Any of you planning on entering the U.S. from Thailand, be sure to eliminate or hide any pornographic photos or videos. In July, 2005 and again yesterday, a customs officer searched my luggage thoroughly. Yesterday's search was pretty ludicrous. The officer spent a good twenty minutes viewing a tape in my video camera (lucky for me, unlucky for him, it was an endless tape of scenery flashing by on the road between Phuket and Phang Nga which my Thai friend had taken). Ditto for my digital camera. Since I never take porn pictures or videos, he never found anything titillating.

The kicker was when he asked to see the contents of my lap-top. I turned it on and he poked half a dozen buttons trying to find stuff. It was comically obvious that he had not a clue about how to use a computer. I asked him what he was looking for and he said "directories", so, rather than go to "Windows explorer", I punched up "programs" from the start menu and all he could see was a long list of program names. Still, without a clue, he asked if I had any video or photos in my computer. I lied and said "no" even though I actually had a vast collection of photos in my laptop with a few "risque" photos. Why help somebody whose IQ seemed to be lower than his age?

It makes absolutely no sense to me why customs need to search for pornography from Thailand when even more smutty stuff can be purchased on-line or from adult bookstores in the U.S. Maybe they're trying to protect the smut industry in the U.S. against foreign competion. Or, maybe it was child pornography they were looking for. I do not know.

In any case, I strongly recommend that you eliminate or hide any pornographic stuff on your laptop or on CD-ROMS or video or still cameras before coming to the U.S. from Thailand.

As for those "risque" photos...any suggestion about hiding them? I'm thinking of removing them from "my pictures" file and putting them in an area outside of "my documents" in a file with some sort of boring name like "xtechnicalx" or something.

I'd love to hear from others about their experience with customs searches. It was scary while it happened but looking back on the haplessness of the customs officer brings a grin to my face.

American Donny

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