"Encrypt and email data / documents generated while traveling before you come back. Then potential nightmares become just PITA." Yeah, then your data resides on dozens of servers around the globe.
Posted on 06/28/2008 11:47:40 AM PDT by BGHater
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," says Hogan, a freelance investigative reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq war to the impact of money in presidential politics.
Shaken by the encounter, Hogan says he left the airport and examined his bags, finding that the agents had also removed and inspected the memory card from his digital camera. "It was fortunate that I didn't use that machine for work or I would have had to call up all my sources and tell them that the government had just seized their information," he said. When customs offered to return the machine nearly two weeks later, Hogan told them to ship it to his lawyer.
The extent of the program to confiscate electronics at customs points is unclear. A hearing Wednesday before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on the Constitution hopes to learn more about the extent of the program and safeguards to traveler's privacy. Lawsuits have also been filed, challenging how the program selects travelers for inspection. Citing those lawsuits, Customs and Border Protection, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, refuses to say exactly how common the practice is, how many computers, portable storage drives, and BlackBerries have been inspected and confiscated, or what happens to the devices once they are seized. Congressional investigators and plaintiffs involved in lawsuits believe that digital copies?so-called "mirror images" of drives?are sometimes made of materials after they are seized by customs.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I guess once they convince the public they no longer have any expectation of privacy or dignity with respect to their persons , it is deemed there are no limits as to how far they can go .
Encrypt and email data / documents generated while traveling before you come back. Then potential nightmares become just PITA.
Thank God they're addressing this, and not the trivial stuff like how the price of diesel and gasoline is going to torpedo the economy...
Since most so-called "reporters" are part of the enemy camp, or at least enablers, they need to be watched carefully. If he was doing hate Bush stuff he was probably on a watch list.
Company security, AND personal security, is a part of smart technology that is implemented ahead of time. IMO.
Plus, "the hassle" of having a security sign on (mine locks itself after 15 mins or non-use, being holstered or if I hit the lock button) on a PDA/Laptop is more important than ever.
"Encrypt and email data / documents generated while traveling before you come back. Then potential nightmares become just PITA." Yeah, then your data resides on dozens of servers around the globe.
Seems like "freedom" is when you have nothing left to lose.
I await the lawsuit from AP/DCAA/WHOEVER over using words in a row.
/johnny/
This guy seems to work for the “Center for Public Integrity,” which investigates political fund raising.
I checked out what it said about the candidates and note that it rates McCain 2 out 7 and Obama 4 out of 7.
Well, they’re both crooks, no doubt, but Obama is a bigger fund-raising crook than McCain. He works with billionaire money-laundering crooks and the Chicago mob. So the bias seems pretty clear.
And an article in the online edition of "Mother Jones" magazine expands on all of .... Thank you very much, Bill Hogan with "Mother Jones" magazine -- we ...
Yep, he's one of "them"! Investigative reporter, my @$$ foot!
The dirty secret and part of the reason the Left doesn't want phone taps for those communicating internationally with terrorists is that the Western media IS in communication with some of the so called "insurgent" terrorists.
Time Magazine had a reported embedded with them at the time of Saddam's capture. He went into terrorist seized cities as a guest.
Some in the media have chosen a side in this war and it is the opposition.
What part of the 4th Amendment enumeration of God-given rights do you object to?
/johnny
Freedom can't be left unpunished.
/johnny
Only the citizens who dare submit to the law are to be punished by it.
It does not pay to be an American these days. Foreign nationals have many more rights in our courts and Congress than the citizenry.
Amendments? Congress don't need no steenkin' Amendments...
/johnny
“War on Terror” = War on 4th Amendment.
I’m sorry, the remains of the 4th Amendment.
But always within the bounds of the 4th Amendment.
You have never had a 'reasonable expectation of privacy' when going through customs.
Sounds like the 'reporter' wasn't smart enough to know that.
You're okay with this? Better hope they don't take your PC and cards when you return from a trip.
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