US Customs & Christmas (part 2)

Yesterday, I diarized about my experience shipping Christmas gifts to my family in the States (I live in Canada).  I noted that there were hoops to jump through that hadn't been there before and it led to some interesting discussion about traditions of gift sending and sweatshops.  It can be found here:

US Customs & Christmas

Today, there is an update.  I got a call from UPS...

UPS called me from a border office in Montana.  It appears that US Customs needs to know the names of each and every recipient of each and every gift in the box.

Yet another hoop.

Pardon me while I adjust my tin-foil hat, but doesn't this seem a bit much?  It would appear that this info in some government database is simply to establish personal "networks" of each and every individual on the planet.  At the very least, this information could be used to that end.

I reject the idea that this has to do with "homeland security" in that knowing what is in a box and who is getting it will not stop any sort of attack.  With all the sniffers, detectors, and see-through technology being used at border crossings, this "soft" info serves no purpose other than to get a fix on who we are, who we know and what we either like, or prefer to buy, give, sell, whatever.

As I said yesterday, this government will be the end of us all.  This "Brazil-like" (the movie, not the country) reality that we call the USA is exactly the sort of dystopia predicted by the likes of Huxley and Orwell.

to quote Jello Biafra, "Welcome to 1984."