Travelers' Laptops May Be Seized Without Cause

The Washington Post has some of the most chilling U.S. political news to come along in actually quite awhile. And that's truly saying something, given the proclivity of our government to run roughshod over the Constitution and those of us who used to enjoy basic rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to keep our damn private lives private. Anyway, the latest bit of crap disguised as reasoned policy is that "Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed." In case you missed it, there's a crucial clause in there: without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Apparently, it would be too much bother to actually have to come up with a valid reason for taking a citizen's private property for however long one of these DHS hacks sees fit. Remember when the government at least pretended to care about such anachronisms as due process and warrants? Most likely, those affected will just look like they might have something sweet on their laptops such as Grand Theft Auto IV or the entire Jonas Brothers collection. You know, something a DHS bozo might want to inspect, burn, and then return. But really, what's to stop these criminals from targeting anyone who appears to have a political agenda not sanctioned by the regime in power? I'm thinking about peace activists, political bloggers, and other "subversives." Let's see how quickly those folks have their computers snatched. If he were alive now, George Orwell never would have been able to finish 1984 before some clown with a badge would have "accidentally erased" his hard drive.