U.S. customs agency spits on 4th amendment

If border agents decide to seize my personal laptop, they better be willing to throw a whole lot of resources at the thing. I’ve encrypted the entire hard drive. Hopefully it will make them suspicious - I’d welcome an opportunity to sue the feds over this policy.

As part of border search policy, government agents are now authorized to seize electronic devices and inspect documents in them, the document states. The electronic devices might include laptops, cell phones, portable music players or storage devices such as portable hard drives.

Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection will also be allowed to translate and share documents with other government agencies.

The DHS document, issued July 16, appears to state publicly a policy that has already existed. Laptops and electronic devices have been subject to search in the past, and travelers have reported not getting their devices back. The policy has drawn strong criticism from lawmakers and nonprofit groups, who charged that the searches were invasive and a violation of an individual’s privacy rights. Computers contain a vast amount of private information about family, finances and health, which could be easily copied and stored in government databases, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has complained.

The new policy is not only directly in violation of the United States Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, it is anti-common sense. In the long term, the jack-booted agents of the borders of “the land of the free and the home of the brave” will do little to nothing to make Americans more secure.

What will border agents accomplish by seizing people’s private computers as they attempt to travel into or out of the United States?

• Train citizens that private property doesn’t actually exist in the U.S.
• Give people reasons to avoid traveling to the United States
• Waste time and money
• Speed up the decline of the economy
• Encourage civil disobedience

Americans just 30 years ago would never have tolerated this sort of behavior. Of course, the government has an excuse. It is “protecting us” from evildoers. Yeah right.

The policy document states that being able to examine documents and electronic devices is crucial for “detecting information concerning terrorism, narcotics smuggling… contraband including child pornography, and… other import or export control laws.”

Osama bin Laden has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. By attacking the twin towers, bin Laden created a virtual police state in less than a decade. Where is the outrage? Americans should carry old laptops with encrypted hard drives full of useless junk repeatedly when they travel internationally. They should act suspicious and tie up the resources of the idiotic bureaucrats who are disrespecting us all with their new policy that spits on the Constitution.

If you think I’m just being alarmist or whiny, please read this person’s story of what I have to assume is a typical experience with crossing the border of the United States in 2008.