A Visit to the Empire State Building

While in Manhattan a few weeks ago, I made a visit to the Empire State Building. I plunked down the $20 to get up to the 86th floor Observation Deck. It’s a self-guided tour, but multitudes of jacketed escorts direct the lines of people (and lines and lines and lines of them) through corridors and up elevators.

The Empire State Building was constructed (completed) in 1931. It was the tallest building in the world, until the World Trade Center was built in 1972. It’s designed in the glamorous Art Deco style.

I was surprised at the crowds in the building. It was Wednesday morning, and yet there were hundreds of people waiting to get up to the Observation Deck. Most of the time was spent waiting in line to get up there.

Midway through the journey of walking down long hallways and taking elevators up, we had to have our bags scanned through an x-ray machine and we had to pass through a metal detector. It was chaotic. I haven’t been to an airline since 9/11, but the experience must be as or more confusing and noisy. Yuk.

A large family ahead of me caused a small ruckus with the guards. Read more

Secure Your Laptop When Traveling

Unfortunately, no longer is your personal property personal and private when you travel. The United States, with its behemoth and invasive “Homeland” “Security” department (heil Homeland!), now claims to have the right to break the Fourth Amendment and rifle through your personal possessions for the “privilege” of travel. So unless you are a migrant Mexican sneaking through the border, the United States government reserves the right to stop you from crossing the border and investigate every pore of your body and every item you carry.

(yes, I know I sound angry and sarcastic. This tyranny is just so wrong on so many levels).

Jack Gold wrote a good article, How to Secure Laptops from U.S. Government’s Prying Eyes:

On April 21, 2008, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially gave the U.S. government carte blanche permission to check any and every piece of data on laptops belonging to travelers passing into the United States at border control checkpoints.

In its decision, the court stated that they “are satisfied that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border.” This decision also allows the U.S. government to confiscate the laptop for an unlimited period of time, and with no recourse for the owner of the device. Most business laptop owners have nearly everything about themselves stored on their hard drives, including financial information, pictures, e-mails from a variety of sources, and, of course, work-related sensitive information.

His advice?

• Encrypt and backup your data.
• Beef up your security, for software and hardware.
• Don’t trust airport investigators to handle your laptop or data in a safe, secure manner.

The U.S. infringement of the Fourth amendment doesn’t only apply to laptops, by the way. They want to look at your iPhones, your Blackberrys, other smartphones, etc. It’s very unfortunate and a total crime that the United States government refuses to abide by Constitutional law. But until things change, it would be wise to be aware and prepare when you travel.