Just a reminder that you can lose access to your laptop at the border

Feds Say They Can Search Bradley Manning’s Friend’s Laptop Because They Can
[Via Techdirt]

Back in May, we noted that Homeland Security’s ICE group had taken David House’s laptop and had kept it for 49 days because he’s friends with Bradley Manning, who is accused of leaking the State Department cables to Wikileaks. House was traveling back to the US from a vacation in Mexico and Homeland Security has long held that it can take your laptops at the border for any reason whatsoever. House (with the help of the ACLU) sued the government over this. Not surprisingly, the Justice Department is defending the actions of ICE, basically using the “we did it because we can, so shut up” argument.

There is no basis for the Court to conclude that searches of laptops or other electronic devices at the border should be subjected to a different standard than that for other closed containers. Nor is there a basis for the Court to conclude that Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights were violated by the routine search and detention of his devices at the border.

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One of the nice things about the new Mac OS, Lion, is that it has disk level encryption. They can get your laptop but not read anything on the drive.

That may help, although I would not be surprised to get an erased disk back from them. Why any businessman would allow this to happen is a mystery.

A reasonable Republican raises his head

Wake up GOP: Smashing system doesn’t fix it – CNN.com
[Via CNN]

I’m a Republican. Always have been. I believe in free markets, low taxes, reasonable regulation and limited government. But as I look back at the weeks of rancor leading up to Sunday night’s last-minute budget deal, I see some things I don’t believe in:

Forcing the United States to the verge of default.

Shrugging off the needs and concerns of millions of unemployed.

Protecting every single loophole, giveaway and boondoggle in the tax code as a matter of fundamental conservative principle.

Massive government budget cuts in the midst of the worst recession since World War II.

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Frum delineates several things that I could easiliy support but fail to see from the GOP: in the current climate

• Unemployment is a more urgent problem than debt.
• The deficit is a symptom of America’s economic problems, not a cause.
• The time to cut is after the economy recovers.
• The place to cut is health care, not assistance to the unemployed and poor.
• We can collect more revenue without raising tax rates.
• Passion does not substitute for judgment.
• You can’t save the system by destroying the system.

As Frum states, it is too bad the GOP at the Federal level has forgotten these things. He accurately states that radicals seem to be in charge.

I do not see the radicals relinquishing the power they have garnered over the last 20 years or so.