Laptops Open for Inspection

I'm wondering how the ruling that laptops, even those owned by American citizens returning from foreign travel, can be seized, kept indefinitely, and inspected or even copied, squares with the fourth amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

A laptop computer is essentially a large filing cabinet and many people keep their financial records, personal communications, business data, entertainment, etc.. on thier computers. The "papers" referenced in the fourth amendment are now digital files, and of course the government does not recognize this. This ruling also applies to iPods, phones, and basically anything with digital memory.

The Last Mile

There's little doubt (in my mind anyway) that the best model for connectivity to the home is for the homeowner to own either directly or though his local municipal government, the "last mile" - the connection from the house to a neighborhood aggregation point. The current scheme which has the link to the home being owned by the phone company or cable company cuts the competition significantly for your communications dollar and locks you into limited options. Imagine having a fiber or high speed copper connection connected into a central point that allows connection to a smorgasboard of telephone, cable, and internet options, all competing for your business.

ars technica has an interesting article up on this about just such a project in Ottawa. It will be met with resistance from the established corporations and it'll be interesting to see if that resistance can be overcome.

They Called It "Enhanced Interrogation"

At the risk of having Godwin invoked, Andew Sullivan has written an ugly but relevant article on Nazi torture. Initially, waterboarding and hypothermia were prohibited as torture, but later added to their repertoire. Is it purely coincidental that the US also uses the euphemism Enhanced Interrogation?

Jim

Big Brother IS Watching

Where you go. Your cell phone has a GPS device that tells the world where you are.

Jim

Orwell's Vision Come True

It's estimated that in Britain, the average citizen is caught on surveillance camera 300 times per day. I can't find the reference, but have seen estimates of 100/day for the US, and 200/day for NYC.

Big Brother IS watching.

One more link to the folks at EPIC about the state of things in the US.

Jim

Stupidity in Slate

Caught this amazing article on incandescents vs. CFLs: In Defense of Incandescence.

"Yes, fluorescents. Buzzing, flickering, able to cause epileptic seizures in the susceptible, in addition to headaches and other neurological symptoms."

There's so much wrong in the article that it's not worth dissecting. CFLs do NOT perceptibly flicker, so they don't cause epileptic seizures. There's nothing particularly right about the color of incandescents - they give a reddish/yellow glow - and good CFLs are color-adjusted to match the lousy color temperature of incandescents. CFL disposal is an issue. They need to be taken back to the local hardware store.

But they save energy. A lot of energy. Decisions should be made on facts, not irrelevant comparisons to the "flare of a match lighting a cigarette in a film noir" Ugh.

Jim