I think the problem is terrorist watch lists based only on first/last name combos. If you have a common name, particularly a male Middle Eastern name, then your name is likely shared by someone on a terrorism watch list.
The problem is that means these people are harassed every time they try to travel. We need at least one other piece of identifying information, not just first/last, so it’s quick to exclude all the false positives.
To play Devil’s advocate, yes it does. That’s how statistical association works. More Muslims are terrorists, and most Mohammad’s are Muslim. Israel’s airport uses profiling like this and it’s one of the safest, most efficient airports in the world. The West is grappling with what to do with this. We could be safer if we also employed profiling, but we don’t like it for moral reasons.
In absolutely no context does the name your parents gave you correlate to whether or not you’re a terrorist.
Tell that to airport security.
I think the problem is terrorist watch lists based only on first/last name combos. If you have a common name, particularly a male Middle Eastern name, then your name is likely shared by someone on a terrorism watch list.
The problem is that means these people are harassed every time they try to travel. We need at least one other piece of identifying information, not just first/last, so it’s quick to exclude all the false positives.
To play Devil’s advocate, yes it does. That’s how statistical association works. More Muslims are terrorists, and most Mohammad’s are Muslim. Israel’s airport uses profiling like this and it’s one of the safest, most efficient airports in the world. The West is grappling with what to do with this. We could be safer if we also employed profiling, but we don’t like it for moral reasons.