Two stories were posted in the news today that have an interesting relationship. First, Reuters has reported on a UK study that people find it easier to tell lies when they do not have to be in the physical presence of their audience:

Just over half of respondents said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face, the study on behalf of financial services group Friends Provident found.

[…]

The survey found that while people were dishonest, most told lies with the best intentions and to spare others’ feelings.

Sounds like proof of common sense to me. Everyone likes to justify their actions in the best possible light, and it’s definitely less encumbered to speak freely into a piece of plastic than to interact with a real live person.

Second, the Associated Press has reported on a Fire Department in Tennessee that told a white lie to a caller in order to unravel a string of prank 911 calls:

After receiving a false report of a gas leak on Dec. 14, firefighters compared notes.

They confirmed 15 fake 911 calls over a two-month period, including four house fires, six car crashes and various other medical emergencies. All came from the same cell phone.

So they called the number and left a message saying the phone’s owner had won a gift card from a major retailer, Fire Capt. Brent Seymour said.

With so many people up in arms over privacy as it related to their cell phone, I find it notable that the fire departments may be the last group in America to have access to data. They probably just do not have the kind of leverage (what, with saving lives and property?) that large marketing and advertising companies will as they cozy up to telecom providers.

Needless to say, as the study above suggests, the prank 911 caller tried to say he had the “best intentions”:

Harms, 29, told authorities he thought he was doing taxpayers a favor by drawing otherwise lazy firefighters out of their cozy fire halls, according to court papers.

Another case of airport security in America gone horribly wrong:

The Homeland Security Department sent a letter apologizing to a Muslim woman who was detained at the Tampa airport and strip searched at a county jail.

Safana Jawad, 45, a Spanish citizen who was born in Iraq, was detained on April 11 because of a suspected tie to a suspicious person, authorities said. She was held for two days before being deported to England.

Why England?

Jawad was traveling to Clearwater to visit her 16-year-old son, who lived with her ex-husband, Ahmad Maki Kubba. Kubba, an Iraqi exile and American citizen for 27 years, was praised last year by Gov. Jeb. Bush for organizing a group to vote in Iraq’s election.

Kubba said his ex-wife’s detention prompted his son to move to Spain.

“I lost my son because of what happened,” Kubba said. “My son wanted to be in the U.S. Navy, and he speaks both English and Arabic. He would have been just what they are looking for. What they did to Jawad was unfair and is hurting America.”

Of course no one at the jail was found in violation of the rules, because the rules indicate you can do just about anything to anyone in the name of security. At least the rule enforcers didn’t send her off to one of the non-existent CIA “black sites”.