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Originally Posted by thrawn_aj
I can't help it if you only read every 10th word and conclude "rampant paranoia". I explained exactly how this could be abused and how easy it would be.
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Don't bother.
Customs agents are not going to give the slightest damn about a bunch of pirated ebooks. They probably wouldn't know one if it jumped out of your device and bit them on the nose.
Copyright lawsuits are civil proceedings. If you get sued for some reason for alleged piracy, they're just going to subpoena the contents of your hard drive anyway.
It is ridiculous to imagine that Customs is going to index the entire contents of your hard drive, unless they find something genuinely actionable on it. They do not have the time or resources to gather data for use in civil lawsuits.
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Originally Posted by thrawn_aj
Why wouldn't customs agencies, especially upon failing to find something criminally incriminating after spending all those man-hours playing Nancy Drew, not sell that ill-gotten information to those who might be able to make a civil case out of it?
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Egads.
- Governments don't sell evidence.
- It's far too expensive for them to gather, store and transmit such data, let alone run a search for what is legit and what is not, to make this idea anything other than utterly laughable.
- Customs agents don't decide to nail someone because they spent time interviewing them. They're trying to nail drug mules, counterfeiters and the exceedingly rare child pornography carrier.
Again, there are legitimate concerns about Customs searches. This is not one of them; this will never be one of them.
What next? Is the NYPD going to search your smartphone for illegitimate copies of "Angry Birds" on their next round of stop & frisks?
I recommend that instead of floating such irrationally paranoid fantasies, you focus on the actual and legitimate privacy concerns involved in border searches.