Richard Feynman was known for coming into his classes at Cal Tech and remarking to the students something along the lines, "You know, as I came through the parking lot today, I saw a car with the license plate WBX 828. What are the chances that a car with that license plate would be in the parking lot this morning? Must be a million to one against." He was trying to point out the difference between something that was merely unlikely and something significant.
That distinction has apparently been lost on the FBI, which arrested an entirely innocent man in the "Waddling Bandit" case, and in fact won't apologize because they correctly followed their procedures. The procedure, evidently, was to cast their net very widely, looking for people who roughly matched surveillance tapes and a rough profile.
Now the FBI is planning to develop a huge database of biometric information in order to catch criminals and terrorists. This makes me very nervous. I probably closely resemble some criminal. It seems that the FBI is willing to take its best available match and take action and someday it could be me, rather than Brandon Mayfield or Robert Christie. It could be you.
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