[RYCeT]

Hi guys, I frequented flyertalk.com and participating in this thread Customs search my laptop for child ****.

OP posted
Quote:

I was flying back from Thailand through KLAX. On my customs card I put down some clothes, some small gifts, for food I had some chili/curry sauces and tea for a total of about $350. I get pulled off to the side. One customs agent asks if they can look at my laptop. I pull it out and he hits the power on button. I then type my password to log in. I then got busy with another agent who was searching my a 22" rollerboard and a 26" rollerboard plus my laptop bag. I looked up and the other agent had done a search on my harddrive for *.jpg and had them viewed as thumbnails. He was scrolling through the images. I had nothing to hide so I let him continue. After going through my bags just making sure my list of items was consistent with what I had down the agent let me pack up my stuff and also asking what I did for a living, etc. The other agent with my computer continued for another 5 minutes looking at the images at which point I think he got about half way through the images and gave me back my computer. I asked the 3 agents in total what had triggered the search so I can avoid it in the future. Their response was "What does Thailand have a lot of?" I replied, "Thai food, hagglers, heat, humidity, go go bars, beaches and more hagglers." They replied, "We're looking specifically for people carrying child ****." They were reasonably friendly and I was chatting to them about my (first time) experience there. They also said a lot of being picked is luck fo the draw but apparently they do catch a lot of people. Total time was about 25 minutes. No major harm as I had to wait for a connection. I know they can search my bags, can they search my computer? They never explicitly asked if they can search my computer. I'm more afraid of them doing something to screw up my laptop. One funny note is that they liked my luggage locks....zip ties. I said that I have never had TSA open a bag. They replied, "They don't carry knives so they get confused really easily....really easily." hehehe.

My opinion
Quote:

It's pretty disturbing, don't you think? I've no tolerance for child **** but I hate a stranger looks at my personal photo just because I went to Thailand. I will feel very violated.

I know there are several head-fiers here who study & practice law. I'm interested how their opinion in this case. Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves or are we pretty much screwed in this case?

 

[ken36]

It's a privilege, not a burden. IMO.

 

[Samgotit]

Massive invasion of privacy, IMO.

 

[mrdeadfolx]

If thats truly all theyre searching for, more power to them.

 

[Edwood]

Nope, you can most definitely refuse. But they'll probably confiscate it if they feel like it.

-Ed

 

[goldenratiophi]

I'm surprised that guy didn't care and didn't ask what they were looking for BEFORE he started searching the computer! Well anyway I guess next time I'm smuggling child **** I should change the extention from .jpg to something else... maybe just put it in a zip or something.

But, uh, since when is Thailand the only country with child ****?

PS: no, I don't smuggle child ****.

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samgotit /img/forum/go_quote.gif Massive invasion of privacy, IMO.

The heck? It's a laptop. Who the hell cares. None of us have anything to hide anyway. If that's the worst problem we have in America (and it isn't), we're pretty freaking well off. To describe this as a "massive" invasion of privacy is simply ridiculous.

 

[003]

Uh dude what if you've got private pictures on there ? i won't go into detail

 

[AlanY]

Customs has the right to search any item you're bringing into the country, just as they have the right to search your vehicle if you're driving it in from Mexico. They don't need probable cause.

It wasn't because your friend was coming from Thailand, by the way. That might have been part of the motivation, but they do this periodically. Canada is worse for this type of laptop search, btw. They're really overzealous about the child ****, as evidenced by the never-ending "Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium" series of court cases.

 

[biged]

Big deal. When you are in another country you are under their laws, not yours.

As someone who helped send a sick person to prison a long time ago I respect them conducting searches like that.

Ed

 

[no1likesme]

Security is ridiculous.

P.S. Why the hell does head-fi censor the word p o r n?

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by no1likesme /img/forum/go_quote.gif Security is ridiculous. P.S. Why the hell does head-fi censor the word p o r n?

This is supposed to be a family-friendly forum (unlike a lot of the forums out there on the internet). I personally prefer the freedom of those other forums, but I don't really mind the restrictions on Head-Fi.

 

[no1likesme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is supposed to be a family-friendly forum (unlike a lot of the forums out there on the internet). I personally prefer the freedom of those other forums, but I don't really mind the restrictions on Head-Fi.

I wasn't really complaining about it I had just never noticed it before.

 

[RYCeT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The heck? It's a laptop. Who the hell cares. None of us have anything to hide anyway. If that's the worst problem we have in America (and it isn't), we're pretty freaking well off. To describe this as a "massive" invasion of privacy is simply ridiculous.

I don't know about you but I pretty sure everyone who has a laptop, use it personally and not sharing it with other people. As such, IMHO laptop is like a personal diary. I don't even allow friends/families to have free access to my hard drive so the idea of allowing a stranger to look at my stuff is disturbing to me. Do you like a stranger read your email and browsing your personal photo?
Even police have to have a probable cause before they stop & search someone so why is it any different.
If they want to justify this kind of search, they should release the data on how many people they search and how many are actually a pedophile? I bet you it's not even close to 5%, does it worth the invasion of privacy? I don't think so. I'm not supporting a pedophile, but I hate my privacy to be violated.

 

[braillediver]

"but I hate my privacy to be violated."

Maybe if you make a big enough issue about it they'll do a body cavity search?

It's Customs- I can't imagine why they wouldn't be able to search you or your pocessions for anything illegal.

If you feel that strongly about it- Refuse. It's a free country after all.


Mitch