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High-Tech Gadgets Can Pose Problems At Mexican Border

Posted by timothy on from the which-jail-would-you-prefer dept.

TechnologyResource writes "Going across the border will be a more 'interesting' experience since Customs and Border Protection will now be checking laptops, digital cameras, cell phones and any other electronics on your person or in your vehicle. It's not a new authority, according to Angelica De Cima, Office of Public Affairs Liaison 'They've always had the right to inspect your person, vehicle, baggage, anything on you. Nothing has changed from before,' De Cima said."

11 of 447 comments (clear)

  1. information smuggling? by OrangeTide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "He said anyone coming across could be a terrorist, drug dealer or someone trying to carry or take information out of the country by hiding it in a smaller device."

    Why not just FTP it. Or hide a microSD card inside a cake? It should bake okay, the chip inside gets put under higher temps than the inside of cupcake when they place them on a PCB. The plastic on a uSD might melt a little, but I suspect the information will still be there.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:information smuggling? by mmelson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bake it IN the cake? That seems a bit extreme. Why not just bake the cake, let it cool, insert the microSD, then frost. If they start defrosting cakes while searching people, they deserve to find it.

    2. Re:information smuggling? by baudbarf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Holy frijoles. You just conspired to commit a crime. See how easy that was?

      --
      You can run but you can't hide, except, apparently, along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
    3. Re:information smuggling? by NoYob · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The border patrol is just looking for stupid criminals and terrorists - like that old guy with the young boy and the camera with the incriminating evidence. It's also for "security theater".

      On the other hand, the smart criminals and terrorists will get away with it and then there will be more infringements on our liberty to "keep us safe" - from the stupid criminals and terrorists. Then the cycle repeats.

      --
      It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
    4. Re:information smuggling? by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've lived on border cities almost my entire life. Even my hispanic coworkers agree(and those poor bastards have to wait hours at the border crossing just to make an honest living) that it's all just security theater, another half-baked escalation to justify the creation of the wasteful, ham-handed gestapo called DHS. It goes without saying that I can still get cocaine or any other drug anytime I want stateside, and that won't change anytime soon.

      So they scoop up a pic of child porn or an occasional drug bust and hype the hell out of it in the news, problem solved. A budget for next year, and no admission that the creation of the DHS was a colossal mistake. Of course, they'll have their work cut out for them when the United States becomes the next Nazi Germany and they're tasked with sealing the borders.

    5. Re:information smuggling? by Threni · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They can't stop drugs getting into prisons - why bother pretending you can stop it across thousands of miles of unguarded border? And as for information - well, perhaps some of the minimum wage pigs and grunts they hire to pose in their security theatre are stupid enough to believe "checking" a laptop is going to prevent information getting into Mexico and help them create a rival utopia, but it seems like a bit of a waste of time to me. Still, I'm sure it all makes sense to someone.

  2. ...and then a quick call... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Blue corvette with three gringos heading south route X should pass through your village in 20 minutes. They have laptops, top-notch cellphones, some GPS stuff and wallets full of cash. I'd say some $15k in various assets. Remember, 10% is mine."

  3. ICE has nearly unlimited search power... by pongo000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...which is rather scary. Used to work for US Customs many years ago (before it was ICE), and we were legally permitted to basically search *anything* entering the country (including personal mail, something that is a federal crime in most other instances) other than diplomatic mail and pouches. Nothing was off-limits: If it comes from overseas, ICE has the constitutional right (backed by many years of case law) to search it.

    I'm not saying this is a good thing, but every international traveler should be aware of this. Whining about your constitutional rights being violated while standing in the "red" line at your port of entry will simply prolong the agony.

  4. Story title is wrong by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not "High-Tech Gadgets Can Pose Problems At Mexican Border", it's "High-Tech Gadgets Can Pose Problems At United States Border".

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  5. Re:Security Theater at its finest by pluther · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They attacked us because they hate our freedom.

    So we get rid of it. Makes sense.

    --
    If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
  6. Power by fnj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They have the power. Not the right. There is a difference.