Fun for those visiting Canada!

Shit! You guys told told me I had nothing to worry about if I am not breaking the law! You promised me that they were only looking for pedos and terrorists! You fucking liars!

http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.asp ... PLATE_ID=9 (http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=5243&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=9)

Here├втВмтДвs another story for all you saintly plain vanilla queer folk out there. Looks like a lot more than what the gay moral brigade bargained for, eh? Take a gander at this story out of Canada:

http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.asp ... PLATE_ID=1 (http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=2&STORY_ID=3995&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=1)

In particular I like that law about ├втВм┼Уadults who ├втВм╦ЬAPPEAR under the age of 18├втВмтДв├втВм

Including crotch shots of 14 year-old Olympians, one would presume.

[Wesley]

I called my computer guy and ordered a upgraded hard drive and a way to hook it all up to my old hard drive should I ever need my banking information, damn 110 dollars just to make sure I can leave the country with my computer in hand, I will DHL anything else ahead to my gay friends including my adult gay Erotica. Now that' I have downloaded the picture of Smile's hairy legs I certainly cannot take this one across the boarder.

Wes

Hate to burst your bubble, but GWB's gestapo (aka Homeland Security) have just as much right to search a hard disk coming in by DHL as one carried in on your person. In fact, they're probably even more likely to do so.

[Wesley]

I'm going out not coming in, I can;t believe HS has enough people to check DHL fed EX and he postal service. and check every bag going on the plane too. damn for all that I just as well save the money on anew hard drive and just run my CD that caem with the computer and erase the hard drive. Save my documents to a disk and forget it. There likely i nothing worse than by bf is a towel any way and he is 23/

Wes

Of course they don't inspect every bag and parcel coming into and going out of the United States. But they do conduct random searches, plus of course searches based on profiling.

How lucky are you feeling?

You guys told told me I had nothing to worry about

You gotta be really careful. As my friend from Singapore once found out. It could just be ONE illegal Madonna mp3 or video you forgot to delete in your My MP3s or My Movies folder. If you forget to delete it and they find you trying to bring it in, well, then it could be trouble, cost you a little bit, or maybe even mean JAIL!

Don't get caught. It's not worth it.

When I came back to Canada I was searched for the first time ever. Apparently a single male, travelling alone in Thailand is a cause for concern for the CBSA. When they pulled out my laptop I was asked if there was any porn, which I relplied "'Yes". When they asked what kind of porn, I told them, "Gay porn, but mostly clothed pictures of men". They I was asked if was password protected, which it was. They didn't seem interested in the laptop after that.

Ever since I wondered why they didn't look at the laptop. Can they legally search a password protected laptop? I know Canadian laws are drastically different from the US, but can they conduct a search of personal property without just cause? If I refuse to give them the password, can I be arrested and if so for what? Can I call lawyer? I don't know the answers to my questions but I wondered why they never looked to see what kind of porn I had.

They swabbed my toiletries for drug residue and when everything came back clean I was released.

After reading these news articles, I don't know what to think, but I certainly know what not to travel with now.

[ceejay]

I don't know about Canada, but in the UK the Customs have greater powers than even the police. They can search you, and anything with you, including the contents of a laptop, protected or not, which means they can demand passwords and/or take a laptop away for further analysis. Having said that, I have only ever been searched once - a very perfunctory search coming back from Malta of all places. I think that must have been purely random. Took about two minutes, and they didn't even open the laptop. That was at Stansted.

The only time I have had baggage properly searched anywhere was outward bound from Don Muang. It was after I had checked in but before I had gone through to the departure lounge. I had slipped out of the building for a quick smoke, and when I came back what I assume to have been plain clothes police flashed an ID at me (might as well have been a library ticket - I do not read Thai) and demanded, perfectly politely, the keys to my hand baggage which they went through very throughly. Guess they may have thought someone had slipped me something when I went out. After 5 minutes of rummaging, they sent me on my way.

I never bother taking toiletries back home. Partly because I don't want a half used bottle of sunscreen exploding in my luggage, partly because I am told that opened toiletries are something of a favourite for the Customs to search - it just removes one more chance of hassle.

[Wesley]

I have been ask to turn mine on once and they swabbed mine once for explosives other than that they have never ask. but I have never traveled directly back to the USA either. Or directly to Thailand. Its almost always a stop over or a side trip from some where else.

This time I aim going to the Philippines first , I think because of human trafficking and underage prostitution its worse than Thailand for being looked at as possible pedophiles.I never take pictures of the guys especially digital ones. I do have quite a bit of the country side and temples and stuff though. Some are quite good pics. That was way back when I had a Thai lover for a couple of years. I think we went everywhere. A lot of it was his first time to see the places himself. Especially the stuff at the palace.

Too bad I could not get a picture with the King Almost in arm. My bf was so respectful of it all it was almost scary.

Wes