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Strategies for international travellers regarding new US Customs seizure policy
Shades:
Would it not be the case that if a lot of (read: too many) people start using online solutions like Ulteo that the U.S. government starts to issue court orders for those companies to hand over your data?
Better check the fine print then...or would it be better to use these kind of services that are not based in the U.S. or any country with too much (political) ties to the US?
Privacy matters to me. The thing is that when asked politely, I will disclose (almost) anythiing about my persona, state of mind etc.etc. without a problem. However, when you resort to laws to push me into disclosing whatever whenever you please...expect me to be uncooperative at best.
There is a (medieval) Dutch saying:"Zoals de waard is, vertrouwt hij zijn gasten."
A literally translation: "A owner of a motel/bar thinks that each of his customers thinks exactly like he does." It means that the owner isn't trustworthy, he expects that every guest is not trustworthy either...or vice versa of course.
TomColvin:
Well, we've got some interesting commentary going on.
I myself have been thinking through the implications of laptop seizure this afternoon. And I'm beginning to come to some conclusions -- they have immense potential impact on software developers.
Let's say the US govt seizes my computer. I do not live in the US, so getting it back would probably take forever -- and considerable expense. Anyway, let's assume the government has my computer.
So then I buy a new laptop and try to reinstall my software. OPPS!!! Microsoft won't be happy. I'll have to buy yet another copy of Windows. And Microsoft Office? Yet another copy. [Have you ever tried to close down one computer and transfer Microsoft software to a second machine?] And what all the other commercial and shareware software that allows only ONE installation on ONE machine to be used by ONE person only. Sadly, that affects a number of my critical software programs.
So getting up a second machine can be sheer madness.
CONCLUSION: I'm thinking seriously about abandoning Windows altogether. I've bought too many copies of it over the years anyway. I'm thinking seriously of buying software ONLY IF it allows installation on more than one computer. Ideally, I'll use ONLY freeware and open-source software. Or online applications.
I'll end up with a very slim laptop indeed. And many deserving software developers will not longer recieve any business from me.
THOSE ARE THE IMPLICATIONS.
Shades:
@ Carol:
You're right about Canada as a replacement...or should I say: stand-in :)
On a side note, when looking at the subtitles you will also notice that at least a part of the production company is based in Germany (that's where 'prodcompname GMBH' stands for). That country has some nice tax loopholes....eh laws for the international movie industry.
Which is also why Uwe Boll (notorious movie director from titles such as 'BloodRayne' and 'Alone in the dark') will not be without a job soon ;D
Shades:
Well, we've got some interesting commentary going on.
I myself have been thinking through the implications of laptop seizure this afternoon. And I'm beginning to come to some conclusions -- they have immense potential impact on software developers.
Let's say the US govt seizes my computer. I do not live in the US, so getting it back would probably take forever -- and considerable expense. Anyway, let's assume the government has my computer.
So then I buy a new laptop and try to reinstall my software. OPPS!!! Microsoft won't be happy. I'll have to buy yet another copy of Windows. And Microsoft Office? Yet another copy. [Have you ever tried to close down one computer and transfer Microsoft software to a second machine?] And what all the other commercial and shareware software that allows only ONE installation on ONE machine to be used by ONE person only. Sadly, that affects a number of my critical software programs.
So getting up a second machine can be sheer madness.
CONCLUSION: I'm thinking seriously about abandoning Windows altogether. I've bought too many copies of it over the years anyway. I'm thinking seriously of buying software ONLY IF it allows installation on more than one computer. Ideally, I'll use ONLY freeware and open-source software. Or online applications.
I'll end up with a very slim laptop indeed. And many deserving software developers will not longer recieve any business from me.
THOSE ARE THE IMPLICATIONS.
-TomColvin (August 03, 2008, 09:17 PM)
--- End quote ---
Then Microsoft should hurry up with their SaaS (Software as a Service) project for people that have ties to Windows...and they should include dispensation for users that have their laptop seized of course.
40hz:
Sadly, I think all of us simply have to think through our own strategy. My own strategy, I suspect, will be to carry some device that will get me online as I travel, and that device will contain no data whatsoever. I'm not so much worried about seizure of data as I am about interruption of my work if I lose my computer. Of course, this threat is probably even greater from thieves. I gather this is the design behind the Lenovo SafeBook.
-TomColvin (August 03, 2008, 11:34 AM)
--- End quote ---
I wonder if the general public is as concerned about the civil rights aspect as we are?
I've been talking with a bunch of people about this, and the biggest bugaboo most seemed to revolve around was how inconvenient it would be to have their laptop seized rather than what such a seizure would imply from a civil rights perspective.
Even more alarming, I put the same question to a group of high-schoolers. Their general attitude was that "the government can just do whatever it wants and there's really nothing anybody can do about it."
At that point I had to ask myself what all the tax money I pay to fund a public school system gets used for when it produces disenfranchised attitudes and comments like the ones I was hearing. Then it dawned on me - that is exactly what it's being used for.
Governments, both good and bad, invariably do as much as they think they can get away with. And western democracies tend to believe that a lack of opposition to a policy or action constitutes de facto approval (i.e. "anybody who does not oppose us agrees with us"). From this perspective, the "will of the people" can be interpreted to include "the indifference of the people" as well.
So I think any strategy ultimately has to involve changing public awareness and attitudes. If you don't, then the government is merely following "the will of The People."
And isn't that what democracy and representative governance is all about?
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