Legal Marketing & PR

Your Brain Is Next

By Ed

A lawsuit was filed against the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Immigration authorities for searching and even confiscating electronic devices such as laptops, cameras, media storage devices and related items. The suit, according to an LA Times article this week, was filed by the ACLU, New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on behalf of the National Press Photographers Association, criminal defense lawyers and a student.

According to the article, the lawsuit '... says policies adopted by U.S. government agencies permit the search of all electronic devices that ‘contain information,' including laptops, cameras, mobile phones and data storage devices.'

How is it that American citizens, despite the tragedy of 9/11, are willing to sacrifice their civil liberties so hard won over the last centuries? How is it that the government has the right to peek into our thoughts, contrasted to our actions? Thinking of yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater is not illegal, only doing it is.

Seen Matrix? When will the first brain dump be required by the government? If they can see and review our personal thoughts contained in our electronic journal (our laptop, etc.), how much further before they decipher the brain inside our head?  What's the difference? And if we have been thinking naughty thoughts, having fantasies or otherwise thinking outside the norm, will we be 'confiscated?' That's what the government is doing now.

Lest you think this is happening to foreigners traveling on our soil, the article points out that more than 6,500 people have had their electronic devices searched since October 2008 as they cross the Canadian-U.S. border, nearly half of them are American citizens!

Where are you, Tom Paine, when we need you?

Full post as published by Law Biz Blog on September 10, 2010 (boomark / email).