Goddamnit Government Part 2
The Federal Government has started randomly seizing laptops, hard drives, and memory cards in airports.
Seriously, America? Has it come to this? The government can now legally (ha!) take your laptop, your data storage devices, and any related paraphenalia, access it, COPY IT, and give it back when it feels like it. If you look at the examples provided in the article, they're interested in finding, among other things, "intellectual property offenses." That utter bullshit quote comes from the Department of Homeland Security. I had no idea that mp3s suddenly fall under the apparently vast umbrella of national security.
What the hell happened to our country? People are subjected to warrentless searches of their hard drives at our borders now? The DHS is now authorized to copy ALL of your personal data, keep it on file, and not even tell you whether they kept it or not?! Hope you haven't been using your computer for personal correspondence, financial data, or business documents, 'cause if the government wants it, they can get it now whenever they please. I am by no means a radical, as far as politics goes, but this sets off all KINDS of warning sirens. As for the people who proclaim "well, if you don't have anything to hide, then there's nothing to worry about," you're COMPLETELY missing the point of American freedom, which is apparently dying out.
There is a solution. If you are flying into or out of the country with a laptop that has anything other than a clean install of Windows on it, download Truecrypt. It is not as complicated as it looks. I will help you set up your encryption if you want me to. Use a cascade cipher, and compartmentalize your data for plausible deniability, that is, if they seize your laptop, give them the system password, and they'll have system access but not realize there's any data on there they're missing. Truecrypt is secure.
I swear to god, this kind of thing pisses me off beyond all measure. Under the guise of "protecting us from the terrorists" the government is now essentially using their massive DHS budget to fellate the RIAA. I used to laugh at all the people who said the government was getting out of control infringing on civil liberties, thinking it would never get to the point of them harassing normal citizens over non-terror-related issues such as music piracy. I was totally wrong.
Seriously, America? Has it come to this? The government can now legally (ha!) take your laptop, your data storage devices, and any related paraphenalia, access it, COPY IT, and give it back when it feels like it. If you look at the examples provided in the article, they're interested in finding, among other things, "intellectual property offenses." That utter bullshit quote comes from the Department of Homeland Security. I had no idea that mp3s suddenly fall under the apparently vast umbrella of national security.
What the hell happened to our country? People are subjected to warrentless searches of their hard drives at our borders now? The DHS is now authorized to copy ALL of your personal data, keep it on file, and not even tell you whether they kept it or not?! Hope you haven't been using your computer for personal correspondence, financial data, or business documents, 'cause if the government wants it, they can get it now whenever they please. I am by no means a radical, as far as politics goes, but this sets off all KINDS of warning sirens. As for the people who proclaim "well, if you don't have anything to hide, then there's nothing to worry about," you're COMPLETELY missing the point of American freedom, which is apparently dying out.
There is a solution. If you are flying into or out of the country with a laptop that has anything other than a clean install of Windows on it, download Truecrypt. It is not as complicated as it looks. I will help you set up your encryption if you want me to. Use a cascade cipher, and compartmentalize your data for plausible deniability, that is, if they seize your laptop, give them the system password, and they'll have system access but not realize there's any data on there they're missing. Truecrypt is secure.
I swear to god, this kind of thing pisses me off beyond all measure. Under the guise of "protecting us from the terrorists" the government is now essentially using their massive DHS budget to fellate the RIAA. I used to laugh at all the people who said the government was getting out of control infringing on civil liberties, thinking it would never get to the point of them harassing normal citizens over non-terror-related issues such as music piracy. I was totally wrong.