Border Patrol May Seize Your Laptops

If you happen to travel across the US border for business or pleasure nowadays, be sure to not take any personnel electronic devices, or if you do, you might want to clear out any personal data. Refer to this article from the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html

Border Patrol and Customs officials are increasingly, and randomly seizing laptops, blackberry’s, cell phones, etc. and downloading said devices, asking for passwords to access your personal data, checking to see if you have legal right to Microsoft and other programs, or the music you may be storing. Sometimes the devices are returned, but sometimes they are not.

This is one more example of our government gone terribly wrong. President Bush has cancelled American’s right to privacy and the government does not need warrants to search your personal property. You are completely at the mercy of the good or bad will of bureaucrats.

Governments allow themselves to do this in times of war….But, consider this: Some major politicos have been saying, for some years now, that the war on terror may go on forever.

The US is now ranked with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea at the bottom of the heap when talking about surveillance and freedoms of their citizens. I really miss the old America. Are you missing it yet?

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