Written by Thomas on Friday, August 1, 2008

Homeland Security says Terrorists use gadgets, can take yours away without cause!


JAMM - Homeland Security can take your devices and media! Now I’m not a big political guy, but I am a big gadget freak. Engadget has just reported on a Department of Homeland Security policy that sounds absolutely ridiculous. The government can now confiscate basically any of your digital devices or media at the US border if they even might be a threat to national security. They don’t need to any suspicion of wrongdoing to carry this out either. The information they take from you can also be shared with other government agencies (I guess so that they can easily compile their own music collection :P ).

This policy seems to be different from the Copyright-related one we talked about in May, but the end result is the same for the traveler: you can get your PMPs, PDAs, and laptops searched and confiscated for as long as the government sees fit. The copyright issue was just a “maybe”, but this current policy from Homeland Security is apparently already in effect.

I’m going to keep my final question here un-political: how bloody scary is this?!

Something tells me it may take a little more than jailbreaking to get your iPod once it’s been taken.

via Engadget

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Sue
Aug 1, 2008

That’s bloody scary!


Brandon Steili
Aug 1, 2008

I said it in the email thread we had had going on this … and I’ll say it again. If this EVER happens to me and some TSA guy decides to confiscate my iPhone, iPod, or Macbook, I’ll be missing my flight. One so I can keep an eye on my gear, two so I can find a cop and file theft charges and three so I can immediately contact a lawyer and begin the lawsuit process.

I have no qualms about filing suit against the government and having them charged with theft of personal property. They are more than welcome to inspect my property as I have nothing to hide – but if you try to take what is rightfully mine without just cause and due process well then we have a problem.

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