Quote:
Originally Posted by silencer
I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but there is a very easy solution to this.
If you have a laptop, notebooks, digital info, papers, anything you want kept private (or not arbitrarily seized for no reason), you simply have to slide it into an envelope addressed to you, with enough international postage - and SEAL it.
Customs has not been given the right to open private mail (unless on your person) without a search warrant.
*I had to clarify, I assumed people understood that you have to actually mail it to your destination*
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Thank goodness he "clarified" it ... because this would have been a completely crackpot scheme otherwise.
In the United States mail does not become "mail" unless it is out of your custody and control and in the custody and control of the United States Postal Service. Otherwise, all it is is an envelope or package with stamps on it. If it is in your possession at the United States border, it is subject to search.
With regard to the Fourth Amendment, the primary point there is whether or not the individual has "a reasonable expectation of privacy." In order to search somewhere where an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy, the police must obtain a warrant.
However, there are serious limitations on the expectation of privacy at an international border. Most people realize that their luggage, purse, briefcase, and any other materials with them will be searched, so they do not have any expectation of privacy with regard to those items. However, move those same items to your hotel room (where you DO have an expectation of privacy), and the police would have to obtain a warrant to search them (even if the manager of the hotel game them permission to search the room .. they would still need a warrant to search your possessions).
What the Customs people are doing, in setting this policy, is to inform those travelling with digital media that they
do not have any expectation of privacy in those items at the border. Customs agents MAY search those items. I've been through Customs in this country several times ... more than several actually ... sometimes they search my stuff ... sometimes they don't. They are not extensive searches ... they usually reserve those for people who "fit the profile" of someone who might be smuggling illegal goods into the country. Really special searches (generally the person is detained pending the issue of a warrant) are reserved for those people at which the drug dogs smile. They really (really) don't give a solitary hoot where you got your copy of "War and Peace" or whether you stripped the DRM off it. They have bigger fish to fry.
So, if you are really paranoid about it, by all means, mail your ebook reader to yourself at your destination. You will be spending a lot of money for no particular reason (especially if you want to insure it and have some way to track it should it become lost in transit), and you won't have it to read while you are on the plane. Things to keep in mind.
Now, just because silencer brought up the topic of cameras ... to any of you planning trips to the United States, please be aware that cameras are prohibited on many State and Federal properties. It doesn't matter whether you plan to use it or not ...
the camera itself is prohibited. Generally, the police (or sheriff) will warn you and allow you to take the camera back to your car, hotel room, office, home ... or where ever you want to put it that is not on your person while you are on the property. They do not generally have lockers and will not generally keep it for you while you go on about your business. If you give them grief, they will take your camera and you will NOT get it back. This rule also holds true for cell phones with cameras. For the most part, the policy will be clearly posted on the property. Do not even think about screwing with officials over this policy. They have zero sense of humor about it.
So, please, don't let someone (anyone) tell you that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibits your digital media from search at the border. It does not. It provides (as it has been interpreted countless times in the courts) that in those places where you have a
reasonable expectation of privacy, officials may not
search without a warrant.
The two single biggest ways people screw up??
1. Leave something illegal on property owned by another person (you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a hotel room where maid service and others have a key to your room); and
2. Leaving something on their own property, but in plain sight (it's not a search if any bozo can see it or access it).
I hope this actually does clarify things with regard to crossing the border with your digital media and what rights you do (and do not) have with respect to same.