"Mr. Schneier will not testify at Monday's hearing (UPDATE: 3/23/12)" - this is very disappointing... It doesn't look like there's any other technical witness who is not related to TSA and/or the government.
The Director of the Government Accountability Office comes from Homeland Security... so what's the expected outcome of that hearing really? Is it too cynical to expect just some patting on the backs for job well done?
"Something must be done!" "Hey, guess what, smart guy - there's an oversight committee now!"
This reminds me vaguely of Detroit's highly visible and utterly useless monorail.
PS: Bonus points to any who'd like to compare and contrast this with the ("It's radiation!", "Yeah, but it's the same amount you get on the flight anyway!") tuple.
I really don't like that in order to participate in this, you need to have a Facebook account. Am I missing some other submission form? I would be very happy to be corrected on this because it's a gross oversight (ahem).
I agree strongly with you. It is outrageous that to have our voice heard in an allegedly democratic society, the government would mandate we agree to an onerous contract put forth by a private company.
Interesting that Bruce Schneier isn't testifying - there doesn't appear to be anything on his blog about this: http://www.schneier.com/
Hopefully this was just a scheduling issue or similar - in addition to literally having written the book on computer cryptography, he's been a lucid, credible critic of the TSA for quite some time now.
On the plus side I haven't once been attacked by tigers or elephants while flying. Bravo.
Also I'm sure everyone in the country can give a long list of the things they were rather the money was spent on, or not spent at all. The TSA has been as effective as setting fire to large quantities of money.
what about the non tsa stories? the number of times i as a european have heard someone describe an event or opportunity in the usa and then heard but they can't be arsed with the tsa nonsense. is there a measurable reduction of travel to/from the usa since the tsa?
The PL poll was blatant enough (although it ended up generating some pretty good discussion), but does HN really need to play host to tabloid central? I understand why many people are hooked on this particular circus-cum-reality-show, but it really isn't open to audience participation like you think it is.
The Director of the Government Accountability Office comes from Homeland Security... so what's the expected outcome of that hearing really? Is it too cynical to expect just some patting on the backs for job well done?