Homeland Security: We Can Detain Your Laptop Indefinitely Without Cause
The Orwellian Department of Homeland Security claims that it can indefinitely confiscate laptops and iPods from law abiding citizens without any provocation or justification. The Department "clarified" their policies after several business travelers started asking the press why Homeland Security was fiddling with their laptops and PDAs for months on end.
DHS officials said the newly disclosed policies -- which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens -- are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter.
Civil liberties and business travel groups have pressed the government to disclose its procedures as an increasing number of international travelers have reported that their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices had been taken -- for months, in at least one case -- and their contents examined.
The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion."
The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cellphones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "
Reasonable measures must be taken to protect business information and attorney-client privileged material, the policies say, but there is no specific mention of the handling of personal data such as medical and financial records.
Senator Kickass Feingold (D-WI), sponsor of the unrelated Arbitration Fairness Act, plans to introduce legislation to require "reasonable suspicion" for border searches.
Defending the searches, Secretary Chertoff wrote in an Op-Ed that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." He added that "searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child pornography."
Just imagine what draconian Torquemada-esque searches they'll devise once they realize even more 'dangerous' and 'violent' material lurks within people's minds.
Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border [Washington Post]
(AP Photo/Mike Derer)
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Comments:
Well then, I guess every traveler in the US is either a jihad-driven terrorist or a child pornographer.
gg DHS.
I fully support custom's right to *SEARCH* anything. But actually taking a laptop/ipod/pda without cause needs to be struck down. If they do take something there needs to be some articulation of cause and a timetable for return that's reasonable ( say 3 months ).
I heard about this months ago, was surprised it took this long for the consumerist to post it. I think it's absolute s***. My mom uses her lap top to process credit card transactions through a secured net connection. So the US government can now take her lap top when she tries to go into canada on business, copy everything on her hard drive, and store and view that information for any amount of time. and given that the government is somehow involved, you KNOW someone will be taking advantage of the information they come across, because the government is corrupt. Never mind lawyer and doctor/patient confidentiality, or other sensitive business matters, prototypes, etc that the TSA and government has no business looking at. Absolute s***. We are losing our rights, and no one's even noticing -_-; PRetty soon the government will be able to just waltz into your house and tear it apart searching without a warrant because it "looks suspicious".
How do they even have any reasonable doubt? If you carry-on a laptop, what would be so suspicious?
"That laptop gave me a dirty look! Detain it for 3 to 6 months!"
Hmmm, likening personal information that's digitally stored to our thoughts..... I like it!
@Yurei: No, they can't when she enters Canada. That would be the Canadian government. When she returns across the border to the US, then yes, they can. I am surprised your mother keeps such information on her hard drive. As many Consumerist readers have seen, there have been a lot of cases of people having their identity stolen b/c someone misplaced their laptop or it was stolen. As for "losing" our rights, this rule about searching when coming into the country has been in place for at least 150 years. It certainly wasn't around when I was born, and possibly your mother as well.
What about legal documents? Can they take those for unspecified amounts of time? That could screw up any sort of things.
There is no excuse for not alerting travelers of this policy beforehand.
Regardless of your legal right to search, it is vital that business travelers know beforehand that their laptop could be detained for months without individual suspicion. They were not even given an explanation beforehand.
"Senator Kickass Feingold"
What are you, 14?
"Hey Fred, check it out! This is an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 laptop. Daaaamn... we need to confiscate this sucker for a few months. Tell that guy he's a terrorist and we're keeping his laptop."
This is nuts. Maybe after annoying enough corporations something will be done about this policy.
This isn't really news (in the sense that it's new) but I'm really glad to see another article on it.
If, while meeting no criteria for reasonable suspicion and being guilty of no crime, you have an item taken from you indefinitely, how can that not qualify as unreasonable search and seizure?
And this thread needs:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
In particular what bothers me is the information dragnet. If it's written down and it's not child porn, !@#$ OFF, GUBMINT. I'd hate to be an author or journalist traveling for research. The potential there for false positive, or hell, real (but ridiculous) positive under whatever rules they use to raise red flags is enormous.
I suppose international travelers will soon have to take the step of encrypting their data with strong, secure algorithms (TrueCrypt, anyone?). Of course, then, you'll be detained for not revealing your keys.
It's a slippery slope... and we're sliding down it.
@InThrees: As you said, this is really the key here:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The violations need to stop asap.
@InThrees:
OMG! That is the funniest thing ever. Quoting the Constitution.
As if this Administration or the TSA give a damn about some antiquated document.
We're at war, dammit!
@srudes2:
Banning cellphone use while driving? Check.
Banning smoking in restaurants and infringing on private property rights? Check.
Banning trans fats? Check.
Banning soft money and electioneering communication within 60 days of a federal election? Check.
Ethanol mandate? Check.
@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: Re: encryption
If they can't get the user to give them the key then they should return the hardware blanked.
I saved up money to be able to buy my gadgets (which I need for my everyday work in school), and I hope they're prepared to deal with someone who goes on an emotional breakdown because he/she cannot afford another thing of whatever they took.
I guess it is possible to ship all one's important paper documents and electronics to one's home and avoid all this. Expensive, but possible very worth the cost.
In addition to scanning your loptop and documents in the interest of homeland security, it also sounds like they might be sneaking in scans for illegal downloads on electronics. G8 decided at their last meeting that they wanted to crack down on music piracy. There are reports in some of the other G8 countries of iPods and laptops being scanned for illegally obtained at security checkpoints. I was wondering when they would start doing the same here, but it looks like they have already started.
It's not just about electronics anymore
The policy gives border agents at any point of entry into the United States the authority to also take documents, books, pamphlets and hard drives. The items can be seized from anyone crossing the border and may then be copied and shared with other government agencies, according to Department of Homeland Security documents dated July 16.
"Officers may detain documents and electronic devices, or copies thereof, for a reasonable period of time to perform a thorough border search," the policy says. "The search may take place on-site or at an off-site location."
All this will do is inconvenience business travellers and drive tourists somewhere else. I hear Canada is nice at this time of year...
This is just stupid, and the justification of looking for "contraband" is nothing more than a flimsy rationalization. Hint to U.S. government: it's not possible for you to stop the flow of illegal data into the United States.
That would otherwise be an excellent joke, but it's been applicable too many times in the recent past.
People use phrases like "...trample on the consitution" and others just dismiss it as fiery and extravagant rhetoric, but the truth is NO, IT'S HAPPENING.
The lack of a hue and cry is really disturbing.
There are already problems with the TSA's policy and laptops from other government agencies. The TSA thinks it can seize encrypted laptops belonging to other government agencies. Other government agencies say no way but the only recourse those employees have is a pack of papers showing that other agencies don't have privy to the data at their agency. I'm waiting for some massive pissing match between govt. agencies when the TSA decides to seize a laptop belonging to another agency.
@dasunst3r: This is my biggest fear. I don't have the extra dough hanging around to replace my laptop and cell phone. This is more of an issue that the TSA morons wanting to play voyeur on my laptop.
You might as well throw it to a bunch of monkeys. These clowns couldn't get a job at the post office.
How does the fourth amendment not apply in these cases...
Great, they've found violent jihadist materials and child porn, but they've done it at the cost of the constitution.
Senator Feingold is anything but kickass. But I'm glad he's trying to introduce this legislation.
@CaptJax: It doesn't apply, according to the courts, because they claim it's exactly the same thing as searching your bag when you cross a border. They have unlimited power to search without a warrant during border crossings. But this is an unprecedented expansion of the scope of these searches.
This combines the juvenile incompetence of the Geek Squad with the corrupt authority of a police state.
Please write your representatives about this! (I will.) This kind of BS needs to be squashed immediately. If everyone who wrote a complaint on a blog instead wrote to their representatives, then we might stand a chance of getting this changed!
I am going to take my old laptop put a bunch of files on called, "dirty bomb plan", "emp weapon", "6 year old orgy". But each file would actually be the fourth amendment (probable cause) repeated and encrypted the best I could. Let them waste months trying to crack it. If thousands of people did this they would eventually have to give up searching laptops.
Ok, no child porn supporter here.... but WTF does child porn have to do with terrorism? How long before they start using this technique to start illegally searching for other crimes? Is the info they gather even admissible in a court of law?
Just wait until the RIAA and the MPAA get a hold of the TSA and then all songs copied from CDs to mp3 players will be confiscated. Not to mention those Divx files that you had on your laptop to watch on the plane.
My only solace is that we will have a new president soon, hopefully either one of the candidates hold the constitution in higher regard than Bush and Co.
@The_Gas_Man: Feingold has both an outstanding record and is nearly beyond reproach with regards to ethics. Especially with regard to his votes against the Iraq war and the Patriot Act... both complete fuck ups.
IMO, his is without question "kick-ass."
Bushs' fuck ups... not Feingolds...
@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: If something takes more than three months to decrypt, you can be reasonably certain that it will take more than three years.
@InThrees: @brent_r: @The Rude Bellman: @Munsoned: @CaptJax: I hate to burst bubbles, but the FIRST congress said, concerning the 4th Amendment at Borders:
""That searches made at the border, pursuant to the longstanding right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border, should, by now, require no extended demonstration."" [www.law.cornell.edu]
Now I know I probably should, but I'm not sure exactly when they said that. But since the First Congress met from 1798-1791 during President Washington's(1st President, BTW) term, I'm guessing these people were familiar with the Constitution, considering most of them signed it, or were around when it was. Unless you want to admit that the TSA and DHS and Bush Administartion has developed time travel, and thus gone back through time to make rules that they would like, this can't be blamed on them. If you want to blame anyone, blame the people who started this country.
@CaptJax: Thanks for the link... I however do not need it since the "kickass" senator is my representative... :)
There are plenty of Congressmen from WI that would fight to keep this though... Fatbastard Sensenbrenner being one of them (no my rep... anymore thank god!)
@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: It makes no claim on confiscating said material though does it? No one says they shouldn't be able to search people, but confiscation of materials is a completely different circumstance.
@eyv: Have you ever heard of a backlog? If the computers they use to decrypt are busy on another project, you should expect a little delay on processing a job. If it takes two months to decrypt a certain amount of data, and there are two months worth of jobs ahead of it, then it's hard to get it done in three months, eh? I blame this on the CSI effect. People expect DNA to be completed in 20 minutes and everything to run smoothly. Things break, and much of these processes depend on human interaction, and we certainly aren't the most efficient species.
@rellog: "examining persons and property crossing into this country". While not a expert, evidence isn't usually left in the control of a suspect. If someone shoots someone with a gun, or is suspected, do you leave the gun with them while you investigate? If you suspect there is something hidden on the computer, do you say, "I'm a border guard, not a certified forensic computer technician. Can you bring this computer back here next week when he stops back here? But you have to PROMISE that you won't change or delete anything. Come on, pinky swear!"
Good to see the Republicans value individual rights and privacy. /snark
Even if we get a Dem President for the next four terms, it'll take longer to weed out the entrenched tinpot dictators populating the TSA.
Before the defensive whining commences about how it's not the Republican's fault, keep in mind that the TSA was founded by a Republican-led Executive Branch and okayed by a Republican-led Congress and headed by - you guessed it - a Republican appointee.
Yet another example of the GOP uttering empty, pretty phrases then doing the exact opposite. Stunning that their followers fall for this again, again, and again.
@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: Search me all you want! Hell, search my laptop... Feel free, but don't keep it for THREE MONTHS!
And don't act like people are stupid because of the CSI effect. You can have your cursory look at my laptop but you don't get to keep it, backlog or not.
"While not a expert, evidence isn't usually left in the control of a suspect. If someone shoots someone with a gun, or is suspected, do you leave the gun with them while you investigate?"
And you'd also detain the suspect because they're SUSPECTED OF SHOOTING SOMEONE! In these cases, you don't have to be suspected of anything, just a guy with a laptop... Call the FBI.
Pick a better analogy.
@CaptJax: I admit I don't watch CSI much, but when I watch the occasional episode of CSI:Wherever, they usually confiscate a computer to check into it. They don't have Brass or Ackley tapping away discovering anything hidden. Should we expect the average beat cop to search a computer? Would you trust the average border guard to go digging around your data w/o messing anything up? Would you expect them to find anything that was hidden with even half a damn? I can make files invisible on a computer that your average person wouldn't find. Give that to a trained technician, or hell, even a Geek Squad agent, and they will find it. What if the data is in another language, and requires translation? Do you expect someone who is versed in many languages to be working at every border? Look, if we had a C-3PO and a R2-D2 at every border, then yes, it should be done quickly. But we don't.
I live in the United States. Stories like this make me pause to consider using my dual US/Canadian citizenship to move to Toronto.
I'm tentatively planning on traveling to Japan next year, and the thought of having my Macbook seized makes me want to cry {I consider it my lovechild}. If I do travel abroad, I think I'll just buy a cheap Eee PC to take with me, so that if my computer is confiscated, at least it's not one that cost $1000+.
All of this reminds me that I had wanted to pick up Naomi Wolf's book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.
@CaptJax: You do not always detain the suspect in a shooting. In any police investigation, EVERYONE is a suspect initially. You then narrow down the suspects. If my neighbor was shot, and they came over and asked if I had a weapon, and I said yes, they would take the weapon into evidence, even if I wasn't a main suspect. Once they eliminate that weapon as one that was used, it would be returned.
This is really crazy. What's next?[fill in your phrase here]