Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) describes this policy as alarming, and I would certainly agree with his assessment.

But wait, it isn’t just laptops and electronic devices!

The policies cover “any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,” including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover “all papers and other written documentation,” including books, pamphlets and “written materials commonly referred to as ‘pocket trash’ or ‘pocket litter.’ “

It appears to me what this policy says is any time I cross the borders of my own country, just about any of my belongings can be confiscated, held, and rifled through without there even needing to be probable cause to do so. In other words, we are all criminals until they decide we aren’t. Somehow, this policy doesn’t make me feel any safer.

It’s really long past time for people to wake up and get angry about the state of things in the United States. Freedom in this country stepped on a greasy, slippery slope some time back, and too many people were willing to give up rights and freedoms to obtain what is essentially a false sense of security. It isn’t hyperbole to say we are less free now than we were before the Twin Towers fell. It’s a fact, and it makes me physically ill. It should make everyone physically ill, and it should make everyone angry. If we don’t stop this now, the children growing up in this mess we have made for ourselves are going to believe this is the way things are supposed to be, and this isn’t the way things are supposed to be in the United States.

How the hell is crap like this even considered constitutional?

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

How does this “policy” not just stomp all over that small bit of the founding document of our nation … the very source of the freedoms we enjoy? Where are the warrants? Where’s the probable cause? Where are the people “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects” from invasive and uncalled for searches and seizures? It completely ignores the Fourth Amendment!

I am not proud — not proud at all — of my country. I am disgusted, and I am sick and tired of being disgusted and angry about the way things are going in the USA. More of us need to get angry, and more of us need to make noise about our anger. This crap should not be accepted, and it should not stand as policy. It makes us neither freer or safer.

Write your representatives. Write your senators. Write anyone and everyone and start expressing your feelings on how things are going in the USA. I do. I get a lot of form letters back thanking me for my input too, which tells me they are rarely, if ever, actually read. But maybe if more people took the time to do this, maybe someone somewhere would actually pay attention to the de facto government of this country — we, the people.