.EDITORIAL: Halt! And hand over that laptop!
Jul. 5--Imagine you've been spearfishing in the Bahamas for a week and it's time to head home. Even though you were on vacation, some things at the office couldn't wait until you returned, so you borrowed a laptop computer from your employer so you could stay in touch and make contributions to the big project. After your last video conference, you had an idea for moving the project forward and made notes and wrote a proposal you're hoping management will approve. It could mean your company will get a series of contracts from customers around the world, jobs for hundreds of Americans and probably a sizable bonus for you. But you have to make the presentation in the next couple of days, so you cut your trip short and come home early.
As you're passing through customs at the airport, you're pulled aside and told you've been randomly selected for additional screening, including your digital camera and the laptop. And they're going to have to keep the computer for about two weeks while they search the hard drive.
Say goodbye to those contracts, the jobs and your bonus. All in the name of national security, of course.
These searches -- many would call them seizures -- have been taking place quietly at customs stations across the country for a few years but are only now beginning to attract wide attention. Although they appear to be unconstitutional, many courts, including California's notoriously liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, have ruled they pass constitutional muster.
Critics say the government has a right to protect our borders but worry that laws haven't kept up with technology. Many people keep their most personal records on their laptops and personal digital assistants, and businesses store proprietary information on computers. That's exactly the kind of information the Founders sought to protect with the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches.
Few people would agree to turning over their briefcases so government agents can pore over their contents. Why are electronic devices any different?
Police must have either a search warrant or reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing before they can search you or your belongings at your home or on the street, but other considerations come into play when travelers seek to enter the country.
"Customs agents must have the ability to conduct even highly intrusive searches when there is reason to suspect criminal or terrorist activity, but suspicionless searches of Americans' laptops and similar devices go too far," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. He heads a subcommittee that's looking into the searches.
Reasonable people will disagree on whether these obvious intrusions into people's personal "papers" are legal, but as long as the courts say they are, they'll continue. Aside from their questionable legality is the effectiveness of such searches. According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, American businessman Bill Hogan was stopped and his laptop was taken from him when he returned to the United States from a trip to Germany. He was told he had been selected for "random inspection of electronic equipment." Searches must be random, courts have ruled, to avoid the possibility of profiling specific groups or nationalities.
But it's the randomness of those searches that makes them a gross waste of limited resources. Middle-aged businessmen and women or college students returning from spring break pose little danger to our nation's safety. Why must government spend time and money ensuring they're not part of some dastardly plot?
As distasteful as it is to single out a specific group for additional scrutiny, that has a far better chance of stopping trouble before it begins. Israel has developed passive methods of scrutinizing travelers, pulling aside far fewer for further inspection and questioning. Other nations, including the United States, are beginning to use similar methods but continue to harass random travelers, we assume, to show the public that government is "doing something" to protect the nation.
TMC
The Bush police state marches on unopposed.
The population is being systematically turned to sheep. Enjoy your stay at the slaughterhouse.
As you're passing through customs at the airport, you're pulled aside and told you've been randomly selected for additional screening, including your digital camera and the laptop. And they're going to have to keep the computer for about two weeks while they search the hard drive.
Say goodbye to those contracts, the jobs and your bonus. All in the name of national security, of course.
These searches -- many would call them seizures -- have been taking place quietly at customs stations across the country for a few years but are only now beginning to attract wide attention. Although they appear to be unconstitutional, many courts, including California's notoriously liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, have ruled they pass constitutional muster.
Critics say the government has a right to protect our borders but worry that laws haven't kept up with technology. Many people keep their most personal records on their laptops and personal digital assistants, and businesses store proprietary information on computers. That's exactly the kind of information the Founders sought to protect with the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches.
Few people would agree to turning over their briefcases so government agents can pore over their contents. Why are electronic devices any different?
Police must have either a search warrant or reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing before they can search you or your belongings at your home or on the street, but other considerations come into play when travelers seek to enter the country.
"Customs agents must have the ability to conduct even highly intrusive searches when there is reason to suspect criminal or terrorist activity, but suspicionless searches of Americans' laptops and similar devices go too far," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. He heads a subcommittee that's looking into the searches.
Reasonable people will disagree on whether these obvious intrusions into people's personal "papers" are legal, but as long as the courts say they are, they'll continue. Aside from their questionable legality is the effectiveness of such searches. According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, American businessman Bill Hogan was stopped and his laptop was taken from him when he returned to the United States from a trip to Germany. He was told he had been selected for "random inspection of electronic equipment." Searches must be random, courts have ruled, to avoid the possibility of profiling specific groups or nationalities.
But it's the randomness of those searches that makes them a gross waste of limited resources. Middle-aged businessmen and women or college students returning from spring break pose little danger to our nation's safety. Why must government spend time and money ensuring they're not part of some dastardly plot?
As distasteful as it is to single out a specific group for additional scrutiny, that has a far better chance of stopping trouble before it begins. Israel has developed passive methods of scrutinizing travelers, pulling aside far fewer for further inspection and questioning. Other nations, including the United States, are beginning to use similar methods but continue to harass random travelers, we assume, to show the public that government is "doing something" to protect the nation.
TMC
The Bush police state marches on unopposed.
The population is being systematically turned to sheep. Enjoy your stay at the slaughterhouse.
posted by madtom at 7:19 PM
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