Tuesday, May 27, 2008

International Customs Invasion

Ashley Gaffey
May 27, 2008

Airlines are now more invasive when searching private belongings in customs. Despite the fact that many passengers have reduced or eliminated certain items from their travel needs the airline industry is now becoming even more judgmental as to what can cause reasons for a search, specifically the search of laptops. Most passengers consider Transportation Security Agency (customs) to be overzealous in searching, but nothing is quite as extreme as International customs. Many critics are questioning whether the law that provides for their extreme searches to be out-of-bounds. Further, what is the criteria for these searches. The rules allow for Customs and Boarder Control almost every right to search with no reasoning and it is blanketed by the possibility that anyone can be a suspect. Though, many passengers question if it is a violation of our civil rights. The most cynical aspect is that the government suggests that we (as passengers) have no right to know what the rules for searches are. Critics of this tactic suggest that there is no value to the Freedom of Information Act if it can only be used against and not for us. The most inferior aspect is that federal courts agree that “reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs.”
Recently a man, who was traveling in the California area, had is laptop seized and customs found child pornography, and he is now being charged for that crime. And he questions the legality of the invasive way it was found. The article states that the justification in “fishing” though laptops is so anything goes. The main reasons laptops are under such stiff searches is because of the easy possibility that it can be the gateway to international terrorism. The only positive aspect to these searches is that they are only for international traveling. As long as a passenger is staying within the US borders he/she is protected against this form of searching.
The searching of laptops goes even further that customs can look at any file or copy data. Often the laptops are taken away and the owner is left to wonder if anything may have been installed/uninstalled. The only advice customs gives is to not leave as much personal information on your laptop. Many of the owners are left inconvenienced and feel invaded.

Analysis:

While this process is invasive and a bit tedious it’s a double edged sword. If we allow easy customs and less rigid rules we (United States) may be putting ourselves on a pedestal to be attacked again. If customs discloses the reasoning for random searches those who want to cause harm through terrorism have a hand up because they know the warning signals. Though, if we allow laws without justification we are losing our civil liberties. If a personal laptop can no longer be personal and hold personal information, as well, if software/hardware are removed/added without our knowledge when customs takes it, our civil liberties are even more in jeopardy.

Kids' Net Access

Heres the the link to my page with a summary of the article discussing monitoring children's Internet access
http://eardo17.googlepages.com/home

Here is the link to the article
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080523/tc_pcworld/146223;_ylt=A0WTcWCz2TZI0vMAzxL6VbIF

E-marketing class FYI

This is not for the e-marketing class topic paper but i found it during my searching and thought that it was interesting.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

e-marketingclass: MySpace and the Marketing Abuse

Here is the link to my Topic paper:

http://sbrooks4.googlepages.com

This is the link to my article:

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3629638

This is the link the video:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32045785

What is Web 2.0 (and how it relates to our e-marketingclass)

It's likely that you've heard the term "Web 2.0" used in many different ways and in different contexts. While we can't seem to agree on its definition, nearly everyone recognizes that the current version of the Web is more interactive, engaging and participatory than earlier form. These characteristics make the Internet an important platform for marketers who are seeking to build and maintain strong linkages with their customers.

Tim O'Reilly (http://radar.oreilly.com/) summarizes Web 2.0 as:
Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively
form the basis for the next generation of the Internet—a more mature,
distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and
network effects.
See an excerpt of his report here.

The Internet, along with other information and communication technologies available to organizations today, enable firms to develop important "customer linking" capabilities. Such capabilities have been shown to lead to better customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention.

How does the Internet provide companies with customer-linking opportunities today? In the future?