Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> Warp wrote:
>>>   So all other types of criminal profiling are ok, but not profiling based
>>> on how someone looks like?
> 
>> No. It's not legal to profile anyone before a crime has been committed.
> 
>   I don't think that's the case. There are all kinds of typical profiles
> of several types of criminals. For example "a serial killer is typically
> a white middle-aged male".

Having a statistical profile isn't the same as profiling someone. That sort 
of profiling is used to reduce the number of people to consider *before* you 
talk to people, not to *increase* the number of people you talk to about the 
crime.

You wouldn't be allowed to go around and question every white middle-aged 
male simply because there's a serial killer going around whacking people.

I don't know. What do you have against police having to have a reason to 
think maybe you're doing something wrong before they stop and force you to 
prove you're not?  It really is more efficient that way.

>> Nobody minds being asked to show proof of citizenship if a crime has been 
>> committed, or even if a crime *might* have been committed. This law isn't 
>> that. This law is stopping people just in case maybe a crime has been committed.
> 
>   Maybe it's just me, but I really don't see a difference between "might
> have been" and "maybe has been"... You probably used poor wording for that.

By "might have been", I mean that if there's a reason to suspect you're 
illegal and you prove you aren't, then a crime "might have been committed." 
It wasn't, but there was some indication it might have been.

The second sentence is stopping people before you have any indication there 
was a crime at all.

It's the difference between going door to door and questioning males if they 
know anything about Mary being raped, after Mary reports being raped; vs 
going door to door to ask each male to prove they haven't raped anyone. If 
you want to go with your "profiling" comment.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Linux: Now bringing the quality and usability of
   open source desktop apps to your personal electronics.

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