Mobile devices and the terrorism-alert culture

The other day I was alerted to a Weblog item about a guy who was using a free Wi-Fi connection outside a public library. A policeman approached the man, told him that he could only access the Internet from inside the building, and asked him to stop. Later, after he showed the policeman that his computer’s wireless card was off, the guy was told to just use the computer somewhere else. Rather than get arrested, the writer complied.

Go to http://akma.disseminary.org/archives/001518.html for the full tale.

Not only was the story interesting, but also the comments from other users and readers raise the issue of how much our fears about terrorism and other public safety issues (the policeman said using the Wi-Fi connection outside the library was against a federal law) could possibly bump up against our mobile device culture.

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The other day I was alerted to a Weblog item about a guy who was using a free Wi-Fi connection outside a public library. A policeman approached the man, told him that he could only access the Internet from inside the building, and asked him to stop. Later, after he showed the policeman that his computer’s wireless card was off, the guy was told to just use the computer somewhere else. Rather than get arrested, the writer complied.

Go to http://akma.disseminary.org/archives/001518.html for the full tale.

Not only was the story interesting, but also the comments from other users and readers raise the issue of how much our fears about terrorism and other public safety issues (the policeman said using the Wi-Fi connection outside the library was against a federal law) could possibly bump up against our mobile device culture.

For example, whenever I travel now I usually have a bag full of different devices and accessories, ranging from a music player, cell phone, laptop, USB flash drives, Secure Digital cards, mobile mice, and all of the associated power cords. In the airport security line, I throw as much as possible into the laptop bag and then pray that when it goes through the x-ray machine, the security officials will get a good angle on all the different devices.

I've been pulled out of line several times, and have had security officials go through and examine all of the different devices. To their credit, the officials have never asked me to explain what certain devices were, or to turn them on or off (is that a good or bad thing?), and have always been polite. So I'm not complaining about being singled out. Heck, if I saw a bunch of cabling and wrapped-up power cords on the x-ray machine, I'd want to get a closer look.

That's just one example, but there are several others. Many places are banning the use of camera cell phones, for security and privacy reasons. We recently went to a free screening of a new movie (pre-release), and there were guys with metal detectors checking for video phones and other recording devices.

The experience of our Wi-Fi-using blogger only highlights the current state of our paranoia. I have a feeling that the policeman didn't like what he saw, and he would use whatever reason he could think of to get the guy to move on. Any resistance on the part of the blogger would have likely resulted in a "disturbing the peace" arrest - sure, it would have probably gotten thrown out by a judge, but is that worth the inconvenience?

Ask yourself that question, and you might be surprised by your answer. The next time you're traveling and you start taking photos with the mobile camera phone, or try to access the Internet from an odd location, ask yourself if someone might think that you're up to no good. For example, in the Las Vegas airport last year, I saw a couple of guys taking camera phone photos of the underground tram system that takes you from the main terminal out to the gates. Tourists or terrorists? Who's to decide?

So let me know what you think - has your experience with any mobile device (cell phone, Wi-Fi access, etc.) ever caused you to get weird looks from law enforcement (or others)? Send any e-mail to mailto:kshaw@nww.com

Read more about wireless & mobile in Network World's Wireless & Mobile section.