Consumerist
Some visitors and citizens of the United States may be shocked to learn that their computers, cell phones and data devices are now subject to search and data retrieval upon entry into the U.S., even without cause or suspicion. On April 19th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that all computers and data devices are the same as luggage in that they can be searched without cause, and that all collected data may be stored indefinitely. More, inside...
Until recently, the law said that unwarranted computer searches constituted an "intrusion of the mind", but those days are now over in light of the new rulings. The latest rulings stem from a case where airline passenger, Timothy Arnold, was pulled aside for secondary questioning upon his arrival into LAX from The Philippines in July, 2005. Customs agents searched his laptop and found images depicting child pornography. Initially, it was ruled that agents didn't have reasonable suspicion to search his laptop, however, that ruling was overturned. Arnold was later charged with possessing and transporting child porn and with traveling to a foreign country with the intention of having sex with children.
U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien praised the decision, "The government needs to have the ability to restrict harmful material from entering the country, whether that be weapons used by terrorists, dangerous narcotics or child pornography." However, many disagree.
Travelers now have new concerns about the security of their private and corporate data. Some fear that poorly trained officers could accidentally corrupt or erase data during such searches. Also unknown, is where and how long data will be stored, perhaps making it vulnerable to theft or breaches. As it stands, all retrieved data can be kept indefinitely.
Despite the governments' new far-reaching power into your privacy there are a few things you can do to help secure your data when you travel. CNET offers a handy article that outlines different types of encryption and other techniques that can help keep your data secure.
The added delays and headaches seem almost insignificant when considering how much our personal liberties are being systematically revoked. We can understand the need to search for weapons and contraband but suspicionless searches of data is a bold new level of privacy invasion. Our laptops and personal information, once considered an extension of the mind, are now considered luggage. We wonder how long it will be until our minds are also considered luggage and subject to search without suspicion.
Border Agents Can Search Laptops Without Cause, Court Rules [Information Week]
9th Circuit OKs Border Guards' Search of Traveler's Laptop [Law.com]
Security guide to customs-proofing your laptop [CNET news]
(Photo: Getty)
Comments
"We wonder how long it will be until our minds are also considered luggage and subject to search without suspicion."
Yeah, got to watch out for those machines that read your mind and copy everything you have in it. *rolls eyes*
This is highly unreasonable, but it really weakens one's case when they present with with gross paranoia and elaborate unrealistic conspiracy theories about "searching one's mind" without permission.
@FreeMarketGravy: Interrogation, maybe?
@FreeMarketGravy: Goof, the way they "search your mind" is by putting you in a bleak room alone and asking you questions while you are stressed and vulnerable.
@speedwell: Plus, it doesn't so much matter what you were thinking as what they can "deduce" you were thinking.
@MelL: That's not searching your mind as much as asking you to answer questions. Until you are coerced to answer them, that's a questioning, not a "search."
@speedwell: Being put in a bleak room is enough to make you "stressed and vulnerable?" I'm sorry to hear that.
For personal files, I use the last suggestion in the article - placing them on a stationary server and accessing them there. No matter how well they'd search my laptop, they won't find files that aren't stored there.
Unfortunately, that's not an option for larger files (computer code I'm working on at work), as the article correctly points out. I work for a company that did recognize the threat of having a laptop impounded, along with some other drawbacks of having files shared between our offices (such as export restrictions on software), and the easiest approach we came up with was to send the programmer abroad and do all the coding there. That way, no code crosses the US border - be it on a physical device or over the Internet.
"Let me get this straight...the documents are in the computer?"
What is the big problem? Customs can inspect anything that crosses the border. I appreciate their diligence ensuring that prohibited items and illegal material don't pass inspection. It's pretty much the last line of defence.
@FreeMarketGravy: I think the "searching the mind" remark was a bit of intentional hyperbole.
Being put in a bleak room is enough to make you "stressed and vulnerable?" I'm sorry to hear that.
And I'm sorry to see that you think that's what I said or implied. Try a course in reading comprehension.
"On April 19th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that all computers and data devices are the same as luggage in that they can be searched without cause, and that all collected data may be stored indefinitely"
Ill be looking forward to the data breach reveals thousands of users personal data story.
It's pretty much the last line of defence.
Yeah, because some schmuck's folder of pictures of naked people is an unstoppable threat more powerful than anything the integrity of our American democratic system, our laws, and our citizens can possibly withstand, right? Sheep.
This is ridiculous. A complete abuse of power. I mean, I'm not particularly surprised or anything, but it's still annoying that this seems to be a trend that won't be reversing any time soon.
@FreeMarketGravy: Saying "searching" is nothing more than being colorful and consistent. Either way, it's not cool.
Here you go:
[www.truecrypt.org]
My company requires all laptops and workstations to employ HDD encryption so that in the event a computer is stolen or lost, the data can't easily be extracted.
Regrettably, it seems that our government is bent on seeing my company's financial data. Clearly, "your papers, Comrade" is not far off.
@FreeMarketGravy: I would say keeping you in a room until you answered the questions coercion enough. Sure, you don't have to answer them. You can just sit there.
It's not a very big jump from searching your computer, to extensive interrogation. And they could drag in your family, too.
Seems the 9th Circus needs to go and re-read the Constitution of the United States as currently amended. Specifically the 4th Amendment which states:
In other words, go before a judge, show probable cause, and get a warrant. I will also take the fifth as my computer is password protected and,
(emphasis added)
Encryption is the way to go; however, wouldn't the fact you are hiding something mean that there is something to see? So an encrypted, hidden drive would be best.
And, really, the big issue is who decides what is harmful? What if I happened to have Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair picture? I can see hours of intensive questioning over that.
This sounds like a good argument for storing data on a USB thumb drive disguised as something legal but unsavory.
I'm thinking used pregnancy test stick.
"Y'know, I peed on that."
@Sarge1985: There is something called the "Border Search Excemption" which states very specifically that no probable cause or warrant is needed for a search at the border. You may very well demand that the CBP to go in front of a judge and get a warrant, but there is no such requirment on the book.
A bunch of us with laptops need to get on the same plane. We wipe the hard drives ahead of time, and fill them up with captioned cat pictures. Hilarity ensues! Or maybe we just photoshop ourselves in to pictures of the poppy fields in Afghanistan, speedboats off the coast, land owned by cartels in Mexico or Colombia. Who's with me?!
This is an end run around unlawful search and seizure. No one could come in and take my company's data (or even my own personal data) from our desktops and servers without a warrant. but if I have to travel on business (or pleasure), they can take my data with no cause.
So, they can take the document that describes our brilliant new business plan, and hold it indefinitely.
Thank you to all you IDIOTS who voted GWB in the second time, and the court that appointed him the first.
So as to reduce the risk of harmful contaminants to the local ecosystem, like foreign computer viruses? Or what, like it's not so damned easy to hide data?
Let's see: encryption. That's it. Game over. But suppose customs gets clever, how about putting stuff on an SD card in a digital camera. No? Too easy? A firmware cloak on an MP3 player. Or how about mag tape? Get one of those old data writers from the 70s that writes to standard cassette tapes, then scrounge up a few hundred or so and tell customs you love the sound of them. Challenge them to have a tape player handy to test them (not that you couldn't mask it with analog, but that's part fo the fun, eh?).
At least the 9th Circuit is the most overturned court of all the Appeals Circuits.
@chrisjames: Jesus, dude, you must be transporting some awesome stuff. :)
You know what the main problem with this law is going to be from a PR standpoint? The fact that this dude was found with child porn. It's kind of hard to rally the troops when the case is predicated on a fucking pervert. I don't see as many people taking up arms against this travesty when it's going to have to be in support of this dude.
I think I'm going to create a couple of fake images, and label them something along the lines of something illegal, i.e. kiddie pr0n or something, and have a picture of Goatse or the 2girls1cup video with an overlay saving 'Illegal Searches FTL'.
My fiance and I keep a close eye out for the moment that the fascism gets too thick on the ground here in the United States. Our plan was to get the hell out of the country before it's too late. I think we may already be too late, though... Last time I checked, we still don't have Writ of Habeus Corpus back.
@Pasketti: nice try, that will just bring on the waterboard with the "what are you hiding?" questions.
the term "indefinitely" is a long time. our Canadian company was just requested by the feds to archive all (and i mean ALL) emails for the next 30 years. (long story)
thats 2500 people, exchanging emails archived for 30 FREAKIN' YEARS!!!
@chrisjames: Dig up yer 8" floppies!
1. Redirect every icon on your desktop to a mpeg of 2girls1cup.
2. Have your embedded webcam start up automatically to record.
3. Upload the "reaction" video to youtube.
4. ????
5. Profit!
Encryption of files or HDD won't save you from Customs. They will just insist you give them the password. If you refuse, they can keep you from boarding the plane with the laptop. Your choice.
Some companies now give travellers newly imaged laptops to travel with and you access all your files on corporate server.
@apotheosis: You, sir, are a genious. Personally, I would use one of those sticks a vet uses to get stool samples from my dog. Add dried brownie batter for extra fun...
Wonder if you remove the hard drive before going through security, if they have the legal right to put it back in to get the info from it...
WHAAA? Damn kiddie pornographers ruining it for the rest of us.
@unravel: or better yet: go to fark, find the best FAIL meme photo contest, and save all those photos.
@DHT: propaganda. The Ninth sees more cases than any other, by a factor of at least two since it's vast. Numbers can be your friend!
Although, they usually decide on the side of sanity.
I shudder to think of Geek Squad members posing in der Homeland Security uniforms, however.
And, why would companies like Toyota, Sony, etc., have their laptop-equipped execs enter the US? Would we allow US execs, holding confidential info for US companies, be ransacked by foreign security forces? Of course not.
Another case of HSA torpedoing international business.
Also note, they can copy all they'd like. The ruling says nothing about being forced to provide the encryption key. That's still protected, right?
@geoffhazel: Thankfully, the open-source TrueCrypt encryption suite has a solution for this: [www.truecrypt.org]
Given the fact that it was designed to help protect the privacy of those living in oppressive societies, it is extremely telling that we are reduced to using it now.
This is awful, especially for international business travelers. I think Jozef has the right idea. Just bring a laptop with no valuable data. When you get to your destination, just access your corporate VPN or whatever.
"But it's for the children!"
@Trai_Dep: What are the laws on obstructing a customs search? Not providing an encryption key, assuming you have it, would fall under that if they're crafty about interpretation. Of course, you could say you don't have it and their only recourse is torture or needless litigation ... or perhaps confiscating your hard drive and not giving it back until the "search is complete."
some folks here are advocating ways to avoid releasing the data. couldn't actions such as storing sensitive data on an sd card, or masking your HD contents be construed as obstruction? at that point, aren't you smuggling data?
i don't have a laptop, but if i did & if i were traveling abroad, i would certainly have an issue with the government searching & seizing my data.
& what constitutes "data"? my cell phone records? the pictures on my camera? the log from my pedometer? where does it stop?
finally, who's protecting me from abuse of authority? who is in charge of checking the checkers? who makes sure data is not being misappropriated & manipulated?
No probable cause or reasonable suspicion for searches at the Nation's borders. United States v. Montoya de Hernandez.
@chrisjames: Or you could store it hidden in an Atari 2600 game cartridge. If it looks like they are going to get a high enough score to trigger the release of the secret data, shoot them with a Gotcha gun and shout "Jack Flack always escapes!" over your shoulder as your run away.
"The government needs to have the ability to restrict harmful material from entering the country, whether that be weapons used by terrorists, dangerous narcotics or child pornography."
Does this douche bag realize that the internet is global? I could bring a laptop over with an empty hard drive and buy/download my "Microsoft Jihad Development Kit" (MJDK) once I get here.
100% FAIL.
@chrisjames: I'm no Constitutional lawyer, and welcome schooling from someone that is. But I recall a couple cases bouncing around our legal system that involve citizens not giving their password and the courts finding that, depending on the situation, the state couldn't require it.
* Providing the password was seen as searching the mind, a no-no
* The state breaking the encryption was deemed okay (similar to blasting the door off a safe)
Of course, borders are different things. As noted, I think Customs can say, "You want in, give the password. Else we choose not to let you in." In THAT case, there's no invasion of the mind, "simply" coercion.
I welcome comments from people more knowledgeable about matters, obviously. I'm sort of ignorant on the particulars.
Your privacy is now property of the US government. There oughta be a law...
Oh yes, that's right. There was one.
@kityglitr: Yep. I've been thinking of the same thing. But where?
death to privacy! long live the State!
Err, a better explanation to the first case.
Police JAILED someone for contempt of court, saying they'd be released once they provided the passkey to their encrypted hard drive to authorities.
The poor guy stayed in jail for months before a higher court found that this is illegal for the reasons given.
Another case involved authorities guessing the passcode (dumb user) and a different circuit court found this was equivalent to Elliot Ness blowing the door off of Capone's safe. Kosher.
Different kettle of fish when entering a country, but interesting. Anyone know more of this?
If you refuse to let your computer be examined and you are an American citizen, do you have to stay in the airport until they let you go? I mean, I never traveled across the ocean, but if I refused, what legally could they do? I don't think arrest me as I haven't broken any laws. I wonder if someone who has the time and is willing to be there for a few days to see what would happen.
Just great. I would still encrypt the hard drive or file. They still have access to the data just not in a easy to read form. Hope this gets overturned. IF this keeps up we won't have any freedoms left
Another idea everyone install lynix when travelling. If they are going to search your drive make it as difficult as possible