Govt. Legally Allowed to Inspect Computers on Entry to U.S.

I found this rather disturbing:

Original story here

...the government contends that it is perfectly free to inspect every laptop that enters the country, whether or not there is anything suspicious about the computer or its owner. Rummaging through a computer’s hard drive, the government says, is no different than looking through a suitcase.

People do a lot more with their computers these days than store contacts and play games. We store bank account information, usernames and passwords, medical information etc.

To equate a personal computer to a suit case when it comes time to inspect items when upon entering the U.S. is just ridiculous.

I understand the need to protect the country from terrorists, but this is just another example of the Government taking things too far.

the government contends that it is perfectly free to inspect every laptop

Yeah right, and what happens when they come across my encrypted files? Do they suppose I should just give them all access? Honestly, if there were data to be smuggled out of a country, would the person carry it out or simply upload it to a private site to access back home? This really is taking things too far. There is nothing on a computer that can be of a physical threat to anyone else on the plane, so where is the contention coming from? If the computer was a mule for explosives, that would be one thing, but if they demand access to files, that is another matter altogether.

Guess I won't be taking my laptop to the US, then...

Talk about paranoid...This is so absurd it is beyond discussion ....Does the US honestly want business travelers in its country ??

If not, you keep that proposed rule and see how it works...

If you would like to see increased business class travelers coming into the US, then drop this insane rule...

Take a couple Zyprexa and chill....Geez...

As the OP said, overkill doesn't even come close to branding this...

Now, lets wait for the nationalists and other sorts who think anyone who lands in the US from overseas and see what they have to say on this matter

Don't let me down folks, you've been vocal in the past so why stop now ??

in theory

mp3 players
hand held compys
cellphones with h.d
memmory sticks,

just find it funny that its all about airports and planes when your southern boarder is wide open

Where does this stop?

In the future....

Is it possible for a police officer to tap you on the sholuder when your using a public WiFi point and demand to be able to look at whatever he wants on you laptop?

What about just doing a random sweep of a street ad just looking on random machines till you find something?

Yeah, its coming alright and probably sooner than anyone would like to admit.

Oh joy of joys, another ignorant manifestation of state power that is as impractical as it is impossible to enforce. Whooppee!

Seriously, how are they going to manage this? Are they going to have a team of dozens of hyper-intelligent monkeys stationed at every airport, waiting for laptops in a little room off the concourse?

Are these monkeys going to speak fifty languages a piece, or are they just going to have one monkey for every language?

What are they going to do about encrypted files?

Are they just going to read through everything, or check for certain things?

Are they going to steal my computer and ship it back to me a year later, with all my data corrupted and obsolete anyway?

Things just get more ridiculous every day in this country.

As was said earlier in this thread, the data on my computer poses no threat whatsoever to people aboard the plane, so why search it? They search suitcases/carry-on luggage because of bomb threats, real physical threats to the other passengers. Searching a computer though, that's just nonsensical.

As it is, these idiots at airport security miss half the test bombs/knives/guns that they're supposed to find, so what a brilliant idea it is to add more responsibilities when they clearly can't even manage to complete their current duties. What brain trust is thinking all this crap up? It's obvious that we've completely lost touch with reality here...

reply to post by WyrdeOne


Mods. thread already posted at 8:59 am. please verify.
government search of laptops

sorry wrong date. Please erase post. sorry about confusion.

[edit on 1/8/2008 by palehorse23]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Seriously, how are they going to manage this?

That's one of the main problems - there is no way to manage it so the policy will simply be 'all doors open'. TSA, or whoever is doing the security screening, will have blanket approval to check whomever and whenever they want.