Ah, you just got back from a nice vacation, say in France. Or it could be something less fun like a sales trip to Canada (in January). You stroll across the U.S. border and, halt right there! We want to take your laptop, cell phone, iPod, etc. We are going to take them away for a "reasonable period" of time and search them for, well, we don't quite know. We don't need a reasonable suspicion or anything...we just want to. Oh, and it applies to ALL people, including U.S. citizens.
That pretty much sums up our new Homeland Security policy as outlined by an article in the Washington Post (for those who complain about the liberal media, click on the Homeland Security link and you can read their policy for yourself.)
So most people traveling have a cell phone that could be confiscated...do you really want to try and prove right there that all the songs on your iPod were legally downloaded? How about all your companies sales data being taken away and analyzed? Or those "special pictures" of you and your loved one (damn! I thought those were on the other computer!)
With as much digital information as we carry around with us, I can't imagine a more intimate search that does not involve rubber gloves.
Reports are already emerging of companies that have policies on what can be taken on international trips. Probably a good idea for you too. I know that my computer is password protected with an encrypted hard drive...least I can do is make it a pain in the a** for them to do anything!
As usual, it is only the Senators like Russ Feingold who even seem to care. I can't wait until an elected official comes back from a trip and the DHS seizes their comptuer and finds all kinds of evidence of crimes...bet it suddenly becomes quite the matter of privacy then!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
I've heard about company policies concerning the computer issue before, but have not heard about the potential for confiscation of your cell phone or I-pod. Hale, you should always claim those intimate photos were just Photo-shopped. Don't tell me you do "those things" for real!
;>
This won't happen to an elected official because the same rules never apply to them that do to us.
I consider privacy concerns versus security concerns to be a real dilemma, and I don't know the answer. Ten years ago this would've been unthinkable. But on 9/11, the unthinkable occurred.
I have a strong sense of civil liberties, and I think it's one I share with the founding fathers. At the same time, how do you prevent another clandestine attack without checking out suspicious people, whatever that means?
I bitch and moan online about RPD being a reactive force, but I don't think anyone wants the US government to be reactive when it comes to a terrorist attack. We want them to prevent it, not just sweep up the bits and pieces afterwards.
Again, I don't know the answer.
Good idea, Orbs. Since the border people don't always recognize every elected official, I will just tell them I am a state Senator from somewhere...then I get through!
Oops! [sarcasm] Sorry, I just "helped" the terrorists again. [/sarcasm]
(TRUE: Using the brackets around the word "sarcasm" yields an error message: : "Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: sarcasm" This site does not allow sarcasm!)
How can this site not allow sarcasm?
This site is sarcasm.
Too funny guys. No sarcasm allowed? I QUIT this rotten job! ;)
Post a Comment