> Sorry if this isn't the best echo for this message; please let me know and  
  >I'll relocate it if it belongs better somewhere else.  Just curious as to  
  what  
  > kinds of thoughts people have on this kind of stuff becoming more and more  
  > common in the USA:  
    
  The short answer is that the discussion should be relocated to the fidonet  
  of  
  five or ten years ago.  We had some interesting threads back then.  There is  
  still a bit of open discussion in the All-Politics echo, where everyone is  
  welcome, and some non-open discussion in the Debate echo among the few who  
  haven't been booted from it.  
    
  My initial reaction to the story would be to the school action, not so much  
  to  
  the employment of the people who did it.  Passive measures like metal  
  detectors are not a big privacy deal these days.  Lockdowns and lineups  
  against a wall are a bit different, especially when they are at a public  
  school where the students are not there VOLUNTARILY (as would be the case  
  with  
  a private club, where the management could say "if you don't like it, just  
  leave").  There could be some interesting fourth amendment cases coming out  
  of  
  this.  
    
  As for the private companies, my guess is that the key word in the story was  
  "assisting."  If the schools actions were legal for school officials to  
  take,  
  then they would be legal for the school officials to have others take those  
  actions in their stead.  On the other hand, if the rent-a-cops were actually  
  exerting law enforcement powers of doing involuntary searches and arresting  
  people, they should be in deep legal trouble.  One key might be the simple  
  question: what if a student says "no"?  
    
    
    
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