I know 1,984 reasons this is bad: TSA Laptop Searches

TSA Laptop Searches
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/01/...aptop-searches

Sooner or later, most gamers will face the dreaded scenario of having to leave their desktop PC's and consoles behind and suffer through the misery of modern air travel.

Domestic travelers have become familiar with intrusions and searches at Transportation Security Administration security checkpoints. But as the ACLU has recently discovered, international travelers are not only having their laptops seized and searched by Customs and Border Protection, but agents are making copies of files and giving them to third-party agencies. The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the government, which turned over hundreds of pages of documents revealing startling information about how much access—and how little oversight—agents have to your gaming laptops when you travel.

For instance, over a period of nine months, CBP agents searched over 1,500 devices, including laptops, thumb drives, cell phones, and DVDs. Last year, agents transferred 282 files from these devices to third-parties. Under current policy, CBP is not required to justify the searches. Interestingly, of those files, only four were justified under "national security" concerns, and apparently encrypted files were sent to unknown agencies for "translation/decryption".

Several spreadsheets containing summaries of the data (as well as detailed information on each incident, if you're so inclined) are available from the ACLU; a further list of documents and correspondence released from CBP can be found here.

It's been a privacy issue for a while here. If yours is confiscated, God only knows when you'll get it back.

I know people that keep/use a 2nd laptop for international travel.

scary shit

It isn't TSA, but Customs and Border Patrol. They are supposedly looking for pirated media, and evidence of terrorism, child porn etc...

I am a little concerned because I am going to Europe soon. I am going to clear the history and cache before I go, and set up an alternate user account in case.

You do have a right to refuse though. Excercise your 4th and 5th amendment rights. You may need a lawyer at that point, but I believe it is better to be safe than sorry. Plus I believe in the constitution and bill of rights and I believe we should follow them. Illegal Search and Seizure is still against the law. And you don't have to incriminate yourself.

In the grand scheme of things I am sure hobbyists have nothing to worry about if they haven't commited crimes. Consensual sex with another adult is legal pretty much everywhere. And if you engage in sex for money in another country you have not broken a US law. Most other countries have legalized or decriminalized prostitution.

Unconscionable.

Curious...

Do y'all know if the full body scanners show what is INSIDE of one's body? For instance, if Shirly inserts a flashdrive into one of her orifices, do the scanners show that?
If not, she could potentially travel without worrying about the laptop etc...being seized and just have the handy dandy info inside of her all along.

Seriously curious...