Customs Officers Can Search Your Laptop, Too

remenber that cute pic you took of your child naked on a blanket when he or she was a baby.
that could get you in trouble. big brother is looking at everything,and tracking you too by your car and cell phone

you all can fly and put up with rent a cop morons if you wish, i'll drive. airlines all suck. and if you complain about service you get arrested . who needs it . let them go broke. take a bus .

What next? First they take my daughters travel sized playdoh with a cute little plastic piggie and then they take our nachos that we bought as snacks. What next? LOL I'm like whatever..you need lunch or something? Maybe a late Christmas gift for your kids?

E wulf you sound like my dad..yeah that'll show them. ?? ?The airlines arent going to shut down because YOU don't want to fly anymore. Last flight I took last week we had standby people waiting for the empty seats like vultures. I'm traveling from Chicago to Florida for a 4 day weekend next month, I'm certainly not going to DRIVE my kids there and back. That'd be pointless.

Not such a big deal, really. As long as you're not doing things on the computer that you shouldn't be doing, you've got nothing to worry about.

Bottom line: Tell a security professional how much personal privacy you're willing to relinquish, and he'll tell you how much security we can have from Moslem terror attacks.

I applaud President Bush for the fact that there have been no Moslem terror attacks in the U.S. since 9/11. He did not achieve that by allowing everyone to run around willy nilly doing whatever they want. Time now for reasonable restrictions.

It seems to me that "catching child pornographers" is being used as an excuse to dispose of the "innocent until proven guilty" philosophy that was previously the right of all of our citizens.

So now the government wants to assume that we are all terrorists and that we all love kiddie porn. I am so tired of this country slowly supressing our freedoms. Dont worry america it will start to get better on 1/20/2009. INAUGURATION DAY (BUSH'S LAST DAY)

Why are people so surprised to find they're living in a country so radiocally different from the one created by the Founding Fathers? People without illegal material in their laptops shouldn't shy from having them searched or at least wait until a change in the administration pries Big Brother's fingers off the public's throats.

Fred phillips . . maybe you dont care, but millions of people have banking information, SSN's, Health information, as well as private pictures of their spouses, ect. If you want to share that type of info with a complete stranger then be my guest. But my essential right to privacy will not be violated. From this day on there will be a password protection to even log on to windows.

I am just amazed at the s**t storm raging around this article when most of the comments I've read clearly indicate that the writer never even READ it. If they had just bothered to read even the title, they would know that the laptop searches are conducted by CBP, Customs & Border Protection, NOT the TSA.
And people still wonder how George Bush got elected to a 2nd term.

I KNOW WHAT THE LAW IS INTO 4TH IT'S YOUR PRIVTE LIFE I AM RIGHT. IT'S BETTER BE THE REASON IS YOUR DAM PAL CLINTON SIGN THAT INTO LAW WHERE ANYBODY CAN AND WILL NOT GO INTO YOUR PRIVTE LIFE IS OR COMPUTER IS YOUR BUSSINESS. YOU BETTER HIRE THE BEST LAWYER. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM HILLARY CLINTON SHE IS THE WORST YOU SHALL BE FEAR OFF.

OK...TSA now checking Database Computer Files? How far are they going to go before there's a class-action lawsuit against TSA for Violation of Human Rights to Privacy? First of all, Having ADULT Porn is not against the law...and neither is Child Porn. To clairify this further, everyone views Porn in some way (or has in the past) and although some people view it disgusting that's an "opinion" but not based on a crime because viewing Porn is Freedom of Press and cannot be sensored. Child Porn? Yes, it's sick, digusting, demented but, having Child Porn on a computer is NOT a crime either (unless you've been convicted of a sex crime or registered sex offender). But, like it or not, Child Porn is "Free Press" and covered under our Constitution "Freedom of Press". Viewing or having objectional material is still protected by our Constitutional Rights of Free Press NOT to be censored in any way and there's NOTHING the TSA can do about that. I'm waiting for AMERICAN Travelers to wake up and realize that because TSA cannot "bully" you to show them any database files in your computer under coercion tactics to cause you to miss your flight. It's as simple as that.

TSA has taken this TOO FAR and if TSA isn't careful there will be a class action suit against them "By the People" for excessive harassment. They are allowed to check for Weapons and Contraband but Computers don't fall in that category. Most of these TSA agents don't even know how to operate a computer because they have little or no I.T./PC Tech background. You have to understand they were hired to read X-Ray machines, pat down suitcases...and use the wand to test for explosive powder residue....that's it.

I wonder if my FOOT would show up in an X-Ray of a TSA Agent that would try to do this crap. One could only hope........Until next time....what else is TSA going to do to validate their jobs?

They can search me. I have nothing to hide.

Dale
http://onelargemall.com

First of all let me just clarify to Bill that Yeah, being in possession of child porn is illegal! Adult porn, no but child porn, oh yes sir! Now, on to what I have to say.

I feel that yes, these monsters do need to be caught, but not at the expense of my personal freedom. If you suspect someone of having it, by all means, search away but keep your noses out of things that aren't your business.

No, I don't have a chip on my shoulder, or do I have a shameful life or dirty little secrets on my hard drive. It's my right to have privacy. I don't care if I'm going around the world or just across the street. You want to catch pedophiles, get out and do some work instead of harassing innocent people. Do you people honestly feel ok about letting someone root around in your personal data? People who could obtain your information for their own purposes? Not everyone working for customs is a good person. There are theives everywhere.

What about taking the risk that these people will damage your computer? I have one heck of an expensive system. There is no way I'm going to let anyone touch it! I have nothing to hide, that's not what I'm worried about. It's damage to my system, the theft of information and identity that I'm worried about.

This has nothing to do with stopping terrorist attacks. I have a friend in homeland security that will tell you that. I feel as if we are being attacked by our own country. What's next? Everyone strip down before you board. Full cavity search? How far is too far?

It's getting ridiculous. Searching your puter is like making you stand naked, to be ogled by the TSA. Your personal data is exactly that, personal. It doesn't matter if its porn or politics. Data is not a threat to travel. Will they also search the data in my cell-phone, camera or DVDs? What's next? A thumbdrive can easily hold 8 GBs of data!
There's an interesting book called "State of Fear", which posits Big Government needs to have people feel threatened, in order to maintain a more effective control. Could this be an extension of that concept?