Let's continue shredding the old 4th Amendment. It's just a piece of paper, after all.

Your papers please

Obviously more than just the executive branch thinks the Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper, otherwise people might actually fight to protect it instead of being complacent sheep.

The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion...
Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy."

Sure, they don't...

keylock71: The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion...
Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy."

That's fine. I believe a reasonable period of time is zero seconds.

The really sad thing is that Obama won't do anything about this. Even if he wanted to it will be too expensive politically because DHS will want to keep the power and will make it public that he's endangering the country. Then when some douche blows up a Taco Bell or something he'll get crap all over him and Thurston Greenstacks Doofus the 4th will win in 2012. We're all screwed.

EatHam: k

That's fine. I believe a reasonable period of time is zero seconds.

It's just more doublespeak from these bastards...

"Of course we're not infringing on your privacy... we're mearly seizing your property for an undisclosed period of time (we'll call it 'reasonable') without any suspicion of wrong-doing on your part. How can you possibly think that's unreasonable or infringing on your privacy"?

flucto: We're all screwed.

What will it take for a revolution? How uncomfortable do Americans have to become before they take action? Where's the breaking point?

I'm worried that we're getting closer and closer.

Of course, the alternative, that we never reach a breaking point, is even more disturbing.

You vill surrenda ze decryption keyz to zis lapTOP or else

kaminariko: What will it take for a revolution? How uncomfortable do Americans have to become before they take action? Where's the breaking point?

I'm worried that we're getting closer and closer.

Of course, the alternative, that we never reach a breaking point, is even more disturbing.

That's the nice thing about the internet. It allows the heroes of the rebellion to rebel with their words, see, instead of their actual persons.

I AM SO OUTRAGED ABOUT THIS THAT I WILL, UH, WELL, post about it again and then go play GTA IV.

Pocket Ninja: I AM SO OUTRAGED ABOUT THIS THAT I WILL, UH, WELL, post about it again and then go play GTA IV.

No need to be insulting; I play first-person shooters and RPG's.

That's it. Next time I go out of country, I'm loading up my hard drive with fatty porn.

Skleenar: That's it. Next time I go out of country, I'm loading up my hard drive with fatty porn.

Gay old person porn and Scat. Make them have to have a industrial bottle of eyebleach.

Brilliant, you guys. No one saw this coming, oh, six and a half years ago.

Skleenar: FREEDOM!!!11

Not me dammit! I don't want to seize your laptop.

I keep getting to say "I told you" to the fake conservatives. It's not a great comfort but it is better than nothing.

"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technologyan odds-on favorite to be a recipient of this treatment the next time he returns from abroad.

FTFWaPo

kaminariko
Of course, the alternative, that we never reach a breaking point, is even more disturbing.

I really wonder if we're still capable of reaching it.
Orwell must've been a seer.

In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco upheld the government's power to conduct searches of an international traveler's laptop without suspicion of wrongdoing.

I thought this particular court was a bastion of liberalism.

kaminariko: flucto: We're all screwed.

What will it take for a revolution? How uncomfortable do Americans have to become before they take action? Where's the breaking point?

I'm worried that we're getting closer and closer.

Of course, the alternative, that we never reach a breaking point, is even more disturbing.

That's why you strip Americans of their rights ...very ...slowly. If the change comes slow enough, very few people will ever notice. And those that speak up will be labeled crackpots and told to put on their tinfoil hats.

Pocket Ninja: I AM SO OUTRAGED ABOUT THIS THAT I WILL, UH, WELL, post about it again and then go play GTA IV.

WoW here.

Uh, I mean...this. Not only do you make the changes very slowly, but you distract the public with other things at the same time. Used to be reserved to just sports games. Why else would the World Series be so close to election day, and the Superbowl so close to Inauguration/State of the Union?

It's too bad we don't make the President swear an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution when he takes office.

xanadian: Why else would the World Series be so close to election day, and the Superbowl so close to Inauguration/State of the Union?

That must be why they only hold those events every four years, like the Olympics!!!11

xanadian: That's why you strip Americans of their rights ...very ...slowly. If the change comes slow enough, very few people will ever notice. And those that speak up will be labeled crackpots and told to put on their tinfoil hats.

Correct. It is the same as cooking a frog: slowly heating the water so he won't know he's being cooked until he's dead. Unfortunately, both sides of the political spectrum appear to be completely fine with the slow erosion of freedoms.

sepuku2: I thought this particular court was a bastion of liberalism.

Gee, maybe the world can't be divided up into "liberalism" and "conservatism".

From Wiki:

On the other hand, not every Supreme Court reversal of a Ninth Circuit decision has come in a case where the appellate judges ruled in favor of a group championed by political liberals. In Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001), the Supreme Court reversed a decision of the Ninth Circuit in favor of the government. The Ninth Circuit had ruled that evidence of a marijuana-growing operation obtained without a warrant by means of a thermal imaging device could be introduced at a criminal trial because the Fourth Amendment did not recognize an expectation of privacy in radiation emanating from a private home. The Supreme Court reversed because a person's home is a place where he has always had an expectation of privacy, such that the search at issue required a warrant.


The court is just too damn big and incoherent. Needs to be split up.

Hmmm.. I remember the feds claiming at one point that the 4th didn't have any place because where the searches are made isn't technically on US soil, but on international grounds. If that is the case, the feds don't technically have jurisdiction, methinks.

Aside from that, just load a laptop with craploads of viruses, trojans, exploits, and other malicious data. Let them load it onto their systems. Hope they enjoy cleaning and defragging their network servers.

Make sure to encrypt tons of stuff and leave it in a folder labeled jihad

I'm thinking about starting a company that will make clothing/luggage that will have hiding areas for memory cards and such. Watches, luggage handles and wheels, the heels of shoes, and other stuff will be straight out of a James Bond film to help the private industry keep their data private.

RoxtarRyan: I remember the feds claiming at one point that the 4th didn't have any place because where the searches are made isn't technically on US soil, but on international grounds.

That is the reason this flies. You aren't technically in the US yet so they can do this kind of thing.

RoxtarRyan: I'm thinking about starting a company that will make clothing/luggage that will have hiding areas for memory cards and such. Watches, luggage handles and wheels, the heels of shoes, and other stuff will be straight out of a James Bond film to help the private industry keep their data private.

Sounds like a good idea at first. Sadly, the mere existence of those products would then be used as an excuse to strip search everyone.

BooBoo23: Hopefully, the knowledge that the government will be investigating electronic devices will act as a further deterrent to terrorism, or even catch jihadis in the act.

Or make them not store it on their laptop...

Ryan2065: That is the reason this flies. You aren't technically in the US yet so they can do this kind of thing.

But since it is international grounds, who says they have jurisdiction? If anything else, it is even more of a reason to protect one's information, since someone claiming to be a US official is trying to pull some shiat outside their own country.

BooBoo23: None of you would be singing these sad tunes if we'd had another attack, especially if there was evidence extant on a laptop brought in from abroad. The DHS is just helping the President do his job, and his job is to keep YOU safe, no matter how much you may whine about it.

Hopefully, the knowledge that the government will be investigating electronic devices will act as a further deterrent to terrorism, or even catch jihadis in the act. In the grand scheme of things, missing the tranny pron on your laptop for a couple of days is a small price to pay for a more secure America.



/sucks at teh trolling

Eh. It was a fair shot. 6/10. Mostly because a lot of these DHS people really DO believe they're doing what they do to keep you safe. So it's got plausibility.

RoxtarRyan: But since it is international grounds, who says they have jurisdiction? If anything else, it is even more of a reason to protect one's information, since someone claiming to be a US official is trying to pull some shiat outside their own country.

It is more of a limbo state... You technically aren't in any other country but you also are not in the US yet. And yes, they do have jurisdiction there as courts have ruled in the past.

Skleenar: xanadian: Why else would the World Series be so close to election day, and the Superbowl so close to Inauguration/State of the Union?

That must be why they only hold those events every four years, like the Olympics!!!11

See! There ya go! Welcome to the dark side, young padawan!

DHS officials said the newly disclosed policies -- which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens -- are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism.

No, No, No they are not, so cut the f*cking shiat you cocksuckers!

Thank goodness they're detaining laptops. I mean, it's not as if there's any way to send encrypted information via some sort of inter-network link.

"The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either."

-Benjamin Franklin

BooBoo23: None of you would be singing these sad tunes if we'd had another attack, especially if there was evidence extant on a laptop brought in from abroad. The DHS is just helping the President do his job, and his job is to keep YOU safe, no matter how much you may whine about it.

That's about the most ignorant statement I've ever read on Fark. And, I've read a lot. The President's job, the one he swore to carry out, is to uphold the Constitution.

Easy solution...
When traveling, make a fake user account set to auto login, populate its desktop with innocuous files, pictures of lolcats and such.
Much better than using a password, because then they'll simply confiscate it and crack it.

BooBoo23: Hopefully, the knowledge that the government will be investigating electronic devices will act as a further deterrent to terrorism, or even catch jihadis in the act. In the grand scheme of things, missing the tranny pron on your laptop for a couple of days is a small price to pay for a more secure America.

Bollocks.

This has nothing to do with terrorism. At all.

If you look to your left, you'll notice RIAA creaming themselves in the corner, over this decision.

xanadian: /sucks at teh trolling

Never mind.

Ryan2065: RoxtarRyan: I remember the feds claiming at one point that the 4th didn't have any place because where the searches are made isn't technically on US soil, but on international grounds.

That is the reason this flies. You aren't technically in the US yet so they can do this kind of thing.

So technically I can tell them they have no authority outside the US...

ftfa:Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer 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.

this is farked up.

I think these guys are just getting lazy.
they don't even have to explain why they select one laptop or another at all.

this type of thing could easily get out of hand, this is clearly over the line. if they get away with this why would they stop here?

pretty soon a cop will be able to take your laptop at traffic stop for no particular reason. hey, why not?

why should they need a warrant to take your computer out of your house?

Holy crap.

I know its a long shot, but I'm hoping that if Obama is elected some of this stuff will be reversed. He's a constitutional law expert, so that's going for us. He's also a politician who would have to be unilaterally deciding to remove power from himself, so that is very bad for us.

In this, like so many other respects, at least he's better than McCain.

BooBoo23: /sucks at teh trolling

Nope, looks like you got a bite.

So what happens when they compromise every government computer because the confiscate a laptop full of viri and spyware? Wouldn't that be the best way to guarantee that your malicious data would get loaded onto DHS and other agency's computer networks?

UnkleKrakker: So technically I can tell them they have no authority outside the US...

They do have the authority to keep you out of the country though if you refuse their "requests"...