Freedom of Information?

I bet many people didn't know this, but a bill was introduced to the U.S. Senate late last week that was completely overshadowed and forgotten in the controversy surrounding the Wall Street bailout; this bill would put restrictions on the Department of Homeland Security seizing individual's personal computers for search. That's right, for some time now, the DHS has had the authority, which has been upheld by the courts, to seize and search any laptop computer or other data carrying device of someone entering the country. Not only can they detain the computer, but they can also view any data on it; make copies of said data, and even hold the original device for an indeterminate period of time; all without a warrant.
Not something many people would like, is it? The Feds snooping through your personal data, possibly even confidential data depending on your business. Now, understandably, there need to be standards for security. But also, there is a difference between a bomb and data on someone's computer. One can explode and be used to kill people. With the ubiquitous nature of the internet, it's likely that smuggling data in through the border would be the last thing on the mind of anyone who would be out to do harm. They could just as easily, and in fact most likely more easily have access to it through a variety of anonymous internet servers and connections. So why do the Feds feel the need to data snoop? I wish I had the answer; but, like many things happening in the government today, I can only shake my head and wonder why. I'm in favor of this bill, and I have a feeling that the vast majority of the American public would be as well. Hopefully it will not be quietly dismissed in the turmoil in congress right now, but rather quietly passed, so that the majority of the American public can go on none the wiser, now having a slight bit of their privacy restored.