The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. --The US Constitution

I woke up thinking about 9/11 this morning. On that day, European friends called and emailed to see if I was "okay", never mind that New York all the way across the country from my home. The most absurd and well-meaning caller told me not to turn on my TV and not to leave the house. It was too late, my TV was on but, yes, physically I was okay. Mentally, I was not okay and neither my country nor I have been okay since. More specifically, for travelers, things have degraded into the theater of the absurd. We watch our rights inch away all in the name of "security."

Last week, bloggers were aflame (again - this story first surfaced in April) with the news that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has seen it fit to seize your laptop upon what looks to be a whim.

..federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing.--World Hum

The DHS has also seen fit to declare what I call "The War on Liquids" - limiting your carry on options to three ounce bottles that add up to one quart, total, and liberating many a passenger from their bottled water (and my favored airplane treat, Odwalla juice). In the meantime they've confiscated pies, sandwiches, containers of yogurt, baby formula and almost empty bottles of toothpaste and sunscreen - the last two are from personal experiences.

Okay, all right. I'll hand over my last 1.5 ounces of Sensodyne and yes, it's a drag to have to give up my good UVA/UVB suncreen, okay, okay, okay. I ask why, nicely, because I think it is important for the TSA to understand the extreme absurdity of seeing sunscreen as a threat on an interisland hop in Hawaii, but then, I will hand it over. A couple of ounces of sunscreen is not worth missing the flight. I will run breathlessly through the airport to make a connection and then, hold the plane up further while the screener Xrays my shoes, again asking why but quickly and very politely.

But I will hand over my laptop when they pry it from my democracy loving patriotic hands after showing me a warrant. And while that is happening, my first phone call will not be to the airlines to rebook my flight - at my own expense because the airlines isn't the cause for the delay -  or my Congressional representatives, who have failed me time and time again; it will be to the ACLU.

The web is abuzz with ways to respond to to this act of creeping fascim. Upload your stuff to a web server somewhere - but anyone who's tried to upload a high res photo from an Internet cafe in, say, Bangkok, knows that connection speed can be less than reliable. Store your data on a USB or flash card elsewhere - but if you're asked for additional data, you'll be expected to hand it over. Encrypt your data and "hide" it - but again, if you're asked about encrypted data, you'll be expected to provide the password to crack it. The solutions are all bad, impractical, and may not work.

Here are three personal scenarios:

• I work as a travel writer and photographer. If the TSA takes a hankering to my data and decides to keep my laptop and digital media while they explore my data, they are blocking my ability to complete my work.
• I work on not yet released technology products and I travel a lot. It makes sense encrypt that information to secure it, in case my laptop is stolen. Showing that information to others violates the terms of my contract, but encrypting the data makes it "suspicious."
• My husband works in avionics - aircraft navigation and communication technology - and he is not a US citizen. If the screeners decide they don't like that fact that he has aircraft operation manuals on his laptop, he can be denied entrance into the country.

Your PDA and your iPod are also subject to warrantless search and seizure. Are you 100% sure that all that music on there is legal and that there are no p*rn sites in your cache?

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child p*rn*graphy, he wrote.--Washington Post

Small minded right wing types will say that those of us seeking to exercise our fourth amendment right (protection against illegal search and seizure) are soft on jihadists and p*rn.

Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said it was alarming that the policies 'don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched.'

He added: 'They are saying that they can rifle through all the information contained in a traveller's laptop without having even a smidgeon of evidence that the traveller is breaking the law.' --Daily Mail.

I'm with the small minded people who think the right against search and seizure has primacy.

On a broader level, I'm disturbed by the increasing restrictions on travel and travel related activities. New regulations for visitors require even those on the visa waiver program to register before entering the US. Homeland Security's policies for boarding airplanes are erratically enforced and border on the ridiculous. (See above under pie.) There's the no fly list, the weird stuff happening with photographers, and a general malaise around travel - that it's too hard, too expensive, too frustrating, we're staying home. We're not staying home because we WANT to, we're staying home because the obstacles seem insurmountable.

To me, a veteran, devoted traveler, this shift against travel is frightening. Hand over your data and your papers, please. Step aside, please. We'd like to talk to you, thank you. All of this feels insidious to me, I get an unsettling feeling that our government thinks travelers are suspicious, they should be watched, they should be regulated, they should stay in one place. This is antithetical to travelers values, I think.

We travel to exchange ideas, to see new places, to open our minds and hearts to other ways to do things. But the feeling of a tightening cage is something I can no longer ignore. This latest unconstitutional step doesn't make me feel more secure, it makes me feel more afraid of my government. Again, I find myself eying the election prospects, wondering if the next Congress will act to restore the freedoms this American traveler is so proud to exercise. Again, I find myself looking at my European residency card. If I can not move about freely, I can certainly move away.

I'd see that not as a personal failing to deal with the US's increasingly fascistic laws, but as a failure of America to live up to her promises to me.

• The Electronic Freedom Foundation has a several pages devoted to Q&A on the laptop seizure issues as well as information on how you can contact your representatives.
• Jersey Girl compares our border policies with Internet policies in China
• The Center for Democracy and Technology posts the entire policy here.

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View. Join the conversation about travelblogging on the new Travelbloggers Forum.