Nothing private about a laptop at the border – customs can search
Beware of what you carry in your laptop during your next visit to Bushland , for the US Customs can search your laptop.
Michael Timothy Arnold, a 44-year-old teacher arrived July 17, 2005 , at the LAX customs counter after a three-week trip in the Philippines and the US Customs and Border Patrol officers turned on his laptop, clicked on a file and found a photo of two nude women. Arnold was detained and his computer and other equipment were searched. Numerous images of alleged child pornography were found. Arnold was later charged with possessing and transporting child pornography, and faces up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted.
But a lower Court had ruled that the evidence found on the laptop was inadmissible. The Customs appealed and the Appellate Court upheld the authority of customs officials to control what enters the United States .
Now people entering USA with laptops must realise that their laptops are no more private and confidential and your data is subject to scrutiny by US Customs! Obviously what the US Customs is interested in is not paedophilia, but a dreaded terrorist lurking somewhere to blow up some US buildings with boring regularity! A terrified Democracy at it its electronic best !
If you, like me, have the bad habit of lending your laptop to friends, don't carry that laptop to US – they may not be able to get Laden but this stupid laptop can land you in prison.