« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Laptop Searches in Airports Draw Fire at Senate Hearing
This is the 21st century people! Searching someone's bags is NOT the same as searching their computer. Our computers are our office, our home, our diaries, our phone calls, our letters. Stay the fuck out of it.
From the NY Times:
Advocacy groups and some legal experts told Congress on Wednesday that it was unreasonable for federal officials to search the laptops of United States citizens when they re-enter the country from traveling abroad.John Aravosis from AmericaBlog had this to say about it & it was priceless (I think):
[snip]
The federal government says the searches are necessary for national security and for legal action against people who bring illegal material into the country.
“If you asked most Americans whether the government has the right to look through their luggage for contraband when they are returning from an overseas trip, they would tell you ‘yes, the government has that right,’ ” Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said Wednesday at the hearing of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.
“But,” Mr. Feingold continued, “if you asked them whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails, look at their photographs and examine the Web sites they have visited, all without any suspicion of wrongdoing, I think those same Americans would say that the government absolutely has no right to do that.”
read more | digg story
This is what happens when old men, like John McCain, frankly, try to make important decisions about new technology. They don't understand it, so they screw up. A search of a laptop computer, or a cell phone, is not a search of your luggage. It's a search of luggage that happens to contain the equivalent of a tape recording of every phone conversation you've had in the past ten years. Luggage that contains details of your sex life, including possible a recorded history of it. Luggage that includes your medical history. Nude photos of your spouse, or yourself. Your personal diary. A computer is not the same thing as an electric razor or a radio. It's an incredibly intimate look into the life of the bearer, and old men who know nothing about the brave new world of technology shouldn't be in the position of deciding how personal a computer really is (or isn't).crossposted at thejoshuablog
Advertisement
Comments (24)
Let's elect the candidate who is a cracbery adict. John McCain is a ludite embarrassment.
June 30, 2008 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why should I care if the Gestapo wants to search my papers? I'm not a jew.
June 30, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
That might be up to the Gestapo to decide you know.
June 30, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't be silly. I support the Nazi Party and always praise the Fuhrer. I am a good aryan. Sometimes those in power need to search out those among us who wish to do us harm. What do I care if some young Gestapo officer with a prestigious High School diploma sees my wife's naked pictures or my letters to my lover or the letters blackmailing my business partners? Show some patriotism!
June 30, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does McCain have his own computer? Does he know how to use one? I'd really like to know.
June 30, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Its been reported that he doesn't know how to use one.
June 30, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Proof on tape. McCain admitting he does not know how to use a computer. When asked if he uses a mac or pc, he responded "Neither. I have to rely on my wife for that assistance". Check it out:
From Yahoo Election 2008 Republican Coverage
June 30, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, doesn't know how to operate a coffee machine...
June 30, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can see them telling the RIAA about your MP3's, the MPAA about your movies, and your mother about your boyfriend (in the case of Sen Craig).
How about copying your phone list and texts, in case you've been talking to other 'terrorists' while out of the country?
How soon before we will have to wear a GPS device any time we leave the country so the Dept of Homeland (in)Security will know we've not contacted anyone 'bad' or gone anywhere 'evil'?
How soon before they take blood samples to make sure we've not broken any of the mangled Drug Enforecement laws while we were on vacation?
This crap has GOT to be stopped, and stopped for good.
June 30, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
You understand the implications of what you have just said?There is a mark comin in which the Gov, will be able to do just that.All it will take is a Microchip in the right hand or forehead.Only it will be a ONE WORLD Government!!!They can already track our emails,phone calls and cell phones too.
Always assume you are being watched every where you go Bro.
July 1, 2008 3:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
There is only one way to stop politicians from spying on you: require that the same procedures be applied to them, and make the information public. Surely they have nothing to hide?
How do we know that McCain isn't a terrorist Trojan horse, really? How do we know he wasn't a spy for the Reds after his return from Vietnam?
June 30, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
He was born in the Panama Canal Zone and spent years in communist captivity. Sounds like a terrorist Manchurian Candidate to me! Is he even a 'natural-born citizen'?? ;]
June 30, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant, brilliant idea. I bet we'd start hearing a lot about the importance of privacy rights, don't you think?
June 30, 2008 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Highly likely, methinks.
Letting politicians have a taste of their own medicine is not only a good idea, it's a must.
June 30, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
And while we're at it, let's take their health care away until we get it too.
June 30, 2008 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ouch.
I understand where this is coming from, but I'm around a lot of "old men" who know quite a bit more about new technology than I do. Some of them are more than a decade older than McCain, even.
Granted, they are in the minority of their cohort, but the old=ignorant on technology angle is not a winning strategy for an election.
June 30, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I beg to differ Ben. Check out my link upthread, or here. Actually it shows just how clueless he really is. I think it is a very good strategy indeed when we are talking about moving away from the current clueless president.
June 30, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's good to point out that McCain is clueless when it comes to technology, but we should avoid framing it as an old person thing.
June 30, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fine, how about ignorant=ignorant. That sounds like an okay strategy to me. I heard some "experts" on tv saying that McCain not knowing how to use a computer should not be an issue. How can it not be an issue? If he doesn't understand the internet how can he understand Americans? It is just plain unpatriotic.
As for the topic here... Are they saying that the information on our computer is a security risk to the airplane? Why does it matter if the computer is in the country or out of the country? Whatever evil things we are doing with our computers after we enter can be done just as easily from outside the country.
Besides, why do they need to actually look at our laptops? Aren't they some how reading everything we send around anyway?
June 30, 2008 9:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Any five year old could play an expert on TV. And a few would probably do a better job than some of the self-proclaimed "experts".
Encrypt your data and "forget" the password. Hey, if the White House can lose its e-mails, who can blame lil ol' you for forgetting a password, right?
If I never lived in a commie country, the arrogance and conceit of officialdom might be new and mysterious to me... but I did, and it's not. Unfortunately.
July 1, 2008 8:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, Dave Frasca, FBI Islamic Terrorist Chief, killed the Minnesota FBI office requests to look at Moussari's computer in August, 2001. Frasca was rewarded with a promotion soon after 9/11. They had cause for Moussari in 2001 from German Intelligence, they don't need cause for you or me.
June 30, 2008 9:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, if they want to do strip searches to make us safe from terrists, so what? If you got nothing to hide, right?
They don’t need to search laptops as they have already been searched courtesy AT&T, Verizon, etc. We love you Big Brother.
June 30, 2008 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can remove the hard drive from your laptop, install it into a USB enclosure, and connect it to your home PC.
Download and burn a Knoppix (or other distribution) Live DVD or CD, or install it onto a USB thumb drive.
Boot the Knoppix DVD/CD/USB drive, connect to the Internet, create a Secure VPN Tunnel, and mount your remote laptop drive with Samba.
DHS/TSA may still take your diskless laptop, but at least your data will still be available at your home. The optional USB thumb drive can be wiped securely and discarded or donated.
The Department of Homeland Security may be able to decript the VPN Tunnel, but at least you are taking up some of DHS's CPU cycles while you browse TPM. Of course, they can still break into your home and "sneak and peek".
The country that you are visiting may consider the encryption a "Munition" and illegal, but you won't be breaking any US laws (yet).
June 30, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I posted about this in January, after oral arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Court, it was reported, seemed (and as it turned out, was) persuaded that a hard drive "just a container" that can be examined and inspected at will by customs officers when you are entering the country because if the same information was in hard copy form it would be subject to search.
I said at the time:
What if there's a sealed personal letter in your luggage? Can it be opened and read by one and all at customs because an envelope is "just a container?" Why not?After noting that a "higher standard" is required for body searches, I asked:
An amicus brief argued that if such searches were allowed, "border authorities could systematically collect all of the information contained on every laptop computer, BlackBerry and other electronic device carried across our national borders by every traveler, American or foreign."Is concern over collecting all that data, even if legally permissible, a realistic fear? Probably not. But is the government collecting massive amounts of data about us a reasonable fear? Considering that a more recent article, which I can't locate now, said that 7% of business travelers reporters having their laptops seized, I'd say damn straight it is.
July 1, 2008 2:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment