US border police copy visitors' laptop data
6 May 2008 | 08:49 BST
File sharing
THE LAND of the Free has officially become crazier at its borders and is now demanding that punters allow data on their laptops and mobile phones to be copied by airport officials.
New rules mean that visitors to the United States will face even longer queues as immigration officials download gigabytes of data from visitor’s laptops for snooping later.
Already visitors face long queues while armed officials take fingerprints and snaps of you as you enter the country now it looks like things are going to get much worse.
Travel agents' group Abta told the Mirror that it is getting silly in the US saying the new laws were not a good thing for passengers and the country had become Big Brother.
Abta was also worried that flat-footed IT illiterate staff could corrupt or wipe computer data
Security outfit Symantec said that the new rules were an ass, particularly if they tried to search everyone with a laptop. Dr Guy Bunker said that visitors to the US could wait in line for weeks if border guards were ordered to check everyone.
He thought it might be better for visitors to the US to leave their laptops behind or make sure that all the data is taken off it.
After all, you can just download all the files you need off the Interweb when you arrive and the security checks at the border absolutely pointless. µ
L’Inq
The
Mirror
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