Did this apply to everyone or just yourself? Or did the 'unusual items' you were carrying mark you out for 'special attention'?

BTW if you replace the SD card with the micro SDHC cards (now available upto 8 Gigabytes), these are a lot easier to hide to get through TSA checks. Just pop one underneath a sticky plaster wrapped around a finger for example.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-memory-microSDHC-MobileMate-Reader/dp/B000WH6H1M/ref=pd_sbs_ce_4

This is making the news rounds on most tech sites, the tsa is has started copying data off a lot of electronic devices.
I'm thinking we should turn them in to the RIAA for making illegal copies of peoples songs.

Thanks comms.

Am_Fear_Liath_Mor, Actually I had read about it before I left and all I brought was a digital camera. I had no trouble going out, but when I got back in, it was like being in Russia. They copied my camera and Video tape, and I was acting normal. The people around me who had MP3 players and laptops or cell phones, they went crazy with there new toy I guess. They told them they have to inspect for illegal software,music or kiddie porn and were copying other peoples gear. All they got from me was my trips pictures, I took no cell phones or what have you. You have old women with laptops being searched for kiddie porn---give me a break. Some of the travelers I bumped into who told me about some things they do like acquire a pay as you go phone once you arrive at the destination. Load your contacts from a piece of paper carried hidden from customs, once loaded in the phone they burn the paper and throw the phone away before the returning flight to the US. They buy cheap MP3 players once they arrive and store there music on ftp sites that they download from the internet cafes. Where I went had no web access so a laptop was useless anyway. Do a search for customs seizing laptops and you'll see all the commotion going on. Customs has definitely overstepped there boundary on this one.
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http://www.thetransnational.travel/news.php?cid=laptop-seizure.Jul-08.09

I'm with you Eugene, they should be held under the same laws as we are.

Hi falcon5000,

I guess the Pentagon DARPA project for Total Informational Awareness is truly alive and kicking.



Scientia Est Potentia sums that situation up quite nicely.

I suppose trying to get through customs with your trouser leg rolled up above the knee and the left breast showing while asking the TSA agent how old his grandma was might help you get through a bit quicker though.

I hear you, the non magnetic signature money belt and belt that I had did not set off any detectors and made it through 1 pat down without them noticing anything. I don't know if a micro SD card will set off there detectors. Traveling to and from America get's better by the minute.

Shadow OPS is alive and well.

This thread already went off topic (not that this is a bad thing) and keeping with that flow. I have heard that with the strips they now put in paper money that it can be detected remotely. Is there any truth to this? It seems in a bug-out that you could come across a lot of intense focus by law enforcement if you had a large sum of money to get you through till things were better. Makes me want to buy a lead-lined box…

The metal strip is just a measure to prevent counterfeiting. But the way things are going I don't doubt there will someone somewhere pushing for RFID to be added to high denomination notes.



I can't really see a micro SD card setting off the detectors. There appears to be less metal in an micro SD card than a clothing zipper. Even if it does the micro SD slipped under a band aid wrapped around a finger will probably confuse the TSA agent into thinking the hand held scanner is malfunctioning as you show him/her your open hand with nothing in it.

Wow, can't believe US customs are actually patting down visitors and returning US citizens as though they were all common criminals.

BTW even travelling to the old Soviet Union during the height of the cold war didn't even get this kind of privacy intrusion - well not until you got to your hotel room of course, which was most likely bugged.

"Wow, can't believe US customs are actually patting down visitors and returning US citizens as though they were all common criminals."

Yes it was rather disturbing, I don't know if I just happened to be there at the right time when they were tipped off by something, or if it was a fluke thing or what but they were definably acting different than when I traveled many years ago. I don't travel international enough to know it this is a normal thing now or what and when I left it was with the wife and on the way back I came in solo (she's staying an extra week ). Also with me coming in solo as a white male traveling alone with a back pack with a water filter (never needed), purifier (used extensively), stainless steel water bottle and cup, first aid kit, poncho, rope,chargers, solar panel, gps, waterproof bags rated at 200 feet, and other things may have put some flags up as well. Nothing on my carry on was confiscated, just an item was stolen out of the checked luggage.

But the thing that gets me was that other people were treated as well and they were your typical run of the mill people, nothing out of the norm. And maybe they were acting on something for that day and my encounter may have been unique. I don't know?

Just got off the phone with Garmin and celler was correct they did hook me up. My HCX is just out of warranty and they gave me a RMA number and will repair it at no charge. Very cool, so off it goes in the mail. There customer service for repairs was very very good when I called. This was my first time dealing with them.