and the IQ drops.......

yeah it's Bush's fault... twat

If you think they can't seize things if they can't see anything, you're wrong.
They can see that the free space doesn't match, or they can suspect encryption. Don't forget that in some countries there are also rather stiff laws against private use of encryption.
The whole problem with all these things is that they are likely to include rubber phrases like "probable cause", which can mean anything from "looking like a hippie" to, "being nervous", or "having an attitude".
Only thing to do is to dump content before trips, and download it over a VPN when arrived at the destination. But you better use some safe-delete algorithm, or else they can resurrect deleted files, etc...

Wanna bet?!

Wanna bet?!

Your reasoning didn't stop the "Patriot Act" (which should have been called "suspend the constitution act". It didn't stop suspending the Magna Charta, it didn't stop illegal NSA wiretapping, it didn't stop torture, it didn't stop (whatever war criminal acts we don't know about yet).
So you really think people are going to rise up over mp3 files, if they don't rise up over torture?

Holy shit. This is exactly the type of attitude that makes passing this bill possible. Everyone thinks we are so immune to tyranny and violation of our rights. Yet, if we simply deny the possibility instead of fighting against it, in the end we are left wondering how we ever let our public servants (i.e. politicians, police, etc.) have such vast control over our personal lives.

The fact that something is unconstitutional never makes it an impossibility. There isn't a single person in the US worth their weight in air who doesn't know that the Patriot Act is a violation of citizen's constitutional right to privacy. And how is the Patriot Act any less than a simple first step toward an Orwellian paradise? You cannot clamp down on a society all of a sudden. They won't take it. But if you take gradual measures to strip people of their rights, they will see each measure as unfortunate but insignificant, until you have taken so much they cannot fight back.

The US constitution does not, was not written to, and cannot protect a person's rights. In practice, the Bill of Rights only exists to define those Rights - nothing more. The responsibility of protecting our rights falls on our elected officials. However, when they fail, as they so often have and do in this generation, it is not our responsibility, but our duty to deny their decision and demand what belongs to us.

Americans (in general) have so much trouble accepting the idea that there may be a need to defend ourselves from our government, but if things continue to progress like they are for us now, that need will become very real in our lifetime (speaking as a 20-something year old). When the government of a democratic nation forgets where it stands and asserts itself above it's citizens, it abuses the authority given by those citizens. Action should often be taken against such a government.

"there is not a chance in hell that something like this would be passed. There would be no way for customs officials to know if something is illegal or not."

This could have slipped through without your knowledge very easily. There's a small chance it won't go through now, but it's very small.

Custom doesn't care, they don't have to. They confiscate everything they don't like and let you prove there's nothing criminal. You are guilty by default.

Unfortunately, we really aren't protected like that. Customs officials can search the data and digital documents your notebook computer, even if it really is a violation of being "secure in your papers".

I think a treaty like this has to be confirmed to law, so there's a chance to shoot it down. I say "chance" because I bet the *AAs will be very heavily lobbying the legislature.

Uh, no. The 4th Amendment protects against ILLEGAL searches and seizures, the kind where the cops stop you on the street w/o probable cause and then pat you down and take the pack of bubble gum out of your pocket and the kind were they knock on your door a 2am w/o a warrant and barge in, or they come in with a warrant to search room A and they go into room B. Those are examples of illegal search and. seizures. But there are such things as LEGAL search and seizures.

When you go though a security line at an airport that is VOLUNTARY and you AGREE to the rules before you go through the line. You don't like the rules, you travel a different way, you have a choice. You may not like it, but there is nothing illegal or un-Constitutional about it.

It's called the PATRIOT act, and "Zeitgeist" is just a movie. What world do YOU live in? Welcome to reality.