The only patch for human stupidity is experience.  — Presenter, 2011 DerbyCon Security Conference

 Uncle BadTouch provided by the great Robb Allen.

This one is a riff on something Tam posted about the latest example of “Watch Your Neighbors” coming out of Washington:

Where do you draw the line? How far down the slope do you slide before you decide you don’t like the view anymore?

Talk about a thorny issue.  On the one hand, we all want to do everything we can to keep bad things from happening, and we all screamed to high heaven on September 12 when all of the little things that weren’t noticed or reported that could have at least reduced the risks and damage on 9/11 came to light.  On the other hand, citizens have the right to do things in their life that others might look askance at without risking a visit from the men in the dark blue suits.  The things someone would do to get ready for a terrorist attack are for the most part perfectly legal and innocuous by themselves.   It’s when the fertilizer is combined with the diesel and a mind to use them destructively that someone should say something if they see something.

Example:  Lots of my neighbors are shooters and hunters.  I know that at least a few of them reload because I’ve given them brass.  So that means they have at least some gunpowder on the premises.  To me, that’s normal.  But to the government, it’s none of their business until one of those neighbors starts packing that gunpowder into packages or pipes and attaches a fuse. 

Example:  I regularly hear shooting, sometimes a lot of it, from the fields around the house.  As long as I don’t hear rounds coming over the house, I tend to look up at the first shot and then ignore it.  If I started hearing loud explosions and the distinctive sound of a heavy machine gun, I might go on down the road to see what’s going on.  Hey, who doesn’t like explosions and machine guns?  But unless I see something that’s actually illegal, I’m not calling the cops.

Example:  A group of people who get together to practice shooting silhouette targets that are placed around realistic office or home settings may be getting ready for a terrorist attack or a robbery.  Or maybe they’re shooting IDPA.  Who’s to say?

Example:  A young woman leaves behind a backpack on a bus, and someone notices it after she’s a couple of blocks behind.  Is it a terrorist leaving behind a bomb or is it a young mother who forgot her diaper bag?

I guess my take on it is this:  I wouldn’t want my neighbors, co-workers, or some yutz on the subway running to DHS if they spy me carrying my gun, reading a ‘subversive’ book, or heck, talking to a friend about how much we don’t like the current government.  So I mind my own business, try to not annoy the neighbors, and complain to the neighbors when they annoy me. 

What comes of programs like this are incremental steps towards a  true surveillance state.  People in the Soviet Union or Germany both before and after World War II didn’t wake up one morning and decide to become snitches all at once.  That frog was boiled very slowly over the space of years.

Reporting by citizens against other citizens for doing nothing more than living their lives the way they want to is a very dangerous thing, and it does nothing to make us safer.  If you see a crime, report it.  If  something seems odd to you, remember it.  Maybe it really was part of a crime, and you might be able to help an investigation.  But don’t report someone to the police for seeming odd.  This comes from someone who enjoys people watching, but admits his own oddness enough to recognize it as being part of being human in others.

• When a judge gives you an hour for lunch, and 4 of the 45 people in your jury pool decide to not return at all, it makes His Honor a bit testy.
• It is not a wise thing to come back from lunch smelling like a distillery.  But at least you came back.
• It is easy to spot the jurors who are normally working on salary and those who are normally under a union contract.  The jurors who work for a set salary are used to staying until the job gets done.  The union people start to get itchy at hour 5, and get downright irate at hour 7 if they believe they will have to stay late.
• When during the jury selection process the defense counsel plays the race card, you know it’s going to be a long day.
• For some reason I’m not surprised that I’ve told the defense counsel in two criminal jury selections that one of the local prosecutors and I are acquaintances and that his brother is godfather to my children and on both occasions I haven’t been chosen for the jury.
• Listening to some of the people who are serving with me reminds me of how lucky I am to have a boss and co-workers who are willing to take up the slack when things like this come up.  I’ve been at the courthouse for three straight days, and will be spending half of tomorrow there as well.  The clerk tells me that’s about par for the course, and I should expect the same thing next week.  The boss and my team seem to be taking it all in stride.
• Amazingly enough, a lot of lawyers seem to be willing to settle when they hear that the jury pool is on its way up.