Don't bring your laptops to the US

Or any electronic storage device, for that matter. Read the whole story here (c/o the Daily Mail). Chek out the lead of the story:

Travellers to the U.S. could have their laptops and other electronic devices seized at the airport under new anti-terror measures.

Federal agents have been granted powers to take such devices and hold them as long as they like.

They do not even need grounds to suspect wrongdoing.

Now, I understand the need to secure the borders and ensure the safety of the public, but this is just crazy. It's one thing to check your bags for explosives or contraband, but to rummage through your email and personal files? Without even having to show probable cause? By comparing a laptop to a suitcase, they are practically saying that certain thoughts, ideas, and knowledge are considered contraband and, thus, actionable.

Guantanamo. Waterboarding. Extraordinary rendition. Warrantless electronic surveillance. Now this. After one terrorist attack these Americans are so ready to give up their rights and forget everything their founding fathers stood for. Not even Israel at the height of the Palestinian intifada, or Britain at the height of the IRA threat, or Spain at the height of the Basque separatist movement, resorted to such draconian measures.

I was in America when 9/11 happened, and I do understand where they are coming from. But this is just wrong. Very wrong.

As Benjamin Franklin so famously wrote, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."