Comments on: Homeland Security issues policy on laptop seizures

By: Anon

Anon — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:28:27 +0000

So if I, a UK citizen, enters the US with my laptop and
it is seized, how am I meant to get it back?

Are the US government going to pay the $400 shipping fee and packaging to ensure it gets back to me safe and sound?

What if I don’t have a hard drive in my laptop, and am just using a live CD? What evidence would they be looking for in a computer that cannot store anything?

Bit extreme if you ask me…

By: pip

pip — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:10:03 +0000

“Americans should really do something drastic before it is too late. Reclaim liberty.”
Ron Paul plx.

By: sd_proto

sd_proto — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:23:52 +0000

The EFF is really a great place to find more info about some
of the gray areas of the law regarding this. More people
should support them cause they really do try hard to fight
the morons forcing this crap down our throats. Anyway,
here’s a link where they answer questions about border
searches: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/border-search-answers

By: Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:17:48 +0000

It is not the politicians we need to worry about, but the largest employer in the country – The US government. The government agencies and their leaders are doing the same thing to the American citizen as the former leaders of Worldcom, Enron and Iridium. The politicians have been drugged with the narcotic of money by the defense contractors. They are rendered impotent. At this point in history, the government fears the non-government citizen. They will keep writing laws that steal our freedom and eventually our country away from us. The government is helpless in defending our borders from attack, but can clearly stop the citizens in their midst. For you see… they can see me, but they cannot see you…keep up your trade and your talents, stay out of site, do not betray your trade for publicity, but be prepared to defend your right to freedom. We depend on you. Don’t let us down.
Remember your first civics lessons.

By: this guy

this guy — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:40:59 +0000

@ 34: srilyk said: "Do you have one single example of laws that are hundreds of years old finally being enforced?"

Sure. I can give you a very big one. The right to bear arms went before the Supreme Court this year. The Second Amendment is 216 years old and it was ruled, finally, this year that it indeed gives "individuals the right to bear arms".

Many anti-gun law folks have said they believe that the Amendment was intended for militias only. This was a landmark case and solidified something two centuries old.

I hope that satisfied your desire for me to provide "one single example".

By: srilyk

srilyk — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:14:58 +0000

23: "and they really want to complain when laws that are hundreds of years old are finally enforced."

Do you have one single example of laws that are hundreds of years old finally being enforced? If anything there are new laws that completely violate hundred year old laws (i.e. right to privacy, protection from unwarranted search and seizure, etc. etc.)

By: Eric Ripper

Eric Ripper — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:17:14 +0000

@ #17:

sure, it can't happen on domestic flights because of our Amendments.

and various state and local governments never set up traffic "safety" checkpoints to nab intoxicated drivers and other scofflaws, with absolutely no reasonable suspicion.

they will physically stop every vehicle coming down the road, and make arrests from such an illegal checkpoint. of course, it has been deemed NOT illegal by the supreme court.

they'll implement the same policies on domestic flights whenever they feel they have scared the population enough again, or when the moronic masses of this country are paying even less attention than they already are.

By: w01f

w01f — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:40:08 +0000

Another idea, is to make your laptop a "wireless thin client".

This is easily achieved if you take an old laptop, a 44 pin IDE to CF card, a compact flash card (I'd recommend 128mb minimum) and the choice of these two flavors of linux.

http:/www.damnsmalllinux.org

OR

http://thinstation.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/ThIndex

slap the linux on the compact flash card and voila! you can then keep important files on a remote server and access it thru the browser.

They seize your laptop. What they seize is nothing. since you do not keep passwords or any sensitive data on in. It's just a "doorway" so to speak.

The joke's on them.

W01F

By: TheTim

TheTim — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:59:30 +0000

Anything that can store information? Would that include credit cards with embedded chips? Or how about any magnetic stripe card in your wallet?

By: Scott McDonnell

Scott McDonnell — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:27:07 +0000

firefox, that is because people are lead to believe these laws really only affect other people, and that those other people are bad people.

i have never once met a person that had a problem with taking rights away from other people if they found those rights annoying or if they just weren't rights that they thought they excercised. this is why our country was originally designed to protect us from the tyranny of the majority.

if you want an answer look look no further than the wonderfully effective, 'trial by media.' people love to hate other people, and love to assume that they wouldn't be accused of something if they weren't really guilty.

the government knows this, heck, advertisers have known how to manipulate the masses for decades now. it's so surprisingly simple, that noone believes it is possible.

By: FireFox

FireFox — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:42:24 +0000

I do NOT understand how it is possible that the people of USA are becoming numb to these extreme violations of trust, privacy and our lives.
Is this what freedom is supposed to be?
US of A ; a ‘Free’ country.

By: Obvious Man

Obvious Man — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:12:17 +0000

911 indeed!

The "terrorists" have officially been put out of a job by the USA.

By: jjrh

jjrh — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:27:31 +0000

Although some of you have complained at the article not being 'hack a day material', it's nice that I can get some news like this with out reading slashdot 15 times a day.
It might be interesting if someone would write a article for the uninformed people(like I) on the proper secure way to encrypt your hdd. Perhaps I should do a search(and I will), but I do find usually hackadays tutorials/how-to's to be more clear and informative.

Does anyone know the laws, or what would happen if infact your entire HDD was encrypted and seized? Would you just not get it back, or would you be required to hand over the keys? What if you refused or 'forgot'?

Most of us reading care, there doesn't seem to be much we can do about these laws. I suppose it won't be until some middle class family loses their laptops at the border with pictures of their trip,Timmy loses his new ipod, the family makes a big fuss and the news finally decides this is something worth airing for more than 30seconds. Then maybe the majority of the population will care.

I sure hope policies like this don't become accepted as the norm.

By: O tabajara

O tabajara — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:49:02 +0000

That is why I DO LOVE to live in Brazil :o)

By: Scott McDonnell

Scott McDonnell — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:58:58 +0000

9-11!!!!!!!! All your rights are belonged to us!! 9-11!!!

We didn't need new laws, this guy, every standard procedure in place was completely ignored on that day. all that was needed to stop 9-11 from happening was for the government to have done the job they already had the authority to do.

and besides, i don't recall the hijackers using laptops on the plan to ram them into the towers, so.... how would this law have prevented that?

don't tell me that i need to give up my rights to be safe, or that the government needs more laws to protect me when it was their failure to actually do their jobs in the first place that allowed 9-11 to happen. do you make it a habit of giving an irresponsible person more responsibility? does that work out well for you?