My brother's laptop and iphone were just seized at customs...

[asdf2231]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6667444


MelissaB  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-30-09 07:45 PM
Original message
My brother's laptop and iphone were just seized at customs
 in Detroit. I thought they couldn't do this anymore. WTF? Does anyone know if this is legal (as if it ever were)?

He was flying from Japan (but originally from Thailand) to Detroit and now has no laptop. Customs told him it could take 4-6 weeks to get it back. He asked it this was legal and they said, "Yes."

Sen. Walter Sobchak (1000+ posts)        Wed Sep-30-09 07:58 PM
Response to Original message
4. You brother was profiled as a sex tourist, happens all the time
 Under the auspices of customs inspection they can confiscate virtually anything and detain anybody.

The firm I work for had to start World War Three to get a confiscated laptop back.

We are now supposed to nuke our hard drive with a special CD and reload windows off a USB drive before going through US customs. The consequences to us if we had a privacy breach of EU citizen data are too severe to even contemplate.

  Sure... Happens "ALL The Time" 

MelissaB  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-30-09 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #4
11. A flight attendant pretty much told him that several years ago after another incident
 in Detroit. She also told him that he didn't have to give them any information, etc. I really think it's because he travels to Thailand so much and that photo of my daughter I posted about upthread (I think).

MelissaB  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-30-09 08:07 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. He has personal and business information on that computer
 as well as passwords to bank accounts, etc. They have access to EVERYTHING. Could cops come into your house and demand to see your bank statements, have all information to your business and personal email accounts? Nope, but custom's can look at it and copy it. The more articles I read as I'm searching for information, the worse it gets. It looks like they can keep his computer and copy the information

. 

DireStrike (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-30-09 08:13 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. That's ONE Of the lessons
 The other being that the 4th amendment is down and being kicked. Hard.

Speck Tater (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-30-09 08:30 PM
Response to Original message
14. Clearly America is one of those countries you visit at your own risk. nt

mainer  (1000+ posts)     Wed Sep-30-09 08:45 PM
Response to Original message
16. Same thing almost happened to my son -- also in Detroit.
 He was returning from Thailand and Burma, and they pulled him into an interrogation room and made him sit there for hours while they went through all the photos in his digital camera. They searched his pockets, demanded any camera cards, etc., etc. He was sick at the time and miserable, and when they finally let him go, they grudgingly gave him back his camera. It was all about child porn. Any man traveling alone to southeast Asia is profiled as a child molester until proven otherwise.

 

[Chris_]

...or the DUmmies's brother is known to traffic in kiddie porn....and got busted.

...more likely a bouncy.  The customs agent probably told the doofus to remove his laptop from his carry-on  as is required for everyone going through security.

[Carl]

I suspect as is customary with DUmmies much has been left out of the story here.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It is plausible, port-of-entry searches are entirely legal and they can do that.  Normally they would just image the drive, and not keep it '4 to 6 weeks' unless there are encrypted files on it, which potentially could mean he isn't ever going to get it back and could possibly be in a shitload of trouble for that, depending on the level.

[AllosaursRus]

Gots to be a lot more to this story. Like the places he visited while there. I'm sure there had to be something that set this ball in motion. Something smalls rotten in Detroit!

[Toastedturningtidelegs]

I suspect as is customary with DUmmies much has been left out of the story here.

Living in the Metro Detroit area for most of my life and having half my family live in Canada,I have a feeling the dummies family member ran their mouth to the customs agent and opened himself up to further scrutiny! I have friends who have just joked with them and gotten pulled off to the side and had their car disassembled and their bodies "searched". You are taught when you live here not to joke with those guys cause they do not have a sense of humor!

[USA4ME]

The lesson here is clear; if flying in from Thailand, fly into Toledo and drive to Detroit.

.

[IassaFTots]

MelissaB  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-30-09 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #4
11. A flight attendant pretty much told him that several years ago after another incident
 in Detroit. She also told him that he didn't have to give them any information, etc. I really think it's because he travels to Thailand so much and that photo of my daughter I posted about upthread (I think).

SAY WHA? 

Did anyone see the photo?  What kind of photo of your daughter carried by her uncle would seem suspicious?????

[thundley4]

SAY WHA? 

Did anyone see the photo?  What kind of photo of your daughter carried by her uncle would seem suspicious?????

I looked through the thread yesterday for the pic, but didn't see one. Something else in that quote that seemed odd, who talks to a flight attendant after they have deplaned, and have been through customs?  Did her brother go and search out an attendant from his flight?

[IassaFTots]

I looked through the thread yesterday for the pic, but didn't see one. Something else in that quote that seemed odd, who talks to a flight attendant after they have deplaned, and have been through customs?  Did her brother go and search out an attendant from his flight?

Maybe you would be preemptively talking to the flight attendant before you disembarked, to get a lay of the land so to speak?

[Alpha Mare]

SAY WHA? 

Did anyone see the photo?  What kind of photo of your daughter carried by her uncle would seem suspicious?????

How many times has this happened to him? Twice at least. Definately more to this.

[The Village Idiot]

Gots to be a lot more to this story. Like the places he visited while there. I'm sure there had to be something that set this ball in motion. Something smalls rotten in Detroit!

everything in Detroit smells rotten, so this must be twice as bad.

[zeitgeist]

SAY WHA? 

Did anyone see the photo?  What kind of photo of your daughter carried by her uncle would seem suspicious?????

Could just be he is the infamous 'funny uncle', incest and pedophilia are always best kept in the family don't ya see.  I was wondering about the previous incident.  Maybe it is time to stop packing those size thirteen ruby red pumps and fish nets.

Or this could just be a good three bong bouncy.

[Celtic Rose]

SAY WHA? 

Did anyone see the photo?  What kind of photo of your daughter carried by her uncle would seem suspicious?????

Here is a description of the picture

MelissaB  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Wed Sep-30-09 08:03 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. Well, they won't find it. He went through a search like this in Detroit several years ago and they
   
asked him questions for hours (literally) about every photo on his computer. I think what triggered it is a photo of my daughter he had painted for me in Thailand. Nothing was showing. She was wrapped in a blanket made by our mother. I think this may have put him on some watch list. That's my theory anyway. I don't know what else it could be.

[IassaFTots]

Ok.  He is a perv. 

[Texacon]

Why would (_!_)bama allow this?  WHY??   

He's taken away our rights ....

KC

[The Village Idiot]

Here is a description of the picture

Why would he ever let his brother near his daughter??

[debk]

I was coming back from Europe a couple of years ago through Atlanta's Customs.

We all had to stand in this long line and go through security again.....AFTER claiming our luggage, going through Customs, and rechecking our luggage.

There was a couple(American) behind me, bitching no end....and loudly.

I went through first, got pulled over to be searched/wanded...

They went through while I was waiting....and were taken away.

I asked why I was being checked when I had already gone through security and Germany....I was told it was because foreign countries' security checks are not as thorough as ours and because we were being "released" into the secure side of Hartfield.

Also asked why the couple was taken away....and was told, when someone bitches a lot....or appears "frantic"...it puts Customs on "alert".

Never ever make smart remarks to a Customs/TSA person....

[lastparker]

This sort of thing NEVER happens.
 

Corning man gets 5 years for smuggling child porn into U.S.

Staff report

A Corning man caught trying to smuggle into the United States more than a thousand images and movies of child pornography on his laptop was sentenced in federal district court Friday to 60 months in prison, 10 years of supervised release and a $500 fine.

James R. Grover, 35, pleaded guilty in July to one count of transportation of child pornography in a plea agreement.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer.

Grover was arrested in December at the Detroit International Airport, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who handled the case for the federal court's Western District of New York.

A teacher with the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, Grover was returning to the United States for the holidays.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice office in Rochester, Grover was arrested by special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

http://www.stargazette.com/article/20090925/NEWS01/909250382/-1/ARCHIVE+child+porn+arrest+detroit+airport&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[lastparker]

I was coming back from Europe a couple of years ago through Atlanta's Customs.

We all had to stand in this long line and go through security again.....AFTER claiming our luggage, going through Customs, and rechecking our luggage.

There was a couple(American) behind me, bitching no end....and loudly.

I went through first, got pulled over to be searched/wanded...

They went through while I was waiting....and were taken away.

I asked why I was being checked when I had already gone through security and Germany....I was told it was because foreign countries' security checks are not as thorough as ours and because we were being "released" into the secure side of Hartfield.

Also asked why the couple was taken away....and was told, when someone bitches a lot....or appears "frantic"...it puts Customs on "alert".

Never ever make smart remarks to a Customs/TSA person....

I was delayed leaving Lubbock, Texas because of tornadoes everywhere, and missed a connection in Dallas, along with hundreds of other people.  As I stood in a crazy long line trying to get re-booked late at night, the woman in front of me was finally up.  Apparently she didn't like the arrangements the ticket clerk offered her, and she started screaming at him.  He tiredly explained that it was the best he could do, so she started screaming that he wouldn't help her because of her race (she black, he white).  Airlines don't owe anybody anything but a re-booking when the delay is caused by weather.   He finally threatened tocall security and she huffed off.  Then it was my turn.  I walked up, smiled and said, "I'll take whatever you can give me.  It looks like you're having a crappy night."  I got the first flight out in the morning, a hotel room and a shuttle both ways.

I always remember that when I'm tempted to scream at someone for not doing their job satisfactorily.

[BlueStateSaint]

I was delayed leaving Lubbock, Texas because of tornadoes everywhere, and missed a connection in Dallas, along with hundreds of other people.  As I stood in a crazy long line trying to get re-booked late at night, the woman in front of me was finally up.  Apparently she didn't like the arrangements the ticket clerk offered her, and she started screaming at him.  He tiredly explained that it was the best he could do, so she started screaming that he wouldn't help her because of her race (she black, he white).  Airlines don't owe anybody anything but a re-booking when the delay is caused by weather.   He finally threatened tocall security and she huffed off.  Then it was my turn.  I walked up, smiled and said, "I'll take whatever you can give me.  It looks like you're having a crappy night."  I got the first flight out in the morning, a hotel room and a shuttle both ways.

I always remember that when I'm tempted to scream at someone for not doing their job satisfactorily.

Proving the maxim, "It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice."

[AllosaursRus]

Proving the maxim, "It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice."

Truer words have never been spoken! I've had my fair share of "weather" related delays as I flew out every 2 weeks during my construction years. I always made friends with the ticket takers! They can make you or break you. It's always nice to have an "ace" in the hole!

Saved my bacon more than once! Besides, the girls are generally cuter than a bug's ear!

[diesel driver]

Ok.  He is a perv. 

Like you had any doubt....
ALL DUmmies are pervs....

[Lord Undies]

My brother's laptop and iphone were just seized at customs...

It must have been that All-Points Bulletin Rent-A-Center put out.