(no subject)

[theweaselking]

US Department Of Homeland Security declares that they don't think the tourism industry has suffered quite enough yet: It requires no suspicion or reason for them to take anything you're carrying - laptop, MP3 player, phone, books, wallet, random papers in your pocket, and return them when and if they feel like it.

I'd advise not travelling with anything that's modern or worth money. You're unlikely to get to keep it.

Comments

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

D:

Note to self: take books on the plane. If they're only taking things away from carry-on luggage and pockets, I'm assuming they don't put this same policyi for luggage. So, perhaps I could put the ipod in the suitcase to go into cargo, instead.

[elffin.livejournal.com]

Note To Self: the point is that the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to anyone on a plane or crossing a border at this time.

[jagash.livejournal.com]

What is this "Bill of Rights" thing of which you speak.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Well, the Bill of Rights are meant for anyone entering the US. Perhaps the regulations will be gone by the time I next want to enter the US.

[penguinicity.livejournal.com]

Nope, this is Customs, so they go through checked luggage too.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Books it is.

[xengar.livejournal.com]

Books aren't safe, either:
The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cellphones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Would they really be interested in fantasy novels, though? o.O I mean, I need to do SOMETHING while on the plane.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

They probably wouldn't take the book you were in the middle of reading just to deprive you of reading material. After all, it isn't something shiny and resale-able or useable by officers with questionable motives. I think that's part of what theweaselking was getting at.

True story: one year I was flying from DC to Chicago, with the intention of going on a few days later from Chicago to Turkey. I had this book, shrink-wrapped, in my checked-in luggage to present as a gift to photography-loving cousins in Turkey. When I got to Chicago, I found the TSA "We've been here!" note... tucked in the book, now non-shrink-wrapped, like a bookmark.

Still shaking my head over that one.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

It's a hardcover. It *could* have been hollow and full of drugs.

No, really. That's why to open the shrinkwrap.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

I didn't pay attention when linking, then---my copy was paperback.

I still think it was the cover design. Single word in a furriner language.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Maybe they said "Holy fuck, a book by Aragorn!" and opened it on those grounds.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

D: So even flying w/i the country provides no help. Great.

More and more reason to never venture into the USA. :(

[ambug666.livejournal.com]

They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "

So no traveling with large bills, right? That's paper. And no credit cards since they store information in digital form.

And definitely no punch cards.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

You think they don't search your luggage, too?

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Probably the same x-ray thing.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

No- from what I've been told- they open it, unpack it, and then repack it with supposedly some sort of note telling you that your luggage has been searched.

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

Yep, they do ruffle through it. A buddy used to work for TSA.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Pretty much every time I've flown in, out, or across the country since you-know-when, I've found one of those little notes. Nothing missing yet, though. So far.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

You can tell I haven't been on a plane since 1996, eh?

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

I've been on one ONCE since 9/11... and I'll never do it again if there's ANY other way to get to my destination.
(Gotta get myself rich enough that I can hire private planes out of small airports...)

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I haven't been in a hurry to enter the US at all, actually, since then. Not because of terrorists, more b/c of the policies that they've put in place (and I haven't really had the money or reason to go anyway). Now this is making it even more... retarded?

Would it be like this on ground travel like bus or train? In the years to come my bf and I were thinking of getting married and I'd LOVE to honeymoon at Disney World in Florida (I've been a couple times but my bf's never been and I would LOVE to go again!). But... I'm starting to think maybe Europe is a better option. :/

[silveradept]

For bus/train travel, there are occasionally sniffing dogs that will be paraded up and down the platform to make sure nobody's carrying anything of interest to the dog with them, but not quite as much invasive searching as a matter of principle. As far as I know.

[silveradept]

Except they also claim the right to search your checked baggage for any reason, and usually, the only notice that you get of it happening is a little slip in your suitcase saying, "Hi! We invaded your privacy by rifling through your bags! Remember, we're doing this to protect you from The Terrible Secret of Space!"

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

You can tell I haven't been on a plane since 1996, eh?

[silveradept]

S'okay. Most people only see the screener stuff - until they get one of those cute notes in their luggage, most people don't think the screeners are actually that gauche as to open the luggage up.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

The transition to a fascist state is almost complete.

[mhoye.livejournal.com]

That's not entirely fair - all sovereign countries have the right to allow or disallow whatever materials cross their borders. If they didn't, they wouldn't be a sovereign country, full stop. The fact that border control officials can act with impunity is not news, even though it's a good idea to remember not to travel with anything you don't have backed up.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The problem is with the individuals at the border doing so arbitrarily, without accountability, and without ever setting out actual limits to what is and is not allowed, let alone communicating those limits to travellers.

And, really, we're talking about the arbitrary seizure of legal, private materials. These are things people have a right to have, and that there is no legal reason to stop.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Wow. Now I'm starting to think of planning flights for vacations down South that do not connect through the US... Mexicana may be about to get a lot more business. Seriously, folks: discretionary power is Not Compatible With The Rule Of Law, and Americans would be well-advised to stop putting up with it if they want to keep any vestige of liberty.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I was very upset that transferring through Vancouver cost about 40% more than LA.

I spent *another* hour of my life waiting in Customs for my rubber stamp, yesterday. I really, really, really hate crossing that border.

[gryphart.livejournal.com]

Good Lord. Thanks, TSA, for reinforcing my total lack of desire to fly anywhere ever.

I will hope Feingold wins, and they're forced to provide some reason for suspicion, because otherwise I'm not sure we'll do that Japan trip.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

You, as a young white American citizen without an accent, are extremely unlikely to be stopped or questioned as long as you are clean, reasonably well-dressed, and don't do something like quiver in terror or offend them with your nonchalance. There's a happy medium!

Oh, and don't have
A) Anything really new and expensive
AND
B) Fly coach.

B means you don't have the spare money to contest when they confiscate A.

(If I'm wrong, and you're not white or you have an accent? Good luck.)

[gryphart.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. I seem to get randomly selected about every other time I go through the airport to be patted down/shoesniffed/whatevered, and they seem to be positively terrified of any SF/F library book, since having that on top means they direly need to search my baggage.

So being young, white, American, accentless, and thoroughly boring-looking doesn't really protect you from the stupid, although it undoubtedly does shield me from the worst of it. Given how much more aggressive they are now vs. even a few months post-9/11... I keep hoping at some point we'll hit peak paranoia and then be on the other side of the curve, but it just gets nuttier all the time.

[frith]

And don't wear a t-shirt with either wry cultural references or text in a foreign language.

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

Well, at least I know why I'll next be in a prison cell.