Re: [tlug] OT: government getting ready to inspect your iPod, laptop without probable cause

[Scott Robbins <scottro@example.com>]

On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 06:48:36PM +0900, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Scott Robbins writes:
> 
>  > Obama has promised, if he is elected, to retrieve our civil liberties.
>  > ("our" being the US.)
> 
> administration has just turned around and admitted in his memoirs that
> it was administration policy to lie to America throughout, Obama has
> to be an improvement.  But more that that from Obama?  Sorry, just
> another pretty face AFAICS.  I pray every day that I'm wrong, though.

Seems I read somewhere (on the Internet--it must be true) that he uses
FreeBSD.  :)

>  > that it was Congress who was more or less responsible for this.
> 
> Bzzt.  The U.S. *is* a representative democracy, with the
> congresscritters generally being of superior talents in many respects.
> Two aspects in which they are truly faithfully representative of the
> Deer Peepul of the Yewess, though: Greed and Mendacity.

Yuppers.  If people weren't so selfish and silly, a lengthy boycott of
all companies that support the DRM would probably end it.  However, no
one would give up their non-Indie music and movies for very long. 

> 
> Sad, isn't it?

Very.  
Back to what Josh has said, as a couple of people wrote here, you don't
HAVE to give them the password, but they really are answerable to no one
at this point.  They can take the laptop, make you miss your plane, etc.
etc., in the name of national security or whatever.  (I think it was
Pompey who said, if you want to have a dictatorship, get the people
thinking they have an enemy and you can do what you want.)

I think the only solution is to have a throwaway laptop with nothing on
it. From what I understand, that's what some companies are now doing for
their employees who travel--give them a laptop with nothing on it, and
when they get where they're going, they use a VPN, then erase it all
before coming back.  

Very scary, as well as sad. 


-- 
Scott Robbins
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Buffy: I gotta stop him before he unleashes unholy havoc and 
it's just another Tuesday night in Sunnydale.