Posted on 01/25/2014 8:04:59 AM PST by madison10
It's pretty obvious that we as a society are now made up of two groups. There are those who, for better or worse, have moved their lives into the digital realm, and those who haven't.
I would like to introduce you to someone in the latter category. His name is Edward Korman and he is a federal judge in New York state. He had a case before him involving a U.S. citizen – a Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal – who had his computer confiscated while returning to the States. The judge ruled, sweepingly, that, yes, the federal government had a right to confiscate laptops at the border without probable cause...
...It was odd – there's surprisingly little talk about the ruling online. (It came down on New Year's Eve afternoon.) The more you read, the weirder the rules are. The so-called "border exemption" extends 100 miles inland from the border. That includes the population of the Eastern Seaboard, Miami, Houston, the west coast, and Chicago.
I wanted to find a smart legal mind who'd considered the issue. I finally found someone who had. He came up with a simple encapsulation to prevent this sort of intrusion into our private lives for no reason. It went like this:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
ping!
I suspect it means the same thing as any state that borders the Atlantic or Pacific ocean. It is but one more step to have no presumption of privacy at all and that is coming.
islamists excepted, no doubt.
The Supremes have to date ruled that the “border exemption” applies only at ports, border crossing sites and functional equivalents such as international airports.
I believe books, papers and other personal items have always been subject to search when entering this country. Electronic media, while likely to contain a lot more information, are simply an extrapolation of this practice.
Yea, I’m about 120 miles from the border and work often brings me inside the zone. I no longer go out of the country.
I understand the principle behind the outrage but personally I’m well beyond it. I think that Øbozo is an incipient tyrant and dictator. He’ll tell you himself that he’s impatient for Congress to do his will and so he’s got his pen and his cellphone.
So when I travel I use a laptop that has only the bare essentials. No cached passwords, no links to personal accounts, and no questionable documents. If they want in I’ll protest but if they succeed then good luck getting past the PGP disk encryption. And even if they do then I’ve set up a booby-trap account that wipes the data folder if you log onto it.
I conduct my business as though I’m operating in enemy territory because.....I’m operating in enemy territory. ;’)
I believe that the US, like the UK, now has an unwritten Constitution. It’s flexible. It suits the needs of the decision-makers. Your inalienable rights have become unimportant.
About a year ago I returned from a Caribbean country. For whatever reason the customs guys chose to give me and my baggage the full treatment.
Since I was carrying a large number of odd electronic instruments I had used on a job, this took several hours of me explaining the purpose of and demonstrating the use of each instrument.
It was a serious pain, as it obviously caused me to miss a flight, but it never crossed my mind that it was a violation of my constitutional rights.
“The founding fathers never explicitly discussed laptop computers.” < /some wise latina probably >
The protections of the Constitution are no longer upheld. The laws of this nation are no longer upheld.
We are living in a socialist dictatorship with the illusion of law.
someone’s going to make millions with a hard drive destruction algorithm that can be remotely activated, say from a keyfob. “Yeah, sure - go ahead and confiscate my computer!”
The USA is no longer a nation of laws, it is a nation of men. And those “men” in fedgov positions of authority are tyrants.
Time to water the Tree.
USB’s are cheap. Don’t use a hard drive.
Try also Wa., Or.,Id.,Mt.,Nd.,Mn.,Wi., Ak.,Ca.,Az.,Nm.,Tx,La.,Ms.,Al.,Fl.,Ga.,SC.,Nc.,Va.,Md.,De.,Nj.,Ny.,Ct.,Ri., Ma., Me. etc. just to name a few. You get what I mean. The whole damn country falls under this unconstitutional ruling.
New practice.
Backup your laptop BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE COUNTRY.
How bout if you live withing 100 miles of the geographical center of the United States?
Liking Kansas more and more every day.
If you like your laptop you can keep it. Period.
If you like your privacy you can keep it. Period.
If you like your Constitution you can keep it. Period.
Sherman Logan wrote: “It was a serious pain, as it obviously caused me to miss a flight, but it never crossed my mind that it was a violation of my constitutional rights.”
The only reason it would NOT cross your mind would be that it was NEVER in your mind that such action would be in contravention of the very fundamental law of this grand experiment. Which would indicate that SL never read the Constitution and Amendments.
Not knowing SL’s background, it does seem that is a sad commentary on the state of American Education.
I fear the libtards are winning, still. We have a significant challenge ahead, to undue the damage of three generations of fedgov meddling in public education.
So you think there are, or should be, Constitutional protection against search or seizure at the borders?
I’m quite familiar with the Constitution, thank you.
Until I have passed through customs, I am not legally in the USA and therefore the 4th Amendment does not apply. Unless for some odd reason you think the Constitution applies throughout the world.
I would be interested in any reference you can find to 4A’s warrant requirement’s EVER having applied to customs. I doubt you can find one.
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