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High-Tech Gadgets Can Pose Problems At Mexican Border
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."
"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
"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."
...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.
Captain Koons: The way your dad looked at it, this iPod was your birthright. He'd be damned if any US Border agents gonna put their greasy hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it, in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this iPod up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the iPod. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the iPod to you.
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
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.
They have the power. Not the right. There is a difference.
i forgot, which is greater: a brazillion or a guatamellion?
"To stop the terrorists."
.You needn't worry about your GPS unit, ever since the Firestone tire debacle. The resulting law said that every tire needed to be able to be identified as being from Lot #X without being dismounted (prior to that lot numbers were printed on the inside of the tire). The manufacturers' solution was RFID chips with unique serial numbers embedded in every tire.
Uh, no. I work in the tire manufacture business. The lot ID has always been - and still is - available for inspection on the outside of the tire. We call this the "serial plate", it's mounted to the mold. Look for a series of letters / numbers bracketed by impressions of what looks like screw heads: that's the serial plate. It's near the bead area. Granted, it may be on the inboard side and may require you to crawl about with an inspection mirror (or put the vehicle up on a rack), but no need to dismount the tire. Tire lot ID's were never on the inside of a tire. What people see there are impressions of the cure press' bladder lot ID, a different thing entirely.
What the law requires is for vehicle manufacturers to provide a way of reading tire pressures automatically and notifiying the vehicle operator of low and/or imbalanced tire pressures. The pressure transponder (an RFID-like device) is part of the valve assembly, not the tire.
Various tire makers have experimented with placing RFID tags into tires but with little success. It's a very hostile environment (high temperatures and pressures) inside the material while the tire is being cured, tags don't survive it very well.