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She said the federal agent copied her log-on and password, and asked her to show him a recent document and how she gains access to Microsoft Word. She was asked to pull up her e-mail but could not because of lack of Internet access.
Eventually, he agreed to log on and stood by as the officer copied the Web sites he had visited
"I was basically given the option of handing over my laptop or not getting on that flight,"
an officer "went through every number and text message on my cellphone and took out my SIM card in the back," said Habib, a permanent U.S. resident. "So now, every time I travel, I basically clean out my phone. It's better for me to keep my colleagues and friends safe than to get them on the list as well."
[msnbc.msn.com...]
If the government's database on an individual has any kind of information that would cause this type of security concern to get this kind of search, then they should get a court order.
This is the type of thing the US Constitution addresses--it's not reasonable.
This is the type of thing the US Constitution addresses--it's not reasonable.
That airport area is not technically US soil I believe. Plus, by entering the airport you have kissed your rights goodbye anyway.
then they should get a court order.
Now that ... is funny.
As somebody who comes in contact with US Customs frequently and has to deal with cross border shipments daily .... I can tell you that you have no rights. You are at their mercy. The border and the airports are a cross between "no-mans land" and the "wild west".
If Americans only knew the impact this was having on their economy in the form of less tourism and business travel this would end sooner rather than later. I realize they have to keep the country secure but things have gone overboard.
[edited by: Rugles at 5:00 pm (utc) on Feb. 7, 2008]
That airport area is not technically US soil I believe.
Once you land there, until checked by customs you are not yet in Austria. If you do not pass (or until you are returned back,) you are in that no-man's-land, which I believe is governed by international law. I cannt find a link to back it up though, thus the "I think."
>> If it were true, then Customs agents and law enforcement officials would have no jurisdiction.
They are in US soil and you walk towards them because you want to get in US.
As far as leaving the U.S., that's a little more fuzzy. In terms of air travel, I have taken international flights from LAX, San Francisco, and JFK. In each case (for me anyway), there was no such clear line, although I would assume it would be past the security check (past which you need a bording pass).
This will get cleared up by the courts, but more to the point: What they are doing is major stupid. Illegal and stupid, both. This does not make the United States more secure.
Indeed, this kind of unreasonable (unnecessary) search of personal property is the type of authoritarianism we're suppose to be fighting against.
I don't know about the way US security officials look at the laptops and mobile phones, but they could as well just be looking for a "normal usage history" instead of a list of contact addresses that might be interesting for them.
I have crossed some of the hardest to cross borders in the world in the last years. Two-dozen cases of people at the US border in a multi-month period seems very reasonable to me compared with how other countries guard their borders. It may be new for North America, it isn't in many other parts of the world.
are we treating all "target" demographics equally?
I'm curious. Does anyone else occasionally feel it would just be preferable to get blown up by a bomb? (I'm serious).
ronin, I don't believe turning on the computer and looking at the software before you board an airplane is necessary in determining if the computer is a potential security threat.
