October 03, 2008, 10:55 AM — Homeland Security’s outrageous policy of unwarranted search and seizure of electronic devices such as laptops at the border is being called to task, by Senators Feingold, Cantwell, Wyden, and Akaka through the Traveler’s Privacy Protection Act of 2008 (S. 3612), a most reasonable piece of legislation that would reign in the police state a bit and give us back a little bit of the “land of the free†that some elements of government are anxious to eradicate in the name of “security.â€
The risk to privacy and personal security under the present policy is obvious. Border guards can seize your laptop and search it, both physically and electronically, without having to give any reason for doing so. To the point, they can read your emails. The current Homeland Security policy allows agents at the border and in airports to seize and review the contents of electronic equipment “absent individualized suspicion.†Read the rest of this article
