Customs Now Performing Laptop Strip Searches

For those of you who don't know. I thought you should.


Quote:




hxxp://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9892897-38.html
hxxp://blog.laptopmag.com/customs-now-performing-laptop-strip-searches-protect-yourself

I guess I'm safe, I only keep pirated movies & music on my portable devices.

xXxTrader wrote:

Yet another reason the US suck ass more than almost any other country.

Land of the free my ass... from the looks of it the ONLY freedoms you have is whining over the stupid things in life and carrying guns... which is pretty handy if someone looks at you the wrong way.

Land of opportunity... perhaps.. but should you fail you lose everything and end up increasing the homeless statistics.




Sorry... fed up with the American bible bashers, flag wavers and the stupid regular american at the moment... hopefully Obama will get a chance to swoop in and save the nation from itself (probably not)

nx wrote:

Movies and music are also contraband on any electronic devices unless you own the original copy and you must provide proof of purchase or you can be detained or denied flight.

Homeland security has the greatest ideas... they just don't have the talent pool to enforce them correctly. Besides, the bad guys are huge believers in the KISS method, after all why blow up a building with high-tech when you can just fly a plane into them or drive a vehicle full of low-tech explosives into the front door.

tfh wrote:
These are not "ideas." They are corporate lobby concessions under the guise of anti-terrorism. All the big corps have to do is donate big $ to this administration and instead of actually trying to FIND and KILL OBL and other terrorists, HS will harass Amrican citizens who may have a couple mp3's they didn't pay the music industry (not the artist) for.

You know, even tho I live in the US. I heard of this nonsense and it turned my stomach. Homeland security here in the US has done everything to make flying a pain in the ass.
All the advice I can give you guys who leave overseas is, dont even think of coming to the US for now. Even if you meet a hot girl who is willing to pay your trip here deny it. I hope obama wins he says he would get rid of that piece of crap HS. I hope he delivers on all his promises...

It well and truly sucks but its not that unusual. Mind you I'm not trying to defend the rampant braying stupidity that the DHS is engaging in. It's just that it's a sad reflection on human nature world wide rather then just a purely American response. When something terrible happens the impulse isn't just to react to it... but to over react to it. As Colin Powell said, the terrorists can't destroy the United States (or any other western country for that matter), only we can destroy the United States by eroding it's freedoms.

I am certain that the politicians, on both sides of the political divide, know that the system in place right now doesn't work and mostly infringes on innocent people's rights. I am also sadly certain that by and large they will go along with it for now because they still believe that most Americans are running scared. Politicians, whether they be American or green space slugs from the planet Klatu, love and adore fear. They get carte blanche to pass laws and look like they are bravely defending the voters. It's easy campaign relection fodder.

Sooner or later the American public will get tired of the bumbling incompentence and inconvience and then suddenly the politicians will be tearing down most of the restrictions and trumpeting their commitment to the cause of freedom and justice and apple pie.

I would be so much happier if this sort of thing was just limited to the US and just limited to this particular situation.

Feels like Terry Gilliam's Brazil....

blah recent years are terrible. Everyone has this "if its not happening to me it wont matter" type of school of thought. The same attitude was taken by the germans before POOF all of a sudden anyone with dark skin and dark eyes goes to a nazi camp and gets gassed.
WHOOPS.

Yes tyvm for this, I am actually omw out of the country very soon for a long trip.

I don't forsee America turning into death camps just yet... but there is an election coming up...

how often does this actually happen though? I haven't flown in a long time.

I wish people would refrain from making blanket statements about Americans. I know it's easy (and popular) to bash away at us. But we're certainly not all mindless and oblivious to our surroundings. We seem to have a government and an economy, both bent on self-destruction, and it scares the hell out of me.
People who think Obama's going to turn us around must be used to listening to evangelical speeches. The man's got a minimum of political experience which normally I'd say is a good thing. But, in the short time he's been in the Senate, he's racked up a track record for voting on real issues that's lame at best. The idea that he's going to be our salvation from ruin would be laughable if it weren't so damn scary. But he does talk a deal deal, doesn't he?
Once again, I'm scared for my future - just please stop reminding me how fucked up things are here!

glad im in the UK, otherwise i would be in a more sticky situaltion than when sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun

Do those idiots really think I might have an illegal alien in my ipod?