US Airports searching inside laptops?

If you’re traveling to the United States and happen to bring your laptop, iPod or other electronic gadgets with you, airport or border authorities can actually search for data in them.

The Guardian UK has the story:

Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. Customs and Border Patrol has not published any rules regarding this practice, and I and others have written a letter to Congress urging it to investigate and regulate this practice.

But the US is not alone. British customs agents search laptops for pornography.

Various reasons may prompt this thorough security check — unlicensed softwares, pirated music, porn videos, terrorist plans? Who knows what else they could be on the look-out.

My previous visits to other countries haven’t gone this far. At the Changi Airport terminal, they’d ask passengers to take out their laptops from their bags and separately run them thru the scanners. Worst experience I had was at the Karachi Airport in Pakistan where airport police turned my luggage inside-out, leaving my clothes and laundry on the floor.