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Laptops Can Be Searched At the Border
Nothing to Declare notes that a California appeals court has unanimously upheld a ruling that border security officers at international airports can search personal computers without requiring any specific evidence of criminal activity. The appeal was made by US resident Michael Timothy Arnold, charged with child pornography offenses after an airport search of his notebook PC in 2005. Might want to think hard about what's on your laptop if you're going to be passing through a US international airport.
So, an AC sends a link to "his blog", and the link is dead?
You sir, are made of fail.
That's right! We should make all presidents sit. I wonder if you can set a president to self destruct?
Eh, who needs the 4th amendment? As long as I have the illusion of safety from those ter'rists, I'll sleep like a baby. Why would the government misuse this power? I mean, they're all a bunch of Christians, right?
Odd operating systems like AROS or text only interfaces may also do well. You just can't fail the nerdity test then!
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
I'm literally angry with rage!
If your laptop asks for a password at startup, can they legally compel you to provide it? If the court likened the laptop to luggage, I'd guess the answer is yes.
Are there any whole-disk deniable crypto systems available?
Enter password #1: Machine boots in to Windows XP Pro, stocked with a legal copy of Office and the Zune Desktop. Why, no one so boring could be bad!
Enter password #2: Machine boots in to your real system, full of suspicious looking MP3s. Also, your Firefox homepage is set to Craigslist Casual Encounters W4M.
The Supreme Court doesn't set presidents, they set precedents.
Oh, wait...
It came about because people are to lazy to take responcibility for themselfs they want the government to do it all. So it obliges and once that happends they start complaining their rights are being taken away.
When you Cry think of the children. An other right is taken away.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
So will they be hiring Hansel to search computers then?
I had to declare any fruits when I left San Francisco the other day.
Scene: Two bumbling customs officials at the International terminal departure area
/dev" like you showed me last week and there was this file called "urandom." I typed "cat urandom" and it's this huge encrypted file. See, it's still going. It must be kiddie porn. Or maybe it's a plot to kill the President. Yeah, that must be it, a plot to kill the President by giving him a heart attack by showing him kiddie porn.
Inspector Jimbob: Hey Joe, this guy has a Linux box, how do I read the files?
Inspector Joebob: Just click on the picture of a seashell and type "cat" and the name of the file.
(several minutes later)
Inspector Jimbob: I think we have a kiddie pevert here, I found a file that looks all encrypted.
Inspector Joebob: What file is it?
Inspector Jimbob: I did "cd
[end]
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
beware of software with no proof of legally purchased..
beware of music with no proof of legally purchased..
beware of video with no proof of legally purchased..
beware of laptop with no proof of legally purchased..
beware of iphone with no proof of legally purchased..
beware of ipod with no proof of legally purchased..
beware of cowboy neal asking for proof of legally........
Judging from his poll numbers, it is safe to say that GWB has. The truthiness of this is beyond doubtability.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
I'm not seeing what your point is. You can cross the border and be searched. Or you can not cross the border and not submit to a search.
Are you saying you were flying along and accidentally encountered the US border?
Just keep you laptop loaded with a bloated Vista install. The 5 minutes login time should discourage the snoopy. Then keep your real Linux workspace on a bootable 8GB flashdrive.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
When you cry, "think of the children," another right is taken away.
As it happens, many customs agents know their own magic commands to boot the system.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to boot this computer."
Saying "No" isn't the most helpful answer to that request.
You see, laptops commonly contain a dangerous substance known as Information. And Information just wants to be free. So the Information you keep couped up on your laptop could burst forth, whiz around the plane a bit (possibly injuring passengers) and then burst out of the plane causing catastrophic failure and severe loss of life. Help keep terrorism at bay by deleting all Information you find.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I Â Unicode!
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
I keep everything encoded in ROT26. Stick it to the man!
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
nerd: (waving hand) These aren't the files that you are looking for...
TSA: These aren't the files we are looking for.
nerd: He can go about his business...
TSA: You can go about your business.
nerd: Move along...
TSA: Move along, move along please.
companion of nerd: I thought we'd never get past those guards!
nerd: The force can have a powerful influence upon the weak minded...
It seems your 'R' key is a little wonky, though you managed to type 'for' correctly.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Uhhhh, I know you're kidding, but may I remind you that some (most?) TSA thugs are so dense that they couldn't figure out what a MacBook Air was? I'll bet you a beer that the situation turns out something like this:
$RANDOM_GEEK: Here you go, officer.
(Laptop boots with Korean-language GRUB bootloader)
TSA Guy: Whut the f**k is this? That some sorta Muslamian language? ARE YOU A TERRORIST, BOY?
$RANDOM_GEEK: No, it's just...
*brrrrrzap*
$RANDOM_GEEK: Don't tase me, bro!
TSA Guy: BACKUP! I NEED BACKUP!
Sure you can. I am carrying a drug on my hard disk right now. It's called "World of Warcraft."
I hope he doesn't have iTunes on there. Being subjected to a search is pretty much the same thing as "Making available" that music.
If those searching the laptop play a song, that's copyright infringement if they haven't been licensed to hear it.
"before everyone starts blaming Bush..."
:)
If you're defending Bush at this stage of the game, you're a fucking wack job
TSA2: Why'd you let him through?
TSA: Dude, he was quoting Star Wars, and with a straight face! Obviously harmless.
better yet have this be your boot timer:
http://www.thecleverest.com/countdown.swf
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
You can't carry drugs or bombs on a hard disk.
Oh I beg to differ. I have several bombs on my hard drive.
Mamma's boy
Stargate the Ark of the Truth
Old School
Date Movie
Starship Troopers
I can go on and on... for some reason I have an affinity for really bad movies.
Now I will probably get the death penalty and die by firing squad outside the customs office because I have Ripped movies on my hard drive.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
> I keep everything encoded in ROT26. Stick it to the man!
That's nowhere near secure enough. I'm using ROT52.