There is a reason why I don’t take my *good laptop* outside the country.
- We have turned into a nation of mewling cowards — prepared to sell our freedom for mere “security theater.”
- We pass rules to control the worst possible people committing the worst possible acts, regardless of the actual effectiveness of the rules or their side-effects.
- We have idiots write the rules.
- We hand the idiot-drafted rulebook to flunkies who aren’t qualified to work a frialator.
- We then call the result “security.”
“The Department of Homeland Security now claims the right to seize your laptop ‘absent individualized suspicion’ for as long as it deems ‘reasonable’ whenever you dare cross an international border.” More Fun With Laptop Detention
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August 4, 2008 at 7:08 am |
Cloud computing looking more attractive. What’s more secure, your laptop or Google Docs? Google might win that one.
August 5, 2008 at 3:53 pm |
Would somebody please explain, in simple non-bureaucratese English what the fuck does
‘absent individualized suspicion’ really mean.
I am so glad that I live in country that so far, despite following the US lead into Iraq & Afghanistan with only minimal discussion, still has some degree of freedom.
Although, having said that if the US Dept of Homeland Security has introduced rules like this then most of the international community will follow blindly.
August 6, 2008 at 9:13 am |
My parents’ home was burglarized about one year ago. The burglars took 10’s of thousands of dollars worth of heirlooms, collectible, irreplaceable and other items. The burglars were polite by neatly knocking out one piece of plate glass. The people then stacked the glass neating on the patio. Presumably, the first guy then let the remainder of his criminal entourage into the home. Apparantly, the group cased the home because they knew when no one was home. Further, they removed a huge and burdensome plasma television without harming the wall. It was like a movie crime, the criminals had real tools.
Enter the similarity between this small event and the current state of American search and seizure. As an appropriate response, my father put an alarm system on the house. Then he went further and put a camera system on the house. However, many of the cameras face the interior of the home.
Thus, my father waived the privacy of the home occupants for the off chance of catching copy cat criminals. The cameras are only effective for spying on those he seeks to protect. There are few places within the home that are safe from the eye in the sky but 90% of the exterior of the home are free from video eavesdropping. So the majority of the tape involves those who have a legal right to be within the home. Further, it makes you uneasy to be within the home because you know that you are being taped.
In the post 9/11 America it appears that the leaders in Washington and the silent majority would commend my father for a job well done! The populace seems complacent about the broadening of government power into private spheres. Yes, the world is different. We suffered a black eye 8 yrs ago….however, the appropriate response is not to waive the privacy of those within the home. The response should be tailored toward the criminals trying to break in to the house.
One can hear the evil every time one tries to board an airplane…”I will gladly take off my shoes if that means that it helps catch the terrorists.” Innocuous? Perhaps. But now “I will gladly endure a full body scan if it will help catch the terrorists.” Hmmmm or worse “I will gladly give up my laptop for a full search of my constitutionally protected private work, stored files, and porn if it helps catch the terrorist.” NO! I say I will not gladly give up my rights for the off chance that a terrorist iscaught by these measures! News flash: Terrorists watch CNN and read the NYTimes. Thus, no more bombs in shoes, no bombs in laptops.
Turn the cameras outward….not inward. We are not the enemy. At birth, everyone should be issued a copy of the Constitution, 1984, and the God Delusion…the world would be a better place.