01 August 2008

It's looking less and less like the America in our fantasies

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies ... The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion."
So if they find, like, an excessive amount of live performances of Leyla Gencer (shit, was she Muslim?) or some *ahem* recent in-house recordings from the Met, is it consitutional for the government to delete all my files and then do a full cavity search? Will it be within my rights to ask for a cute border agent to do it, or at least for someone who's height-weight proportional and around my age or below? Or should I just expect to be pitied or laughed at for being queer about such stupid things, because we are at War, people, and we must protect America at any and all cost? These are my questions today.