DHS takes a piss on the constitution again and smiles.

shuamort · 08-01-08, 12:10 PM

In its continuing effort to protect us from all threats tiny and non-existant, the Department of Homeland Security has now revealed its plan to say that our 4th Amendment rights are non-existant:

Quote:

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The policies . . . are truly alarming," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "

SOURCE

F**K THAT. I'll see them in court before they are taking my property for no reason.

rathi · 08-01-08, 08:54 PM

This is downright absurd. There is absolutely no reason to be able to take away persons laptop and even less to make copies of their data. This is going to seriously threaten our ability to do business with foreigners. How can a country do business in the U.S. if they might get their laptops confiscated and the data stolen. There are very legitimate reasons to have private data and its absurd to expect people to just give up without reason.