washingtonpost.com — Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.
Aug 1, 2008 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountAug 1, 2008
FTA: Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy."---Say goodbye to the Bill of Rights. What's so special about a US citizen entering or leaving the country that makes it an exception? If they can violate Constitutional Rights in this case, then anytime someone is "suspected" by law enforcement of being a "terrorist" becomes another exception based on this precedent. Then anything found on a computer can be used to frame someone on trumped up charges. Terrorism is the new witch hunt. Can't happen here? Oh, really.
Closed AccountAug 1, 2008
If you drop an anvil on your toe shout me quickly so I can tell you it doesn't hurt. I suppose I'd better be careful what I write. People who watch too much TV might actually believe me.
americanelitistAug 2, 2008
The Founding Fathers intended for us to apply their reasoning to any unseen future developments in society. Read your constitutional history. It's one of the beautiful things about our Constitution. Alberto Gonzalez is a constitutional literalist and look where that got us.
chuckcameronAug 4, 2008
I hope you will email/ mail/ phone your Senator and ask them to join Sen. Feingold in changing this policy.The problem with encryption is that the agents will just keep your laptop or drive longer.
jumpingjack79Aug 4, 2008
Let's not forget that the most important media for carying data are not computers and other devices, but OUR HEADS (you may recall the movie Johnny Mnemonic, or Guantanamo, whichever you prefer). So I guess in the near future we can expect the policy to include waterboarding and other interrogation methods applied without suspicion. And we can also expect similar policies not just at the borders, but across the country (you know, because it just doesn't make sense to "protect national security" only at the borders). Great, huh?