TSA Can Now Search Through Your Laptop

[mtsupilot376]

I may not be the first person to say it but definitely not the first person to think it...

F@CK THE TSA!

 

[sqwkvfr]

OK, well, this is not a TSA case at all....it's a customs case.

It has to do with what comes into this country, and that's a different matter than just a random search of your laptop whilst going through security in a domestic flight....there is a much lower burden on the state in order to have a reason to conduct a search.

Appeals courts MUST rule in a manner favorable to the lower court's decision......and overturn basically means that the lower court really screwed up.

In this case, you can see that the ultra-liberal 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals actually overturned a lower court ruling that said that this search was illegal.

That means that you can be that it will stand.

 

[sqwkvfr]

I may not be the first person to say it but definitely not the first person to think it...

F@CK THE TSA!

You should probably look at the article a little more closely....this was Customs and Border Patrol, not the TSA.

 

[sqwkvfr]

(and soon the TSA)

Where does it say this?....i can't find it anywhere.

 

[mtsupilot376]

Don't tell me you are actually defending those fascist thugs. Open your eyes we are living in a police state.

Its bad enough we have to be screened in the first place, but confiscations, invasions of privacy, etc. Where do we draw the line? I can't wait till those neanderthal knuckle-draggers lose their jobs and have to go back to the drive through windows where they came from.

As far as I am concerned, each and every one of those so called Toiletry Searching Agents are just as bad as the GoJets drivers out there. They didn't have to take the job in the first place. They didn't mind selling our civil liberties down the river for $13.30/hr and mediocre benefits. So F@ck Em!

 

[sqwkvfr]

Don't tell me you are actually defending those fascist thugs. Open your eyes we are living in a police state.

God, what a bunch of children.

1. The TSA was NOT and WILL NOT be involved in this type of search...this was a CUSTOMS and BORDER PATROL CASE.

2. The TSA agents at the airport didn't tell the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that this was OK.....if you know anything about the maverick nature and liberal makeup of the 9th circuit, you'd understand that NO ONE tells them how to rule.

3. The TSA had nothing to do with this....from everything I've found on this case, it would appear that soverytired just made up the part about the TSA's "soon to be" involvement.

Get it?

 

[av8tor4239]

God, what a bunch of children.

1. The TSA was NOT and WILL NOT be involved in this type of search...this was a CUSTOMS and BORDER PATROL CASE.

2. The TSA agents at the airport didn't tell the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that this was OK.....if you know anything about the maverick nature and liberal makeup of the 9th circuit, you'd understand that NO ONE tells them how to rule.

3. The TSA had nothing to do with this....from everything I've found on this case, it would appear that soverytired just made up the part about the TSA's "soon to be" involvement.

Get it?

What ever...

the tsa is a freaking joke.... please justify to me how taking toothpaste from the pilot that is about to operate the airplane as "captain of the ship" is protecting that same airplane? Please someone explain this to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Soverytired]

Where does it say this?....i can't find it anywhere.

You are correct. The TSA is not mentioned in this article.

Although this was a customs case, customs is part of the same agency as the TSA (that agency being Homeland Security). If you think that the TSA isn't going to allow itself to use this as precedence, then you don't understand how law enforcement agencies work.

I have read several other articles on the web where this is already happening. A couple of passengers have already been given the choice of either entering their private passwords on their laptops so the TSA can search their laptops or not get on the plane.

I don't personally expect to be impacted by this. The TSA can root around to their hearts content. Hell, they can put my spare underwear on their head while reading my e-mail for all I care. I just don't like where this is going.

Scary stuff.

 

[sqwkvfr]

If you think that the TSA isn't going to allow itself to use this as precedence, then you don't understand how law enforcement agencies work.

Yeah, I don't know how they work...I only spent the better part of a decade working for law enforcement agencies (much of that as an instructor on these very issues) and I don't understand how they work.

Let me just clarify for the impaired: This is a BORDER issue...nothing more, nothing less.

 

[sqwkvfr]

What ever...

the tsa is a freaking joke.... please justify to me how taking toothpaste from the pilot that is about to operate the airplane as "captain of the ship" is protecting that same airplane? Please someone explain this to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you understand anything?

I'm not defending the TSA....at all. I'm saying that they're not involved in this type of search and nothing in this decision gives them the authority to do so.

They have absolutely NOTHING to do with this article of this tread.

 

[Abernathy]

Didn't you idiots know that you can hide a gun in your "My Documents" folder..

 

[Soverytired]

Yeah, I don't know how they work...I only spent the better part of a decade working for law enforcement agencies (much of that as an instructor on these very issues) and I don't understand how they work.

Let me just clarify for the impaired: This is a BORDER issue...nothing more, nothing less.

I'll defer to your expertise then. I'm not some "all cops are fascists" nut . . far from it.

Nevertheless . . . it seems a precedence has been set by a federal agency to examine your hard drive in the name of "national security", without a warrant, just because you were in their presence.

Can doing the same with your laptop be far behind when at the airport in the name of "airport security"?

Remember, from this particular case, the border patrol used "national security" as the cause/excuse, but in fact they were looking for evidence of child pornography. While I certainly don't defend THAT, it hardly seems like a "national security" issue. It was an overreach, although the 9th Circuit Court disagrees, so as a matter of law, I'm wrong.

I don't expect the TSA or customs to start seizing laptops willy-nilly. However, the precedence has been set, Americans shrug, and another bit of privacy vanishes in the name of "security."

Death by 1000 cuts?

 

[sqwkvfr]

Can doing the same with your laptop be far behind when at the airport in the name of "airport security"?

I would say "yes."

The government has a much greater interest in what is allowed into this country than what is carried on board an aircraft for a domestic flight.....it's why the burden required for a search in this case is so extremely low....and why the uber-liberal 9th overturned a lower court ruling to allow it. The "scope of the search" is very wide ranging to include issues of customs enforcement....which can include electronic data.

The scope of a search for the TSA on domestic flights is limited to weapons.....and electronic data on a computer is not an immediate threat or considered hazardous to said flight.

It's not gonna happen.

 

[johndt]

It's not gonna happen.

You don't mind if I copy this down for later I hope :-D

 

[Capi_Cafre']

It's not gonna happen.

Tomorrow? Agreed. Never's a stretch. Just in case you haven't noticed, airports are where your civil liberties go to die. If you've worked in law enforcement you know how much shakes out from stuff like running a random set of plates in an idle moment stopped in traffic. If the bar for probable cause has been lowered to the mere presence of nude photos on a computer, watch out. There are quite a few powerful people who see the 4th Amendment as little more than an inconvenience-you're dreaming if you don't think that they have the juice to parlay this decision into giving the TSA the authority to randomly inspect the contents of computers.