[OT] Customs

[Bernard Devlin]

Never mind coming in to the UK.

I always get a grilling from Customs when I'm trying to leave the UK
to go to France.

They are always incredibly rude and aggressive, asking the most
personal of questions, but they never search in my bags but always
hold me back for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile lots of really shady
looking characters slip by whilst they waste their time with me.

It's quite clear that some of the people who are wearing badges that
say they work for customs are actually working for some other
government agency that has nothing to do with taxing imports.

Bizarrely enough, I've never had a problem from Customs when coming in
to the UK, even when making frequent trips to places like Amsterdam or
Bangkok, destinations where one might expect them to be interested in
frequent travellers.

My experience with the police is pretty much the same.  Many times
I've been stopped for no reason in my car, and after 20 minutes of
searching my car and finding nothing they send me on my way.  Yet
every time when I've been the victim of crime they've been totally
useless and unhelpful.

>From my experience, I'd say that their actions show a great degree of
incompetence and randomness.  So you might be subject to some abuse,
even if you are completely without fault.

If you are worried they might seize your laptop, then maybe it is
better to put any data/applications you might need on the internet
somewhere before you go.  Then you can access them when you are in the
UK.  You could use something like rsync.net for a month, then close
your account.

Bernard

On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 6:53 PM, Richmond
Mathewson<richmondmathewson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Before I hop on the plane to the conference I am trying to find out
> some information about British Customs and laptops.
>
> There has been persistent rumours that customs officers can seize
> laptops at random from entrants to Britain and hold them for
> examination as long as they want.
>
> Unfortunately my wife's laptop (which is what I intend to bring
> to Edinburgh) contains nothing "interesting"; notwithstanding that
> it would be "a right pain" if it were randomly seized by customs and excise.
>
> Can anybody enlighten me on this; especially as I have been outwith
> the surveillance society since January.
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