An interesting observation

[unixronin]

This paragraph is excerpted, out of context, from an article by bruce_schneier talking about return on investment for business security.  It's an interesting observation nonetheless:

Or take another example: airport security.  Assume that all the new airport security measures increase the waiting time at airports by — and I'm making this up — 30 minutes per passenger.  There were 760 million passenger boardings in the United States in 2007.  This means that the extra waiting time at airports has cost us a collective 43,000 years of extra waiting time.  Assume a 70-year life expectancy, and the increased waiting time has "killed" 620 people per year — 930 if you calculate the numbers based on 16 hours of awake time per day.  So the question is:  If we did away with increased airport security, would the result be more people dead from terrorism or fewer?

(Emphasis above is mine, just lest it be overlooked that it's a speculative number there.)

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

you forgot literal, return on investment...

according to easily found tsa.gov charts, they've made so much money in the last few years on "taxes and fees" relating to security matters, and flying, it's not even a joke... line item budget matters. they are MAKING money. wtf!

a glance at the chart shows they are increasing fees, and making vastly more money since 9/11 too. combined, it's a VERY hefty sum. what are they spending it on?

also: that doesn't include the vast monies i assume they are extracting from other sources too.

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