Homeland Stupidity… rebooted

“nonny mouse” (Crooks and Liars), notices that new rules allowing Homeland Stupidity Department snooping into private data are having some weird… and unintended… consequences:

From January 12, 2009, citizens from such infamous terrorist hotbeds as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Western Europe and several other nations around the world ordinarily covered under the Visa Waiver Program will be required to submit an application for authorization via the Internet before they will be allowed to enter the United States.

…

Even worse that passenger’s laptops, mobile phones or any other data storage device can be confiscated indefinitely by federal agents without any suspicion of wrongdoing, the information copied and shared with other agencies or even ‘private entities’ for language translation, data decryption or any other reason. Business travelers in particular, rather than dark skinned young men from unfriendly Middle Eastern countries, seem to be the main targets of confiscation.

Those passengers who have to make trips to the States are increasingly turning to blogs advising on how to encrypt their hard drives, and shipping them back and forth via FedEx but not declaring the contents as a hard drive because that ‘may arouse suspicions’. If asked, lie and say it’s some cheap-sounding trinket. Or even, if you must travel with your computer, consider carrying a pink laptop with Hannah Montana stickers on it to make it less interesting to airport officials.

It gets worse, and “nonny mouse” concludes …

… at some point those countries we’ve long considered to be our ‘friends’ will get sick and tired of their citizens being treated like criminals and terrorists instead, and kick out anyone holding an American passport. On the other hand, they may just take pity on me and offer me refugee status…

As a service to my regularly traveling readers, a special “Homeland Security” wallpaper is available here