Originally Posted by
Caradoc
CBP can apparently do whatever they want with your laptop, camera, cell phone, etc.
If I were a tourist planning to visit the United States, I'd probably change my plans now.
I think maybe the next time I leave the United States for any reason, I may not return. Between DHS, CBP, and the slack-jawed slope-foreheaded knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing thugs of the TSA, with the addition of the sheeple who bleat "anything for security," there doesn't appear to be a whole lot to come back to.
The only remaining question is, where to go?
If the Tea Party darlings keep taking over Congress and state legislatures, you'll find more freedom in North Korea. :-)
On a more serious note, I've considered this question myself. I speak Spanish, so my top picks would be, in no particular order, Canada, UK, or Spain. I have relatives who live in Madrid and Geneva, so I could probably sweet-talk them into helping me find work--in the case of Geneva, it would be time to crack open the French textbooks.
Australia used to be on my list, but got nixed due to national Web filtering. If the USA ever gets it, I'll be on the next QM2 to Southampton.
My advice for anyone taking a laptop abroad, whether for personal, business, or studying abroad, is as follows:
- Do not bring your pride-and-joy computer, since CBP agents love to steal inbound computers. Get a $350 netbook (
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220857). If it is stolen, it's less of a loss. CBP agents are less likely to steal a black Netbook than, say, any super-sexy Apple laptop. And it's less weight to lug around.
- Bring two bootable USB flash drives with you: one with DBAN, and one with your favorite Linux installer. Or maybe even Windows 98, since I've heard of CBP agents getting suspicious when you run Linux, since only terrorists use Linux. Throw away the flash drives before coming home, since I can imagine them going nuts if they find a "laptop cleansing kit" with you.
- Your last afternoon abroad, upload anything you've been working on to online storage. Use DBAN to nuke the hard drive, then install a plain-vanilla OS, so a prying CBP agent will find nothing.