[ExI] Terrorist? Who can tell?

[BillK]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 3:20 AM, Lee Corbin wrote:
<snip>
> The most prominent terrorist group at the moment is Al-Qaeda.
> Do you believe that a random sample of six people working for
> Al-Qaeda would exhibit a significant difference in personal
> appearance from a random sample of six Londoners or not?
>

A random sample of six Al Qaeda in London would produce five (possibly
six) non-white people,  probably only one with a turban, the rest
without.
A random sampling of all Londoners would produce two (possibly three)
non-white people, probably only one with a turban.

This difference provides *zero* information that will help the police
detect Al Queda.

If you go into the large areas of London where mostly non-white people
live, you will see about about 3 million people that look like Al
Qaeda members to the profiling eye. This information is totally
useless.


> I understand. We should use profiling only when it works, but
> when it *does* work, it *should* be used, I think you'll agree.
>


That is why it is not used in London. It doesn't work.


BillK