers, liable for their customers’ infringement was eliminated. This provision, as drafted, was inconsistent with U.S. law and would have required changes to this complex and evolving policy space.

The provision that required countries to institute safe harbors for ISPs from their customer’s infringement was eliminated. While the idea of providing ISPs with a safe harbor is a good one and facilitates the development of platforms and services on the Internet, the way in which ACTA would have required these safe harbors was not good. It lacked safe guards for users that are contained in U.S. law. Further, it could have provided the excuse for measures such as three strikes and deep packet inspection.

The DRM provisions of ACTA were improved significantly. Earlier leaked drafts had called upon countries to prevent circumvention of DRM, treat them as both civil and criminal offenses, and consider them illegal even when there was no underlying attempt to infringe copyright. Furthermore, these drafts had not acknowledged that circumvention could be done for lawful purposes. The final text overcomes these deficiencies and gives countries flexibility in how they implement DRM provisions.

ACTA hasn’t been ratified in Europe yet, so there’s still time to protest it if you care anything at all about democracy and free speech. Protests are being called for on Saturday, 11 February 2012 across Europe.

If you’re still confused about ACTA, visit EFF’s page or this discussion on reddit.

Talk by Arvind Narayanan at the Governance of Social Media Workshop Nov 11, 2011.

A casual text message to work colleagues encouraging them to ”blow away” the competition at a trade show allegedly plunged a Muslim man into a terrorism probe.

The Quebec man says he was arrested by provincial police while picking up his seven-year-old son at school. A team of police officers stormed into his home, telling his wife she was married to a terrorist. And his work colleagues were detained for hours at the U.S. border because of their connection to him.

On Jan. 21, 2011, Allami sent a text message to colleagues urging them to “blow away” the competition at a trade show in New York City.

Allami was arrested and detained for four hours while police searched his house and repeatedly told his wife that he was a terrorist.

The Moroccan native is seeking $100,000 from the Quebec provincial police force, one of its sergeants, and the provincial government. The six-figure sum is being sought for unlawful detention, unlawful arrest, loss of income and damage to his reputation.

Allami has been unable to obtain the necessary paperwork in order for him to continue working in his profession, leaving him with no choice but to take the Quebec provincial police force to court in order to restore his reputation and be able to find work again.

“Allami says he sent the text message in French and used the word ”exploser,” a term he claims is commonly used in finance to mean grow or succeed.”

His exact words were:

“Salem, je serai à New York le 25 janvier, on va exploser ACN, si vous avez des contacts référez-les moi”

This literally translates to:

Salem, I will be in New York on January 25h, we will explode ACN, if you have contacts refer them to me.

In all likelihood, Allami’s message was automatically screened by American intelligence agencies who have the ability to monitor cell phone usage within its borders. Allami sent the message to colleagues in New York City, where it was intercepted. It is unlikely that those who intercepted the message understand colloquial Quebecois French and over-reacted. The problem arises when none of his colleagues were arrested in the United States. They were only detained upon their arrival at the border going back to Canada.

In reality, anyone reading this literal translation would know that there is something not quite right with the translation and get someone qualified to help them ascertain what is going on. Instead, everyone decided it must be terrorism because some machine translation can’t be wrong.

There are several questions that remain unanswered. If there was really such a threat, why were his colleagues never arrested when they were in New York City and Allami, a Muslim, was the only one under immediate scrutiny? Why did they not dig deeper or get someone who understands colloquial Quebecois French? Why was Allami’s message intercepted and why was he under suspicion to begin with?

The greater problem to remember here is that Saad Allami was arrested not for the actions he took, but for a message he sent. His speech is what was considered dangerous.

Powered by Twitter Tools

An internal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) memorandum concluded that the agency can successfully audit its screening practices to guard against racial and religious profiling.

The Sikh Coalition has complained for many years that they are being profiled by the TSA and are subject to more secondary screenings than they should be. A TSA memorandum was released this week stating that such a study into profiling can be done. The Sikh Coalition continues to push for such an audit.

More discussion at Slashdot and reddit.

“As millions of fans sit glued to their sets next Sunday, one part of the game they will not see is the massive deployment of federal and local law enforcement resources to achieve what is being called the most technologically secure Super Bowl in history, an event that has been officially designated as a National Security Special Event (PDF). At the top of the list are gamma-ray cargo and vehicles scanners that can reportedly see through six inches of steel to reveal the contents of large vehicles. ‘We can detect people, handguns and rifles,’ says Customs and Border Protection Officer Brian Bell. ‘You’d be a fool to bring something into that stadium that you shouldn’t. We’re going to catch it. Our goal is to look at every vehicle that makes a delivery inside the stadium and inside the secure perimeter.’ Next is the 51-foot Featherlite mobile command center for disaster response that will support the newly constructed $18 million Regional Operations Center (ROC) for the Marion County Department of Homeland Security that will serve as a fusion center for coordinating the various federal agencies involved in providing security for the Super Bowl. One interesting security measure are the ‘Swiveloc’ explosion-proof manhole covers (video) that Indianapolis has spent $150,000 installing that are locked down during the Super Bowl. In case of an underground explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground — enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger — before falling back into place. Finally the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI has installed a network of cameras that will be just a click away for government officials. ‘If you had the right (Internet) address, you could set up a laptop anywhere and you could watch the camera from there,’ says Brigadier General Stewart Goodwin.”

Holy shit! Who would want to spend any time in a stadium with that much unnecessary security? This is just proof that the terrorists won a long time ago and people are far too willing to give up their rights and freedoms for a little bit of perceived security.