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Old 08-08-2008, 12:59 AM   #51
silencer
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silencer began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 14
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Device: prs505
[QUOTE=RickyMaveety;230399]Well ... they aren't arbitrarily "seizing" things for no reason. They are doing a "search" .... a search and a seizure are very different things. Try reading the actual law on the subject. Oh, and by the way, they can demand that you open "private mail" on your person so they can search it. So .... try again.

Retaining your property without suspicion of wrongdoing and keeping it for a "reasonable" time is arbitrary seizure.
This didn't pass into "law" as you suggest. It was extended search and seizure power implemented by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Customs officers need no reasonable suspicion to search through the contents of any individual’s laptop. That includes mine, and as a Canadian citizen this violates Canadian law.
You are completely wrong about opening private mail. They can not open mail without warrant. I typo'd the last statement, it is corrected now.

You may want to give the US Constitution a gander too, you might then understand why this ruling is a real issue.

For the rest of us, yes, putting your contents in a sealed and stamped envelope and mailing it to your destination will protect it to the point of warrant.

Here is the regulation:
Sealed Letter Class Mail. Officers may not read or permit others to read
correspondence contained in sealed letter class mail (the international equivalent
of First Class) without an appropriate search warrant or consent. Only articles in
the postal system are deemed "mail." Letters carried by individuals or private
carriers such as DHL, UPS, or Federal Express, for example, are not considered to
be mail, even if they are stamped, and thus are subject to a border search as
provided in this policy.

Last edited by silencer; 08-08-2008 at 01:16 AM.
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