Two recent items report what the government that does not allow nail clippers onto airplanes is also doing in the war against terror.

 

An article in The Economist describes a gargantuan effort to monitor the flow of money between banks. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5053373 The problem is that the system is costly to administer, is not implemented thoroughly enough to close what may continue to be major holes, has not demonstrated any success in limiting contributions from Saudi Arabia and other places where lots of  rich people do not like western heretics, and may not be able to do much more than increase the fees that banks charge their customers.

 

A piece in The New York Times tells about the efforts of colleges, universities, libraries and other providers of internet connections to resist government demands that they change their systems in order to facilitate more convenient monitoring of who is reading or sending what through the atmosphere. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/technology/23college.html Here, too, the people who designed the ban on nail clippers seem to be in charge. Mandated changes are likely to cost billions overall, and do little more than add to the tuition bills of you know who. University and library personnel are not enthusiastic about government officials looking at traffic on their computer systems, but a number of them have cooperated with focused inquiries by law enforcement. They claim that existing facilities allow the coverage of individuals there is reason to track. What they object to is expensive changes that might allow universal monitoring. And like the programs to check on the movement of money, those designed for the internet will not close all the ways to transfer information, especially by those who suspect someone may be watching.

 

Do not think that I object to big brother (or sister). They are essential in a world with more than a few nasty people, especially those who target Israelis, Jews, Americans, Britons, and other decent folk. I had my own dust-up with Israeli military censors when I wrote an article about my basic training 25 years ago. A major came to my office and asked that I dump the article because it subjected the IDF to ridicule. When I protested that humor might in fact be helpful, he handed me a version that he would accept. It included a few minor excisions that I could accept. For those interested, the result is "Professor Becomes Army Recruit (memoir)," Jerusalem Quarterly, Summer, l982.

 

This morning I noticed that my son was reading the blog of an army friend who was writing about his military experience. I asked if the censors were alert to the new technology. What I heard in return came from a young man who was not honoring my wisdom.

 

So far no indication that Israeli big brothers and sisters aspire to snoop with the universal coverage favored by their American counterparts. But this morning we are hearing that security forces have sent another leader of the bad guys to his paradise, and brought a few more to keep company with their colleagues in IDF hospitality camps.