DHS is now going so far as to claim that it has the prerogative to hold any electronic device that is brought into the United States for as long as it claims it needs it. While the odds that this will affect the average flier are minimal, that's no assurance to anyone who values their property as these sort of total discretionary powers tend to get badly abused by people of dubious or no morals, as is the case in St. Louis with their program for seizing cars. As someone who owns an expensive laptop, a MacBook Pro, it does give me concern because all it takes is for some agent to take a shining to my laptop and suddenly it needs to be examined for criminal activity--probably at their home off hours (you know, to save tax dollars).
There is no justification for this policy. Even the warrantless wiretapping fiasco, where agents claim they need to tap conversations and warrants take too long to get beforehand seems reasonable by comparison. This is, after all, international travel, and the average international flight gives federal agents more than enough time to go to a court and get an arrest warrant for someone they suspect of terrorist activities.
The only reasonably guaranteed way of getting around this issue altogether, if you are a foreign traveler (though this policy applies to American citizens as well) is to ship your devices to the United States via Fedex or UPS. However, if this sort of policy madness continues, it is far more likely that businesses will be inclined to just avoid coming to our country to business in the first place. Sure, it'll no doubt stop a few terrorists, but it will undermine our economy which is to say, our own federal agents will be doing the terrorists' job for them.
This will probably be a boon for the makers of tiny laptops like Asus. It's not too hard to imagine the Eee PC, and others like it, becoming a global standard for "disposable laptops" that no one cares about if they get seized by a customs agent.
There is no justification for this policy. Even the warrantless wiretapping fiasco, where agents claim they need to tap conversations and warrants take too long to get beforehand seems reasonable by comparison. This is, after all, international travel, and the average international flight gives federal agents more than enough time to go to a court and get an arrest warrant for someone they suspect of terrorist activities.
The only reasonably guaranteed way of getting around this issue altogether, if you are a foreign traveler (though this policy applies to American citizens as well) is to ship your devices to the United States via Fedex or UPS. However, if this sort of policy madness continues, it is far more likely that businesses will be inclined to just avoid coming to our country to business in the first place. Sure, it'll no doubt stop a few terrorists, but it will undermine our economy which is to say, our own federal agents will be doing the terrorists' job for them.
This will probably be a boon for the makers of tiny laptops like Asus. It's not too hard to imagine the Eee PC, and others like it, becoming a global standard for "disposable laptops" that no one cares about if they get seized by a customs agent.
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