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Examining the Search and Seizure of Electronics at Airports
Angus McKraken brings us a Washington Post story about how travelers are seeking more well-defined policies and rules about the search and seizure of electronic devices by U.S. Customs officials. The EFF has already taken legal action over similar concerns. We recently discussed the related issue of requiring people to disclose their passwords in order to search their private data. From the Post:
"Maria Udy, a marketing executive with a global travel management firm in Bethesda, said her company laptop was seized by a federal agent as she was flying from Dulles International Airport to London in December 2006. Udy, a British citizen, said the agent told her he had 'a security concern' with her. 'I was basically given the option of handing over my laptop or not getting on that flight,' she said. 'I was assured that my laptop would be given back to me in 10 or 15 days,' said Udy, who continues to fly into and out of the United States. She said the federal agent copied her log-on and password, and asked her to show him a recent document and how she gains access to Microsoft Word. She was asked to pull up her e-mail but could not because of lack of Internet access. With ACTE's help, she pressed for relief. More than a year later, Udy has received neither her laptop nor an explanation."
. . . this is all part of that One Laptop Per Child thingie . . .happens all the time at airports, or roadside checkpoints in Africa . . .
. . . nothing new here, move along, sans laptop . . .
The agent probably booted up World of Warcraft .. to check for terrorist activities of course
- guess she just has to wait til he gets his nightelf to lvl 70
Nordic Blondes and Irish redheads get frisked pretty throughly. If they are very large breasted then we have to really check them over, make them get naked, take photos, oil them up and take more photos, etc...
it's all in the name of security! If we did not do this terrorists would be blowing up EVERYTHING!!!!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This is a very good thing.
Not only will it promote the whole idea of Freedom and help spread democracy in a non violent way, but as a result we will see that people will stop carrying around laptops or other portable storage devices.
And THAT is a good thing. We will soon see a sharp decline of missing or stolen sensitive personal or company data, so this is good for our privacy.
Instead people will start using VPN to get to their data.
Privacy is terrorism.
You traveled naked?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Tim McVeigh wasn't a disabled octogenarian.
I hate sigs.
The US has always seemed to be in the business of exporting freedom to other countries. Apparently we are exporting too much of it, especially since 2001. Maybe we need to create some more locally?
On the upside, it's a great way to get you out of Federal Jury duty. I got called up last year for a case involving a family member smuggling a kid into the US from Mexico. During voir dire, they asked if anyone had had negative experiences with Customs and Immigration. I swear, half of us got rejected as jurors after that one.
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
Hehe. Weapons of Mass Distraction.
Thank you, I'll be here all week
"The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
Maybe you'll have to get your drive implanted, with bluetooth connection to your laptop. OTOH if they find that, seizure will literally hurt.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
You've never seen "Day of the Jackal" (the oringal version)? The asassin has a sniper rifle broken down and made into a set of crutches, for an old war veteran...
Perfectly cromulent, but you'll notice that they didn't search the tubing in the wheelchair, they patted down the old man.If you;re going to search people at all, you really should be searching people with large pieces of metal piping, no matter what medals they're wearing.
As an aside, they should know better, I've seen a dwarf on TV tell TSA agents that they should search his wheelchair, and that he's kind of insulted that they assume he's not a threat because he's a dwarf with bad knees.
You can't take the sky from me...
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
When traveling thru the airport thru international boarders, you know they check your bags and stuff for bombs and other bomb chemicals like dihydrogen monooxide. You don't have an expectation of privacy. They can and will use this opertunity to go fishing for infomation and can and will use it in court as evidence if needed.
Lots of people here have suggested using encryption etc. I was feeling rather smug with my new laptop which has the disk fully encrypted (no partition nonsense either - I boot off a USB stick), but I'm not sure it's a particularly good idea anymore. After all when my laptop is turned on without the USB key in, it gives two loud beeps and an error message about the lack of boot record, which is hardly going to convince your average airport security that your laptop is working and isn't a bomb! Then I have to try and explain why i need to plug my USB stick in etc. When I do and suddenly the laptop/bomb is "activated" with pages of scrolling technical looking text I fully expect to get shot...
So I think I'm going to put a liveCD in the drive before I next travel!
Plans to invade Canada have been scrapped by three separate administrations. Your bilingual signs confuse us, and its cold. Please send us more "bacon" as we would like to have another Egg McMuffin, and we will conveniently forget about the everything else, eh?
My favorite airport story still comes from my dad. He has metal pins in his ankle from a car wreck many years ago. He had done the usual 'take the shoes off' and as they waved the wand around his bare foot, it goes off. Dad says "there are metal pins in my ankle", airport genius says "can you take them out?"
my UID occurs in pi starting at the 384,199 digit after the decimal point.
Terrorists are bringing kiddie porn to our borders? Those sonsabitches.
it's all in the name of security! If we did not do this terrorists would be blowing up EVERYTHING!!!! Every-one, not every-thing. Remember, we are talking about Nordic blondes and Irish redheads blowing here.
That would mean my stereo, for example, could be made out of C4.
"This one goes to 11."
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.