RyanJan 11, 2004 at 11:30PM

The tone of the conversation at boing-boing is running evenly shocked and nonplussed. The only thing I'll add is that steps like this are far from new, nor solely the domain of CAPPS:

Merely 10 months old, my brother was flying home from West Germany in 1974 in the company of my mother. Due to then-recent activity from a terror group (Bader-Meinhoff?), security was at high alert, even when it came to the families of American servicemen stationed locally. My mother watched in horror as a security agent used a razor to disembowel my brother's teddy bear during his very thorough search of their carry-ons.

Then, as now, fear drives a sense that anyone can be a potential threat to the safety of airline passengers. Snide condecension towards those who endeavor to maintain that safety may keep some people warm at night, but as for me, I'm happy somebody is politely checking the Hello Kitty suitcase of the six-year-old in aisle 19.

souloniceJan 12, 2004 at 9:53PM

Mulder was right. Trust no one.