The only thing you get doing this is to annoy normal people and make the people “feel” safe.
Oh, well, and also it gives a job to people like Ddog, useful to make him be only annoying, but not dangerous.

To know the answer to that, you would have to be a Customs Officer.

Sofar - Yes, it leads to a more inquisitive interview.
Neatoramawontsendmeapassword - No
caitlin13 - Yes it is.
kusito - There is no privacy at the U.S. Border. We have the duty to look at EVERYTHING coming in. (9-11)
Nostra - Whaaa. Deal with it.
fluff - That’s the inherent problem with a beurocratic society. We all see it but are, for the most part, too dumb to change it.
BikerRay - Yep. You’re correct.
Orjan Morjan - Nope. We don’t rape here. We will, however, delay your travel until you prove you are NOT a threat to the security of this Nation.
ted - Security guards need an official police officer to do anything more than hold you at stick point!
Christophe - Doesn’t matter where your plates are from, you WILL be questioned. And, oh, by-the-way, TRY to get across without being noticed. Big Brother is alive and well all across the OPEN PRAIRIE!
Neatoramawontsendmeapassword - FINALLY! An intelligent answer.
Thebes - There are no rights at the U.S. Border. Foreign corporations are in charge because it’s more cost efficient for U.S. businesses. And yes, we’re working on it!
sushirama - Do you REALLY THINK we don’t have the capability to crack you pathetic personal security codes? So young!
CJ - No. We have weapons for personal security, not to shoot you because you are stupid.
Adam Stanhope - Obviously educated. We are not searching for your free or hacked porn sites. We don’t care. We are looking for Morally ILLEGAL things. Generally takes no more than a few minutes. You’d be surprised what your average laptop can release about things you don’t even have a clue you were doing. Here’s some FREE education for you. Believe NONE of what you read and only half of what you hear or see.
Peeves - Why does someone ALWAYS have to point at the Whitehouse when something is screwed up? Try pointing at Wall Street or Madison Avenue or California. 99% of the problems in this Country start there.
“A.J.” - Funny. Stupid, but funny!
JamesM - Criminals ARE stupid. We already know that. It’s you SMART folks we like to harass because you THINK you can get something by us. Makes my job that much more fun!
Johnny Cat - Thanx for the compliment. Appreciated! We don’t need “Special” programs, we know what we’re doing!
prophet - No there aren’t. Not too prophetic!
Xinavera - And we appreciate it. Let’s us bone-up on our special skills.
Miranda Vink - Good article. Which side of the political aisle do you think it came from? Quit worrying. We’re not all paranoid. If you provide a reason, you’ll be detained.
rougy - It’s thinking like that which got this country in the horrible political shape it’s in now. This is NOT a Republican OR Democratic issue, it’s a Security issue. Just suppose the next laptop we seize contains detailed plans on the next 9-11 attack. We catch the guy and his cohorts and you and your family live another day. Is that OK with you?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a Customs “Agent”. AAnd for those who didn’t catch the subtlety in my last post, if you don’t like the rules, go play the game in some other Country. Make my job that much easier.

Laptops give up their secrets to U.S. customs agents (Oct 25, 2006)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/24/business/laptop.php

Nevertheless, this is worrying. I’d like to visit the states sometime soon, but those horror stories about US customs and Border Protection agent kinda ruin it for me. I don’t want to step on a plane wondering if some paranoid customs agent is going to give me grief once I step down on US soil.

Get the software that messes with customs programs, even if you’re an American. Because we are next.

You who whine about freedom are ALWAYS the first to criticize “the other guy”.

Here’s a fact, U.S. Customs derives it’s power from the U.S. Constitution, dated two full years BEFORE the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights applies ONLY to U.S. Citizens AFTER they have crossed the border. This includes airports, seaports and land boders. When you apply for admission to the U.S as a non-immigrant traveler or a U.S. Citizen, you are agreeing to the laws of the land BEFORE the Bill of Rights existed.

My final .02 cents on this, you don’t like the laws, don’t subject yourself to the inspection. Stay in your country and fix your own problems. We have enough broken systems without your help. U.S. Citizens, quit whining about too hot coffee and too high gas prices and do something about corporate America and the media screwing you while you are wide awake.

Tear those blonde little people in half with your horse wangs, Oh yeah!

I bet border security love spending their breaks looking at sick confiscated porn.

We’re definitely aware. Don’t forget that HALF of us live in “blue states.”

What kills me about this sort of thing is how information like one’s photographs or browsing history or even what books you have on the shelf can be abused and distorted to fit a negative profile.

If they find visits to porn sites in someone’s browsing history they conclude that he is either a “pervert,” or, as seen in a recent homicide case here in Massachusetts, that the accused was “unhappy about his sex life.”

There is a .pdf document that I’ve seen a dozen times here and there online that is supposed to be the “al-Qaeda manual.” If somebody downloads that to check it out and it is later found on their computer, what do you think the chances are that this person will be accused of being a “member of al-Qaeda” or “sympathetic to al-Qaeda.”

I remember seeing somebody undergoing “trial via the press” when in the course of searching his house the police found a pair of night-vision goggles. Night vision = terrorist, of course - even though the COLEMAN company that makes camping equipment sells cheap, consumer-level night vision equipment for camping, hunting, fishing, etc.

Another one - a book about “how to make your own fireworks” once became “instructions for building bombs” or “bomb making material.”

Pushing back against this sort of lunacy seems so difficult and frightening in these strange times. What can one do?

Or something.

They say its to stop terrorist from bringing terrorist data that’s a load of BS they’re looking for movie and music pirates, pederasts, and tax cheats. Terrorists use google apps, net meeting and webkinz to communicate, they should look at that.

Of course, we will be told its for our “security”, while at the same time putting foreign corporations in charge of our airport and sea port security.

I wonder if customs will claim the power to SEIZE and hold our internet packets as they try to cross the border?

“yes, there is plenty of opportunities to cross the Canadian border nearly hassle free : the border is very long and there no wall, yet.

I wonder if cars with US plates entering from canada still escape most border controls…”

There are no walls, but there are cameras on poles. You can drive along the border in some areas and see them. Drug runners try to jump the border all the time. A lot of them get caught… ’cause they were being watched.

And as far as I know, if you’re driving, you have to go through the border crossings. Unless you want to drive across someone’s yard (which would probably arouse suspicion).

@Orj : yes, there is plenty of opportunities to cross the Canadian border nearly hassle free : the border is very long and there no wall, yet.

I wonder if cars with US plates entering from canada still escape most border controls…
I had my very redneck ‘Massachussets Terrorist Hunting License’ bumper sticker too..

Reminds me of the rather weird groping I got at Heathrow Airport en route to Italy one year. He told me he was a security guard…

Don’t all you US guys get the feeling that there is something utterly wrong? Or do only people from “the outside” realise that such things are terribly off limits?

and yes, very good plan to make the USA a friendly business country! i worked for a company, which is now avoiding meetings in the usa! before there was a quarterly meeting with up to 20 people in the USA! now it’s in europe!