December 16, 2004 | Stashing the Stash

John Perry Barlow, former Grateful Dead Lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, had little luck yesterday fighting the TSA's baggage screening process that led to his arrest in September 2003, when a screener found pot hidden in a bottle of ibuprofen in his bag, according to Mary Anne Ostrom's article in the Mercury News.

Barlow had claimed he was the subject of an unlawful search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment; the screener can look in checked baggage for explosives and incendiary devices that might be used to blow up an airplane, his attorney argued, but not drugs.

It was a pair of laser gloves Barlow used at the Burning Man festival that initially caught the baggage screener's attention when an X-ray machine showed wires, electrodes and batteries in checked luggage.

Barlow's attorney had tried to convince the judge that his client's case would expose the federal agency's baggage check policies as nothing but ``a stalking horse'' for much broader criminal investigations. The defense did elicit testimony from airport police that they work closely with the Transportation Security Administration, Drug Enforcement Agency and baggage screening contractors to act on drug tips, but that's not what led to Barlow's arrest.

I think Barlow's arguments are actually pretty sound. If cops get a warrant to search your house for illegal weapons, they should not be able to open bottles in your medicine cabinet to check for illegal drugs. If they search your house and you've got an ounce of pot sitting out on the coffee table, then the cops are fine, by law, to arrest you for possession. (Of course, that's leaving aside the question of whether pot or any drugs should be criminalized).
)
That said, Barlow's arguments are not nearly as interesting as his friend John Gilmore's arguments are.

(Funny side note: according to this entry on Barlow's blog, Barlow had Gilmore post bail for him last year, but that almost did not work because, although Gilmore had enough cash, he refused to show identification.)

Posted by Ryan Singel at December 16, 2004 10:34 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.secondaryscreening.net/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/75