Submitted by Dave, Apr 3, 2007 19:07

The proposed laws, if I understand them correctly, contain an exception for defendants who make reports of suspicious activity out of bad faith--that is, falsely and with the aim of hurting another. The lawsuit, as currently pled, would survive a motion to dismiss under the proposed law, because it alleges that the John Does made a false report motivated by racial animus. In order to eliminate these types of lawsuits, Congress would have to enact blanket immunity for anyone making a suspicious activity report relating to terrorism. The tradeoff is, then you'll be encouraging false, malicious reports of terrorist activity. No matter how you balance the law, the perfect system will never emerge. So, in that sense, the article is right in saying that the war on terror will test our humanity in all its aspects—it will test our ability to live within an imperfect system, and to stop wasting our time passing laws that merely shift the burden of imperfection, instead of eliminating it.

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