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Me and several others I know have had the unfortunate displeasure of having to go through the more slow and irritating aspects of airport security in the past.
Next week, I'm planning on travelling with a few burned CD's and I'm curious as to whether or not the security at the airport will stop me and question me about what they might think could potentially be illegally burned music.
So, is this an inconvenience I shouldn't be worrying about, or would it be less time-consuming if I just didn't bring the discs along with me?
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Until they start strip-searching and cataloging every piece of personal property carried on or transported with a passenger, I don't think you have anything to worry about.
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They have no way of knowing whether the CDs are legal or not - I often burn a copy of a new CD so I'll wear it out instead of the original, which is perfectly legal. If posessing illegal copies were a crime, they probably wouldn't even sell CD-Rs.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I save all my CDs on my computer, and burn them off as mp3-CDs for travel purposes. So every trip I've gone on in the past several years I've taken scores of burned CDs in my carry-on. It's never been a problem. I don't see how it could be.
As has been mentioned, there is nothing inherently illegal in having burned CDs. It's only illegal if you don't have the original CD. Heck, even if you don't have the original CD, plenty of people are legally downloading audio files to burn, or transferring records and tapes onto CD. It sounds like your copies are legit, but even if they weren't, and even if the airport security people were RIAA stooges, there's no way they could even begin an investigation based on a few burned discs in a backpack. Further, burned CDs are no more damning than mp3 players, iPods, laptop computers, palm pilots, mini-disc players, USB flash-drives, the memory in your digital camera, and countless other ways of storing data that people travel with. Not only would trying to monitor all these things for illegally copied media be unconstitutional, it would also be a fruitless, inefficient and money-wasting logistical nightmare. We still live in America, and although you might not think it anymore, we do still have rights.
One other thing to keep in mind: Most of these airport security people aren't even looking that hard for guns or bombs. If you think eight bucks an hour is going to be enough to convince them to add CDs to their list of things they need to give a damn about, you're fooling yourself. You could hide your discs in a brick of heroin and you'd almost certainly still get through with no trouble.
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