Search, Seize and/or Copy

Traveling with sensitive material on your laptop is always a challenge. What happens if it’s lost or stolen? Turns out, even if you never lose possession of your laptop while traveling, going through U.S. Customs may open your data up to the government.

This is chilling:

(U.S. District Judge Edward R.) Korma, a judge in the Eastern District of New York, said that the policy permits searches with or without suspicion, and cited case law that held that “searches at our borders without probable cause and without a warrant are nonetheless ‘reasonable.’”

How on earth searching a U.S. citizen without cause can be deemed “reasonable” is dumbfounding. The trickle down effect of the Patriot Act is horrifying.