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Harrolds.Blogspot.com
Related (see below): Declaration of Independence & The Constitution
And, don't forget inland check points and border crossing ports of entry where courtesy has taken a back seat to 'Big Brother' coercion.
"..recently, the TSA expressed interest in having every traveler wear an "electro-muscular disruption" bracelet.." !
No Liquids, No Shoes, No Privacy at the Airport
Americans have become accustomed to giving up a little privacy -- and a lot of convenience -- at the border in the name of national security. But when Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) releases a policy, as they did in July 2008, which permits officials to subject travelers to suspicionless searches of their laptops, Blackberries, and other electronic devices, the line between routine and unconstitutional clearly was crossed.
In order to learn more about this alarming policy, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this week with CBP to uncover how these suspicionless searches are threatening the constitutional rights of international travelers.
"Based on current CBP policy, we have reason to believe innumerable international travelers — including U.S. citizens — have their most personal information searched by government officials and retained by the government indefinitely," said Larry Schwartztol, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "The disclosure of these records is necessary to better understand the extent to which U.S. border and customs officials may be violating the Constitution."
Suspicionless searches of laptops and other storage devices raise grave constitutional concerns. The sheer quantity of data contained on a laptop or on personal electronic devices means that these searches invade travelers' most intimate personal documents — not to mention sensitive business information routinely transported by executives and lawyers. Furthermore, by exposing all this information to government review, the policy may deter some travelers from maintaining documents that reflect unpopular or dissenting views, thus chilling the exercise of core First Amendment activities. And allowing suspicionless searches gives border agents unfettered power, which may easily be wielded in a way that discriminates on the basis of national origin or religion.
In order to learn more about this alarming policy, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this week with CBP to uncover how these suspicionless searches are threatening the constitutional rights of international travelers.
"Based on current CBP policy, we have reason to believe innumerable international travelers — including U.S. citizens — have their most personal information searched by government officials and retained by the government indefinitely," said Larry Schwartztol, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "The disclosure of these records is necessary to better understand the extent to which U.S. border and customs officials may be violating the Constitution."
Suspicionless searches of laptops and other storage devices raise grave constitutional concerns. The sheer quantity of data contained on a laptop or on personal electronic devices means that these searches invade travelers' most intimate personal documents — not to mention sensitive business information routinely transported by executives and lawyers. Furthermore, by exposing all this information to government review, the policy may deter some travelers from maintaining documents that reflect unpopular or dissenting views, thus chilling the exercise of core First Amendment activities. And allowing suspicionless searches gives border agents unfettered power, which may easily be wielded in a way that discriminates on the basis of national origin or religion.
It's time for some sanity when it comes to security.
Planning a vacation? Thinking about traveling outside the country?
If you travel outside the United States, you can kiss your right to privacy, and perhaps your laptop, digital camera and cell phone, goodbye.
With no suspicion and no explanation, the U.S. government can seize your laptop, cell phone, or PDA as you enter the United States and download all your private information -- including your personal and business documents, emails, phone calls, and web history.
And what happens if you refuse to let the agents download your personal photos? Or if you have encrypted your private information? Then Border Patrol -- which is now an agency of the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] -- can simply copy your entire hard drive or even take your device and hang on to it indefinitely.
Unfortunately, seizing laptops and cameras at the border isn't the only travel security measure that infringes on our civil liberties.
Just last month, the U.S. government's "terrorist watch list" surpassed 1,000,000 names and is growing by over 20,000 names per month. The watch list includes the names of prominent people, like Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), plus hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans many of them with common names like Robert Johnson and James Robinson. Your name might be on the list. But there's no way to know for sure until you are delayed or even detained for hours in a back room. If you discover your name is on the list, it's nearly impossible to get off. It actually took an Act of Congress to get Nelson Mandela off the list. No joke. An Act of Congress.
These abuses have something in common: They make all of us into suspects, with no rule of law and no accountability.
It's hard to know what surveillance-state bureaucrats will come up with next. For instance, many airports are using scanners that are so invasive that they are like a virtual strip search! See-through body scanning machines are capable of showing an image of a passenger's naked body -- an example can be seen on the right. Security measures like this are extremely intrusive -- and should only be used when there is good cause to suspect that an individual is a security risk.
And recently, the TSA expressed interest in having every traveler wear an "electro-muscular disruption" bracelet that airline personnel or marshals could use to shock passengers into submission. Unless something is done, this plan may not be as far-fetched as one would think.
Traveling shouldn't mean checking your rights when you're checking your luggage. It's time for some sanity when it comes to security. Please, speak out now.
Declaration of Independence, excerpt:
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
Constitution, excerpts:
Article II Audio Media File
Section 1. Audio Media File
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
Section 4. Audio Media File
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Section 1. Audio Media File
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
Section 4. Audio Media File
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Amendment I 1791 Audio Media File
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II 1791 Audio Media File
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II 1791 Audio Media File
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment IV 1791 Audio Media File
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment X 1791 Audio Media File
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Amendment XIV 1868 Audio Media File
Section 1. Audio Media File
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
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