Ramblings of an Anonymous Coward

Big Brother is watching

last week or so i wrote show me your papers which simply expressed my concern over national id cards and the real value of that post was reference to bruce schneier's post on the subject.

today reading jwz's blog, i find two more things that make me feel that the big brother era is rushing towards us quickly.

In Colorado's Most Mesa Ridge HS, the yearbook has a black mark under one student's picture covering up a phrase that caught the attention of the secret service. [see the sfgate article]. the phrase? "most likely to assassinate president bush". ok, i'll admit it has questionable taste and is less than funny given the state of world affairs (partly due to mr. bush, but that is another matter), but how did this get past the people that produced the yearbook? surely someone might have asked if the caption was appropriate. in my kids school, just saying you are going to kill someone will get you sent to the office, be it in jest or otherwise. and who reported this to the secret service?

wearing a mask in public is illegal??? i'm going to link to jamie's post on this one. in a nutshell a virginia man was wearing a grinch mask and was arrested because wearing a mask in public is illegal. there are apparently exceptions. i do see some rational behind the law, but in light of our civil liberties eroding it just bugs me.

Smith said wearing a mask or hood in public is a misdemeanor under [Virginia] state law, punishable by a fine of up to $500 or up to a year in jail, or both. Children up to 16 years old can wear masks. Traditional Halloween masks, safety gear used in occupations, theatrical productions, civil defense or protection from bad weather also are legal.

well, this keeps the nike goalies safe, i think. so can guy that is a clown for a kid's party safe to wear his makeup to/from the party? could he have been wearing it if it was raining? bad weather, that is vague... maybe 70 degrees with the sun shining is considered bad for this fellow. gets sun-burned easily. heh. and a 16 year old can wear a mask, but a 17 year old can't. wtf is with that?

i remain optimistic that they will continue to enforce the law reasonably, but my fear that crap on the books like this can and will be abused continues to rear its ugly head and will do so from time to time.

Posted by ac at May 27, 2005 04:04 PM