Laptop searches at border might get restricted

When crossing an international border you do not have any right to privacy. Federal control of the board constitutes "reasonable search and seizure" by definition. That is why it is an "international boarder."

There is a need to upgrade some TSA inspectors at Air terminals to have a few who can understand enough technology to read and Export-Import permits. That would keep things like the MIT girl last year with the protoboard on her shirt from being arrested.

I'm all for secure borders and don't mind longer waits for increased safety. However, I'm imagining being pulled aside and having my baggage searched. It reveals nothing dangerous. Completely understandable. However, they decide they want to review all of my data, even though I show no signs of wrongdoing. Why? Just because they don't like the look of me? To me, I think it is going too far. I believe that there needs to be documented justification before searching through someone's private life.

In the meantime, store your personal files on an external drive and leave it at home/work. Transfer company data via an ftp server. Clear your local copy of e-mail. Travel with a blank laptop.

Pathetic, they abuse travelers for all those years and all they got is one guy who downloaded some Al-Qaida videos from the net and a couple of child pornographers?

It seems US govt. and media do a better job at terrorizing citizens then the terrorists themselves.

"Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself"

Americans forget the view of their founding fathers as found in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

We forget that it was the Creator (God, Allah or chance necessity, it doesn't matter), not the Ameircan government, that endowed these rights.

We forget that the declaration was that "ALL" were endowed with rights. Not just Americans, not just those who are on American soil.

It seems that either America has lost its bearings, or America must respect all people's rights of liberty. It is unreasonable to be taking away people's liberties unless there is reason to believe that the person loosing his liberties was taking someone else's liberties.

The current American administration is distructively paranoid. Hopefully the new administration will be more sane.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear !!!!

Security is here to stay and those that don't like it can either leave or get used to it !!

"Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" is a hollow argument debunked years ago.

I suspect all of you who claim you have nothing to hide still use curtains in your house. Few people want others watching them getting undressed. It's tough to put a financial or social cost on the essential liberty of privacy. Privacy itself has intrinsic value and erosion of those unalienable rights comes in nibbles and pieces, not vast swaths. Opening a traveller's digital possessions without probable cause is unreasonable and should be swiftly struck down.

Vigilance and persistence to upholding the goals of equality and liberty should be treated with the highest moral regard, not derided as unpatriotic or foolish. Should we give these liberties away through inaction, we would find their absence unsettling at the least.

Such searches are entirely unreasonable and there are no arguments for them strong enough to justify them!

I, for one, find news of this extremely threatening. I am a moviewriter and I also have patent-pending things on my computer. They are all encrypted, but if these people are copying my files, they can certainly break that encryption.

These government agencies operate with very little oversight or transparency, how am I to know I can trust them with my data? They could very easily be selling this stuff to other people and companies.

If the last few years have taught us ANYTHING, it's that the government absolutely CANNOT be trusted.

It's just unbelievable that you guys are willing to live with this. Unbelievable.

Why do you think internet pioneer John Gilmore's home page features a picture of Osama bin Laden with the caption "I'm Still Free. What About You?"

As Ben Franklin said: "Those who give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

At some point we've got to draw the line.

When crossing an international border you do not have any right to privacy. Federal control of the board constitutes "reasonable search and seizure" by definition. That is why it is an "international boarder."

Your email, phone calls, web surfing, and personal letters all cross international borders. Do you want these read by government agents at every border they cross? Do you want to be forced to reveal encryption keys or passwords to make this easier for them?

As an American citizen living overseas, can the US Government read everything on my gmail account every time I access it? I mean, I am crossing international borders!

We're talking private communications here, not a large suitcase labeled "Exempt from Inspection". There is nothing on my computer that I can not get securely into the US without being legally subject to search by border agents.

It sounds like these searches have only yielded one "potential terrorist" and several small-time viewers of child pornography. Hardly worth making the entire world feel like avoiding US borders.

fredom is coming home to america

the police state is growing until soon the necons

they will haev evrybody chiped like animals

in tehre dream forth reich global world

owsoem coment above from superhuman

It seems US govt. and media do a better job at terrorizing citizens then the terrorists themselves.

witch was the plan all long the dummb sheep stay in fear so the masters of the game can play there cards

Think of it this way: Would you be okay with having random body cavity searches performed on you occasionally when you enter America? Many people I know would probably consider this much less invasive and less demeaning than having their laptops whisked away and done who-knows-what with. Yeah, Nothing to Hide = Nothing to Fear? Fine, take the cavity search EVERY TIME if that's what you believe. Besides, the terrorists have already proven they can gain CONTROL of the planes, why would they be so silly as to leave incriminating evidence on their laptops as they pass through security? Come on Homeland... it's pathetic, and disturbing, when the terrorists are clearly thinking on a higher level.

Hell, cancel all pretense of working for the people. Jail everybody that comes across the gate for an unspecified amount of time, just to throw off any terrorist plots they may or may not be partaking in. Boy I'm glad the Canadian airports aren't this bad yet.

As long as the US keep on violating fundamental human rights, less and less people will be interested in travelling to the US for their job or holiday.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear !!!!

You're just going to let the terrorists win and become a repressive shithole without even putting up a fight?

Those second amendment rights are looking better and better by the moment. Lets just say I have no intention of ever visiting the US.

Those who give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

The weak-minded and cowardly "citizens?" who find no problem in this stupid inefficient attempt by the politicians to impress the voters are the real problem.

Those who give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

The weak-minded and cowardly "citizens?" who find no problem in this stupid inefficient attempt by the politicians to impress the voters are the real problem.

Fully agreed. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, not eternal exploitation.

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
- Thomas Jefferson.

In the end, there is absolutely no justification for these types of searches. The AMOUNT of data required for any nefarious deed is so INSIGNIFICANT that it doesn't need to be physically transported across the border. Just upload it to an FTP server, email account, or one hundred other possible alternatives. The claim that these searches stop dangerous material from entering the country is nothing less than INSANE. Even the statement that they MAY be stopping some form of piracy or content distribution is completely erroneous. With a high speed connection one can download dozens to hundreds of DVDs per month, or any other form of content. Again, there's no need to physically transport them...

I'm not a black/white kind of person. Many security measures have SOME measure of justification, even if on the whole we might still disagree that they are actually necessary and correct, but this one fails miserably to have ANY justification.

fredom is coming home to america
the police state is growing until soon the necons
they will haev evrybody chiped like animals
in tehre dream forth reich global world
owsoem coment above from superhuman
It seems US govt. and media do a better job at terrorizing citizens then the terrorists themselves.
witch was the plan all long the dummb sheep stay in fear so the masters of the game can play there cards

The so called Liberals are no better. Clinton was in bed with the Congressional Intelligence committees when he was in office. Democrats like Feinstein have advocated passing censorship laws. Do difference.

insanity.

http://www.physor...130.html

Hopefully these privacy-invading border searches will disappear after these devices hit the U.S. market, but I can guarantee that the issue will fail to reach a court of law before this happens. In any case, I completely agree with smithme2008. Our government wants us to believe that they are much smarter than the terrorists themselves, when we all know this is simply not true. I highly doubt that someone planning to smuggle in a nuclear weapon (or details highlighting the plans of the group) would be stupid enough to carry his "to-do list" on hand--absolutely ridiculous. People, we are fighting a war on religion and ideology. Do you really think we are winning the war by showing the world we are run by a country of power-hungry dictators? Our actions only fuel the ideological fire for their cause. Sure we may have saved some civilians by stopping a couple suicide bombers, but how many civilians have we killed with a misplaced laser-guided missile? Just as many, if not more. Point is, we are losing OUR cause, the cause put forth by our forefathers. If all that is taken away, then we have nothing to defend--we are simply and mindlessly defending an ideology dictated to us by our leaders and the media, not the people as a whole.

Bad link...but the article was on dirty bomb detection systems.