RIAA == DHS?

[pioneer_167]

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/chertoff.html
(http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/chertoff.html)

So it seems now that the DHS has taken a page from the RIAA handbook. Rather than go after the real criminals the DHS has decided to bully innocent people and small time crooks with it's laptop search/seizure policy. It seems that if you're an american citizen carrying a laptop with encrypted data over the border and the border patrol deems you suspicious, they can legally search your laptop and have you decrypt any encrypted data. Their rationale is that an encrypted (locked) laptop is no different from a locked briefcase. Really?

No criminal...scratch that...no PERSON in their right mind transporting sensitive data across international borders would store it on a laptop hard drive. For dozens of reasons. Besides, isn't it a hell of a lot safer and easier to store the files on a server or even email them to yourself? This DHS policy will at best catch very few real criminals all the while inconveniencing and bullying innocent citizens.

This is no different than the RIAA filing pirating lawsuits against grandmothers when they should really be going after large pirate rings in places like China or eastern Europe. But I guess it's easier to use their lawyers to bludgeon mostly helpless people with outrageous fines than go after large well organized pirates in other countries. (That would be too expensive)

Thoughts?

[mgb]

I think when Rudy Giuliani became the Mayor of New York he took a hard line and made sure everything from jaywalking to mob crimes were prosecuted and it seemed to go a long way to cleaning up New York City.

I'm not saying it's right, or that it affects me, but maybe that's the idea behind this sort of thing.

[Incurian]

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

[pioneer_167]

I think when Rudy Giuliani became the Mayor of New York he took a hard line and made sure everything from jaywalking to mob crimes were prosecuted and it seemed to go a long way to cleaning up New York City.


But that is just a matter of consistency and making sure that no crime, no matter how small fell through the cracks. I'm talking about unnecessary bullying with laws and policies that make no sense because they don't accomplish their intended goal.

[stopharian]

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

Bend over

[Incurian]

Opening up my laptop isn't invasive.

[pioneer_167]

Opening up my laptop isn't invasive.

But where are you going to draw the line? Is going through your email invasive? How about your google search records?

[Incurian]

If I'm never going to see the person again then I don't care.

[pioneer_167]

But who knows what they'll do with the data they confiscate. This is a federal operation we're talking about here and god only knows I barely trust them to handle my mail.

[mgb]

Opening up my laptop isn't invasive.

Someone going through all of the data is.


And what's with your signature?

[Incurian]

But who knows what they'll do with the data they confiscate. This is a federal operation we're talking about here and god only knows I barely trust them to handle my mail.

What are you afraid they're going to do with it?


And what's with your signature?

It's a misheard lyric to a song that I liked better than the actual lyrics.
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/the-pretenders/middle-of-the-road.html

[pioneer_167]

What are you afraid they're going to do with it?

Keep it on file, give it to some ad agency, create a profile about me. Say I had some important health information and they give it to an insurance company. Or what if I had company secrets about a manufacturing process on it? The list is endless. Data is as much a personal possession as is my watch, car, clothes or wallet. And the feds have no right to confiscate any of my personal possessions.

[Incurian]

I suppose it would have to be carefully regulated. I do agree, however, that it probably won't be a useful search because people know better than to take illegal data through checkpoints on a laptop.

[airjaw]

I think when Rudy Giuliani became the Mayor of New York he took a hard line and made sure everything from jaywalking to mob crimes were prosecuted and it seemed to go a long way to cleaning up New York City.

I'm not saying it's right, or that it affects me, but maybe that's the idea behind this sort of thing.

Key word, seemed. Crime was actually on a downward trend when Rudy took office. Whether his policies were the cause of that is up for debate. It's a complex matter. Him taking credit for it is simple though - simply him being the worm that he is.