Laptop Searches in Airports... (NYT)

Since the start of the elections, it's been a long time since I hit the "Washington" link on the NYT page. Anyways, with my new Times Reader installed I managed to stumble across an article discussing Wednesday's Senate hearing pertaining to laptop searches in airports for citizens re-entering the country.

Laptop Searches in Airports Draw Fire at Senate Hearing
by Austin Bogues

The federal government says the searches are necessary for national security and for legal action against people who bring illegal material into the country.

“If you asked most Americans whether the government has the right to look through their luggage for contraband when they are returning from an overseas trip, they would tell you ‘yes, the government has that right,’ ” Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said Wednesday at the hearing of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.

“But,” Mr. Feingold continued, “if you asked them whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails, look at their photographs and examine the Web sites they have visited, all without any suspicion of wrongdoing, I think those same Americans would say that the government absolutely has no right to do that.”

I find this to be rather ridiculous. I've traveled across international borders countless times since last August and I'm surprised my luggage was never searched. I can see it now: randomized email and website checks. Ugh.