On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, dan <d.e.d.linux.li...@gmx.co.uk> wrote: > > > search and other privacy concerns so that people can make rational > > > decisions based on reality instead of sensationalism. > > > > Sensationalism like > > http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/08/us_government_p.html > > http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/05/crossing_border.html > > ? > > I would like to share this with you though. Ten years ago I married an > English lady and moved to the UK. I didn't bring my computers with me as > i planned to buy some when I settled, I did however bring disks, linux > cd's, etc. Immigration here insisted on knowing where my computers were > so that that they could inspect them...whether I had shipped them ahead > or they were coming later. It took hours and hours. I found the whole > matter very comical on one one hand and very sad on the other. This was > some ten years ago and pre 9/11. My point is, in case you missed it, is > that the United States is not the only country in the world who has such > policies in place. If you doubt my point, stick your laptop in a > backback and come over to the UK.
I have entered the UK by plane several times before 911 and many times afterwards. I have entered the UK via the chunnel many more times. On every occasion I had at least one laptop, sometimes I had multiple laptops, a PDA, or even a Cobalt Qube. I always had enough computer gear to stand out from the crowd. On no occasion did the UK border security people pay any particular attention to such devices. While it is well known that the UK have laws and policies that permit them to search laptops etc, my experience suggests that such searches are performed in only a small minority of cases. They have however vacuumed my pockets for traces of drugs which I think is grossly wrong. If for example I had received as change some money with drug traces then I could have had some problems. IMHO any quantity of drugs that is too small to get high should not be illegal (as a separate issue I think that the war on drugs is entirely bad and should be stopped). My experience on entering the US (which I did many times before and after 911) was that they sometimes want me to turn my laptop on but never to get past the boot screen. They have never wanted to seize or search computer gear. I conclude that both the UK and the US search computers quite rarely. That said, it would really suck to be subject to the type of search that Bruce describes. > I've used Debian for about ten years now, always been proud to say I > used it. In the course of the past few years though, the bickering on > the lists (particularly the political cheap shot like you just took) > have really worn on me. As I said, I'm just a normal user. Nobody > important, I mainly just read the list, help out at my local lug with > Debian installs and recommend Debian to everyone that asks about linux. > Your post though is pretty much the straw that broke the camels back. I > want to read and talk about linux and Debian. > Until DD's like you learn to leave the political sht at the door and > just discuss issues relevant to Debian, I'm off to another distrobution. > And don't worry, I won't let the door hit me in the ass on the way out. It's not political shit, it's a fair warning about a government policy that could disadvantage some DDs while travelling to an official Debian event. I agree that it would be off-topic for debian-user. As you describe yourself as a user you might find that list to be more suitable to your needs. -- russ...@coker.com.au http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Main Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
