Are there any physical bonds in the known Star Trek universe which could contain Data? Examples are the Cardassian handcuffs from "Chain of Command," the Hirogen chains from "Hunters," etc. The Chinese Finger Puzzle is not a valid answer, unless you believe that Data would be A) unable to eventually figure out how to free himself from it; and B) unable to destroy it. Thanks for answering! But think B4 you do!
That Borg assimilation table in First Contact seemed able to keep him contained. Really, he was only able to free himself because the Borg let one of his arms go and he was able to reach the controls to release the other arm and his legs.
Are you sure that the harness and ballgag were intended for Data? My guess is that Klingons, Romulans, Hirogen, etc., do not typically deal with non-humanoid beings, and so the restraints they have created are probably not suitable to contain androids, at least those of Data's strength. However, I do believe that these species could build restraints which could contain Data, but it would be very difficult to do so.
Yeah but that was covered in the fanfic bit. Seriously McBain... do you just sit around and think up the more bizarre threads to start?
A Swedish backpacking hippie makes a discovery under San Francisco that forever changes how he perceives the world. That's it, right?
There really wasn't anything physical that could contain Data but the puzzle of how to be human certain had him perplexed and sometimes paralyzed with fear. There was one episode where he was scared to make a decision because he had made an error in his previous judgement. To me, freezing up the mind by imparting a strong negative emotion like fear is far more restricting than any prison cell, handcuffs or whatnot.