http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2014/01/01/judge-reaffirms-constitution-free-zones-100-miles-inside-u-s-borders/

 

I am really not liking living in the USA anymore...  Love my country but hate and fear my govt...

 

This is insane...

  Judge Reaffirms Constitution Free Zones 100 Miles Inside U.S. Borders

0 175

This nonsense makes my blood boil.

District Judge Edward Korman, a US federal judge, has reaffirmed an Obama administration policy granting officials the authority to search Americans’ laptops, citing a controversial premise that makes citizens within 100 miles of the border eligible for a police check.

 

 

District Judge Edward Korman made his ruling in New York on Tuesday, more than three years after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit. The ACLU claimed that – since Americans put so much of their lives on their computers, cell phones, and other devices – border officials should have reasonable suspicion before sifting through someone’s personal files.

Attorneys argued that searches conducted without reasonable suspicion are a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

Not so, according to Judge Korman. In his decision Tuesday he argued that the area 100 miles inland falls under a “border exemption.”

“Laptops have only come into widespread use in the twenty-first century. Prior to that time, lawyers, photographers, and scholars managed to travel overseas and consult with clients, take photographs, and conduct scholarly research,” wrote Korman.

“No one ever suggested the possibility of a border search had a chilling effect on his or her First Amendment rights. While it is true that laptops make overseas work more convenient, the precaution plaintiffs may choose to take to ‘mitigate’ the alleged harm associated with the remote possibility of a border search are simply among the many inconveniences associated with international travel.”

The federal government has long conducted searches on travelers entering and leaving the US, but Congress expanded that policy by creating the Department of Homeland Security and setting up at least 33 checkpoints inside the country where people are stopped and asked to prove their citizenship.

The trouble is, the ACLU noted, that almost two-thirds of the population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US border. New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, and dozens of other major metropolitan areas fall under the so-called “exemption” zone.

The civil-liberties advocacy group filed suit in 2010 on behalf of Pascal Abidor, a 29-year-old Islamic Studies student whose laptop computer was held for 11 days when he was traveling by Amtrak rail from Canada to his parents’ home in New York.

Abidor was sitting in the train’s cafe car when an officer forced him to take out his laptop then “ordered Mr. Abidor to enter his password,” the suit claimed. The computer contained images of Hamas and Hezbollah rallies and the agents, unmoved by Abidor’s assertion the images were related to his studies, handcuffed the young man and kept him detained for three hours, questioning him numerous times.

Department of Homeland Security data indicates that 6,500 people had their devices search between 2008 and 2010 alone.

Here’s what the ACLU attorney, Catherine Crump, had to say about this controversial ruling

“

We’re disappointed in today’s decision, which allows the government to conduct intrusive searches of Americans’ laptops and other electronics at the border without any suspicion that those devices contain evidence of wrongdoing

,” she said.

“

Suspicionless searches of devices containing vast amounts of personal information cannot meet the standard set by the Fourth Amendment… Unfortunately, these searches are part of a broader pattern of aggressive government surveillance that collects information on too many innocent people, under lax standards, and without adequate oversight.

”

 

Nothing new here, other than what's been going on has been upheld in the above-referenced case.  We've known this for years and there's been discussion here, and on many forums, about the common sense measures we can take regarding the media we bring back into the country.

 

There's an on going discussion here on Pattaya-Addicts below:

 

Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices

http://www.pattaya-addicts.com/forum/topic/164382-defending-privacy-at-the-us-border-a-guide-for-travelers-carrying-digital-devices/

 

I'd recommend reading the PDF from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Edited January 2, 201412 yr by ruay

Starts with 100 miles, then 200, 500... then everywhere.

As alluded to above by ruay, it includes every inland port of entry as well.

I am certain this will get taken up to Supreme Court for decision.

Storing unencrypted sensitive data on a personal device is asking for trouble, whether returning to or living in the US. 

 

I was in an IT meeting where an incident was related of a laptop stolen within 90 seconds of being left unattended in a car in an American city. Seems an incredibly short time. A laptop with unencrypted patient data was stolen in 2013 in the same city. The person assigned that laptop is personally at risk of huge fines and a prison sentence. Just the cost to notify patients that their data was compromised can be up to $1 million USD. 

 

If the data was downloaded to the device over the internet, the "powers that be" may know about it already.  

 

There's a cartoon where someone is asking "Where did I leave my ...?".  A popup on the computer screen from an unspecified government agency replies "It's on the dresser".  ;)

Edited January 2, 201412 yr by CyberPro

America "Land of the Free"

I am certain this will get taken up to Supreme Court for decision.

 

I hope so.  And I hope they ban it.

I don't keep anything I could get in trouble for on my laptop, but I resent the hell out of the govt having the supposed right to pry into my stuff...  

Here's another article on this from Wired magazine...

 

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/12/gadget-border-searches-2/

 

More than ever I am committed to becoming an expat as soon as possible...

 

grrrrrr.

Is this 100m zone related just to checks on electrical devices or any kind of search I.e. searching of premises, body tc without reasonable suspicion

Is this 100m zone related just to checks on electrical devices or any kind of search I.e. searching of premises, body tc without reasonable suspicion

 

I would assume the latter, but haven't dug into the specifics...

 

all I know is this country is turning into some kind of Orwellian nightmare...

I would assume the latter, but haven't dug into the specifics...

 

all I know is this country is turning into some kind of Orwellian nightmare...

If it is the latter, that's fecked

 

What next, arrest and detainment without suspicion

If it is the latter, that's fecked

 

What next, arrest and detainment without suspicion

 

Hey, you look funny.  Time for mister waterboard for you 

 

(trying to add levity to a fucked up subject).

If it is the latter, that's fecked

 

What next, arrest and detainment without suspicion

actually yes, there was a law passed just before christmas with language in it about arrest and indefinite  detainment without charges...

 

again, I am not aware of the details but Obama is gonna sign it if he hasn't yet... this country has definitely gone a bit whacko.

As much as I hate to say it, but the longer I am living outside of the US (going on 5 years now) the less interested I am in moving back. Right now my plans are to move straight to Pattaya once I am done here, but I still have some issues to wrap up "back home" as it were.

don't blame ya... I love my country, but I am pretty fed up with things here too...  

We don't need no stinkin constitution.

for a country that claims to love it's constitution and it's freedom, i find it so funny that American troops can travel all over the world apparently fighting for freedom and do nothing on their home soil as the government uses the bill of rights as toilet paper, it wont be long until anyone who criticizes the government will be rounded up and put in the femma concentration camps, labeled as terrorist, enemy of the state.

 

I have wondered for many years just how much shit the american public will eat before they rise up and do something. 

 

Thomas Jefferson said - 

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”

We are gently being steered into the Orwellian nightmare, they will supply us with every form of distraction possible as they plan our enslavement and destruction, we are sheep and the only thing we will do about it is complain, they have won already.

 

please, I am not a troll looking to upset people, the writing is on the wall, ask yourself - where is it all heading too? it's by design, not by accident, your country has be usurped by very smart and wealthy forces, and your puppet leaders do their bidding and have sold you and your founding fathers out.

for a country that claims to love it's constitution and it's freedom, i find it so funny that American troops can travel all over the world apparently fighting for freedom and do nothing on their home soil as the government uses the bill of rights as toilet paper, it wont be long until anyone who criticizes the government will be rounded up and put in the femma concentration camps, labeled as terrorist, enemy of the state.

 

I have wondered for many years just how much shit the american public will eat before they rise up and do something. 

 

Thomas Jefferson said - 

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”

We are gently being steered into the Orwellian nightmare, they will supply us with every form of distraction possible as they plan our enslavement and destruction, we are sheep and the only thing we will do about it is complain, they have won already.

 

please, I am not a troll looking to upset people, the writing is on the wall, ask yourself - where is it all heading too? it's by design, not by accident, your country has be usurped by very smart and wealthy forces, and your puppet leaders do their bidding and have sold you and your founding fathers out.

starting to think you're POV is the most accurate one...  

yep thats why they want your guns - last line of resistance

for a country that claims to love it's constitution and it's freedom, i find it so funny that American troops can travel all over the world apparently fighting for freedom and do nothing on their home soil as the government uses the bill of rights as toilet paper, it wont be long until anyone who criticizes the government will be rounded up and put in the femma concentration camps, labeled as terrorist, enemy of the state.

 

I have wondered for many years just how much shit the american public will eat before they rise up and do something. 

 

Thomas Jefferson said - 

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”

We are gently being steered into the Orwellian nightmare, they will supply us with every form of distraction possible as they plan our enslavement and destruction, we are sheep and the only thing we will do about it is complain, they have won already.

 

please, I am not a troll looking to upset people, the writing is on the wall, ask yourself - where is it all heading too? it's by design, not by accident, your country has be usurped by very smart and wealthy forces, and your puppet leaders do their bidding and have sold you and your founding fathers out.

This is what we call "Obama's America".  He and the progressive left are all about control, with the excuse it's for the common good.

This is what we call "Obama's America".  He and the progressive left are all about control, with the excuse it's for the common good.

 

No... this is you calling this "Obama's America", please don't lump the rest of America in your brainwashed view of reality.

 

Perhaps you've forgotten (or just don't care) that all this started in the mid-20th Century, with the fear of the spread of communism.  The American 'police' state has slowly expanded under every President since.  It was kicked up a notch with the Patriot Act (Cheney says "Thanks 9/11!"), which was extended and expanded even further by Obama.  So, to say that this is all Obama, is an extremely ignorant statement.

 

Ever heard of divide and conquer?  Well, we are witnessing it first hand.  As long as you, and people who think like you, continue to willingly swallow the BS pumped out by corporate media without question, that there's a 'right' and a 'left' in America, everyday we edge closer to totalitarianism.  Meanwhile, the architects of the police state continue to slowly negate more liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, under the guise of protecting our 'freedom'.  There are no longer checks and balances. Elected officials no longer represent the common citizens who elect them.  America is no longer a Republic, unless you count corporations as citizens.  We are the United States of Corporations now and its citizens are slaves of the corporations.  The American Democratic experiment is failing because of apathy.

 

My point is:  it doesn't matter who the President is, because they're all playing for the same team and it ain't 'Team America'.  Unless the American public turns off the TV and unite as Americans, we deserve everything that is happening to us.

No... this is you calling this "Obama's America", please don't lump the rest of America in your brainwashed view of reality.

 

Perhaps you've forgotten (or just don't care) that all this started in the mid-20th Century, with the fear of the spread of communism.  The American 'police' state has slowly expanded under every President since.  It was kicked up a notch with the Patriot Act (Cheney says "Thanks 9/11!"), which was extended and expanded even further by Obama.  So, to say that this is all Obama, is an extremely ignorant statement.

 

To Paddy Od:

 

Here are "police state" action PRIOR Obama years:

 

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/07/aclu-challenges/

 

https://www.aclu.org/national-security/secret-bush-administration-torture-memo-released-today-response-aclu-lawsuit

 

 

Here's a list of major legislation signed by Clinton (1993 - 2000)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Bill_Clinton#Major_legislation_signed

 

Here's a list of major legislation signed by Bush (2001 - 2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush

 

 

That should cover 1993 to 2009 (16 years in the making). And then compare that with last 4 years.

 

 

Just as a reference, here's a list of all ACLU law suit by the year:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_court_cases_involving_the_American_Civil_Liberties_Union

 

I think you'll see there are lots more cases brought up during the Bush presidency against the government.

Edited January 4, 201412 yr by casinoclub

Excuse my ignorance but are these powers part of the Patriot Act?

 

"patriot", really clever marketing btw

Edited January 4, 201412 yr by tl6237