August 4th, 2008Flying to Canada Just Got A Whole Lot More Expensive
It seems the next time I fly back to Canada, it will need to be a direct flight. I have no intentions of saving a few hundred dollars by flying into Portland or San Francisco, only to run into some complication concerning US Customs and my digital equipment. According to this article from PC World, the US Border Agency says it has the legal power to seize our digital equipment indefinitely in the name of security, thus granting the U.S. government the opportunity to collect massive amounts of information about it’s own people, and those who are just passing through.
Considering how I have NEVER gone into the U.S. once without some kind of bad luck (food poisoning, luggage falling apart, being refused boarding a plane, being refused entry back into Canada when walking over the Peace Bridge, getting sick after eating at various restaurants, having a drunk American jerk shove me into a wall at a hockey game because I wasn’t wearing a home-team jersey, etc.), I will not risk the possibility of being stripped of my digital electronics. Sure, I always have backups of the data, but that’s not the point. It’s the principle of the matter.
If I have to fly through the US in order to save a few hundred dollars on the already-expensive flights to Canada, only to have my notebook, PDA, cell phone or digital camera taken, then I’m out a lot more money than I “saved”. On top of this, if the US never has to give stuff back, this is a great excuse for anybody working at the US Border to take whatever the heck they want from me and keep it for themselves. While the US government has some pretty impressive databases, I somehow doubt that everything seized will be properly recorded or processed.
I seriously hope that the next leader of that country can put things back to the way they were before Bill Clinton left office. While the nation wasn’t perfect, it was a heck of a lot friendlier than it is now. Security is important, yes, but what price must people pay for that security? Most of the country’s people are already armed … do they really need to be protected by the ever-watchful eyes of big brother, too?
It’s a shame that the country that once stood for freedom has gotten lost in its search for peace of mind.
It’s a good thing I don’t write software for companies, anymore 
I just saw that PC World article today, and what frightens me most is that it sets a precedent for other countries to follow. The Japanese jumped on the fingerprinting bandwagon, and you know they’ll adopt this one, too.
I have to disagree with you on that one, Nick. I don’t think the Japanese will hop on this one because there is no way Japan’s Customs and Immigration officials could realistically handle checking data for “terrorist links” or anything else of the sort. Sure, they might catch a few people who really enjoy child pornography or can’t secure a little bit of data. But for the majority of cases, they just wouldn’t have the logistical capacity to examine data that may or may not be encrypted.
As for the legalized stealing by border officials, that likely wouldn’t occur in this country as Japanese people view used things as “garbage”. This is good news considering my notebook is hardly new and most definately not Japanese
I agree with you about the difficulties of flying in or coming to America now. It is starting to get a little better. After the brutal shock of 9/11, people and the government went fairly extreme in ensuring safety for flying. Probably an overreaction but somewhat understandable considering the event of that September day in 2001.
But I would like to se more rationality and commong sense now in regards to security.
Rational thought and common sense would go a long way towards solving most of the world’s problems.
It’s a shame most elected officials aren’t wise enough to do so.