Guest Column: On TSA Laptop Searches

That and you can be charged for not handing over your encryption keys.

Encrypting your stuff in such a way that the authorities can not recover it is a seperate crime.

Pay attention to the ACTA treaty leaks. This is EXACTLY what they are doing and they want other countries to do the same. They want full access to your info and they want to go after you if they so much as THINK it MIGHT be illegal. You get no recourse. Don't go simply on a gut feeling, do some research.

The problem with quoting the Declaration of Independence is that it's not a leagally binding document.  It was written 12 years before the USA was the USA.

Also, the ammendments use the term "the People" (no real reason why capitals are used so often at the start of words in the constitution, it was just a style used at the time.  Much the same way Nouns in German have their first letter capitalized.) as short for "the People of the United States."  So while there is no explicit distinction between citizen and non-citizen written out, it's clear that the written documents of the US and the rights of its people can be interpreted to be only for its people.

It's something I don't agree with in practice, but the SCotUS has ruled on it in that fashion.  Check my link from the first post, and it will show in a few rulings that non-citizens don't have the same protection under the 4th as citizens.  Doesn't mean that it's set in stone (the constitution is meant to be open for interpretation and elbow room), but that's just the current definintion used right now based on precedent.

*shrug* I have more reason to fear drivers on cell phones then terrorists.

Phobia is an irrational fear.  The US is gripped in a fear far disproportional to the actual danger presented.

So you're okay with any potentially sensitive data being turned over to "unknown 3rd parties?"  So you're okay with what officially amounts to a lack of due process and an illegal search and seizure?  Do files stored on a laptop computer or a portable data device constitute an immediate threat to the safety of the flight and those on board?

While it's one thing to be vigilant to prevent terrorism, we have given up too much under the guise of protecting ourselves.

I can't wait for a terrorist to try smuggling a bomb aboard in his rectum.  Will you approve of the full cavity searches that get implemented as yet another overreaction?