Think of it as the “fairness Doctrine” for computers.
My kid downloaded a dozen songs illegally to my laptop to put on his ipod. I am now at risk.
Well at least they should snag the foreign laptops coming across to do the computing American laptops refuse to do.
More police-state fascism from DHS “for our protection”. Meanwhile, they cannot rustle up their army of highschool dropouts to take a momentary glance at 95% of the shipping containers entering the country.
“would open a vulnerability in our border by providing criminals and terrorists with a means to smuggle child pornography or other dangerous and illegal computer files into the country,”
I hope nobody tells this guy about the new fangled internets thing.
I think I’d rather lose my computer for awhile than have a bunch of innocent Americans killed in a terrorist attack.
This is starting to get a little ridiculous. Tomorrow it’ll be a little worse. The day after that a little worse. Eventually we won’t recognize our liberties and when we want them back, it’ll be too late. I pray I’m just being paranoid.
You’ll get my laptop when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.! ! ! !
If they want to snoop, make it hurt. Fill the laptop up with weird sounding file/doc names and dump the foulest shock imagery the world has ever seen into it. Make sure everyone who actually looks at it doesn’t sleep for the next 10 years.
“It reserves the right to seize for an indefinite period of time laptops taken across the border.
“
And just what part of personal property and unlawful search and seizure do they not understand??
They own you, your property, your papers and your mind.
So, which part are you under the delusion they dont have?
This complaint arose on the WA State/British Columbia border, where several Pakistani natives had their computers searched. They were claiming discrimination, so the HS comes out with a statement that they can search anyones computers.
Well… you know I’m as knee-jerk as anybody when it comes to freedom and the Constitution. But this just isn’t a big deal.
It’s customs power, and frankly it’s nothing new. Customs has always had the power to look at anything they want at the border. There’s no probable cause required. Never has been. All this is about is that they’ve clarified that yeah, along with everything else this power extends to electronics too.
People act like suddenly it’s a surprise that Customs can open stuff up and rifle around through it. Ever traveled internationally? That’s what happens at Customs.
That said, generally they don’t do it full-bore, and they won’t be doing it now with all laptops either. It’s too much trouble and it’s not worth it. They’ll do it when they think it’s worthwhile. Just like always. Some people breeze through Customs and some people get their luggage torn up every way from sideways. When I was in the Coast Guard over twenty years ago we had this power with any vessel entering port. We didn’t even have to prove they’d been out of U.S. waters before we cut open all the upholstery. We could do it and we didn’t need probable cause either. But we usually didn’t do it, of course. No need to and it makes for bad PR. In fact, most of the time we ~did~ try to work up probable cause if we could, just because it’s nice to have, but we didn’t ~have to~.
The only thing not subject to a customs search is a sealed Diplomatic Pouch. That’s just the way it always has been and the way it has to be.
As if criminals aren’t sophisticated enough to expect this?
Oh let’s see. I have plans to build an extra atmospheric globonalizer ray and I want to come to Amerika.
I think I’ll just open a free and anonymous email account from this Internet Schnell Imbiss in Heilbronn, Germany, and email the plans to another free and anonymous account I created from the free wireless at the Dar es Salaam Hilton, of which I wasn’t even a guest.
Then, I’ll fly to Amerika, go to a public library, or a University, and retrieve the email and download it on a micro SD card, in a hidden and encrypted partition, and insert it into my camera.
That way, you see, I can walk right into the Senate building and hand it over to Harry Ried, my handler.
That ok with you, komrad border guards?
DHS has created more Democrat voters than any other entity in history. Nice going.
.
If one understands the problem then one understands the remedies - encryption technology used to be prohibited from export - (that is, “codes” and other methods of using unique keys or algorithms that allow for secure communications) - get this - under “munitions”. That’s right, the federal government considered these things as dangerous as explosives. And, they’re probably right. Hell, you know they’re right. But what good is scanning everybodys’ hard-drive gonna do?
What the government needs to do is streamline, lose the buearacracy and learn to delegate fine distinctions and common sense to the folks charged with these jobs. That means hiring good people who are competent and prescient, etc.
ML/NJ