A little while ago, I wrote about the ACTA treaty being negotiated in secret by the Canadian government, this treaty, if signed would allow (or require) border guards to search your digital media copyright infringement when you cross the border of a participating country.
Did you know the US is already doing that?
Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan’s luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any digital media cards or drives in his pockets? "Then they told me that they were impounding my laptop,"
That’s pretty scary shit. And apparently, they can be really arbitrary about it:
A ruling this year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that DHS does indeed have the authority to search electronic devices without suspicion in the same way that it would inspect a briefcase.
{snip}
The security value of the program is unclear, critics say, while the threats to business and privacy are substantial. If drives are being copied, customs officials are potentially duplicating corporate secrets, legal records, financial data, medical files, and personal E-mails and photographs as well as stored passwords for accounts from Netflix to Bank of America. DHS contends that travelers’ computers can also contain child pornography, intellectual property offenses, or terrorist secrets.
That is totally some big brother type shit right there. I wonder is Orwell’s Big Brother required reading in schools? Remember:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
