US can ‘detain’ laptops at border posts
p2pnet news view | Freedom:- US federal agents can seize travelers’ laptops and share copies of the contents with other agencies and “private entities” for language translation, data decryption, “or other reasons,” it’s been revealed.
And they can do it without suspicion of wrongdoing, continues the Washington Post.
The privacy violations are justified as part of border search policies dated July 16 and issued by US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says the story
“Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter,” it states, going on:
“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”.
The post says »»»
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.
When a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information, any copies of the data must be destroyed. Copies sent to non-federal entities must be returned to DHS. But the documents specify that there is no limitation on authorities keeping written notes or reports about the materials.
The executive branch has long had “plenary authority to conduct routine searches and seizures at the border without probable cause or a warrant” to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the country, says customs deputy commissioner Jayson P. Ahern in the story.
With about 400 million travelers entering the US every year, “as a practical matter, travelers only go to secondary [for a more thorough examination] when there is some level of suspicion,” homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today, says the Washington Post:
” ‘Yet legislation locking in a particular standard for searches would have a dangerous, chilling effect as officers’ often split-second assessments are second-guessed,’ Chertoff said, going on,’the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices’.”
In April, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, “upheld the government’s power to conduct searches of an international traveler’s laptop without suspicion of wrongdoing,” adds the story.Click here to see the customs policy.
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Washington Post – Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border, August 1, 2008
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August 1st, 2008 at 11:12 am
âDHS officials said the newly disclosed policies – which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens – are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorismâ.
Bulls***! The people doing these searches have no idea what terrorist plans would look like, even if the terrorists were stupid enough to leave information like that lying around in their computer. All the reports I’ve read about laptop searches say that the agents head straight for the photo/pictures directory and start looking for any pictures that look underage.
And before anyone defends this, allow me to remind you that people have been arrested and had their lives ruined for having porn that *LOOKED* underage, but which was later proven to be 100% legal.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Terrorist suspects are normally of Arab descent, and wouldn’t even carry a laptop, or if they did it wouldn’t have any decipherable code on it. No, I have to agree with Rekrul, and perhaps they’ll also be looking for music and movies or any copyrightable content?
Also if I had porn on the PC I wouldn’t take it through customs. Terrorist prevention? Total BS Nazi mentality.
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 am
“Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter,”
Why would the public be interested in something it knew nothing about?
There is really a better explanation: We came out of the closet before we were detected cheating people’s rights.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Can I call a violation of the fourth amendment? I could care less about safety.
Also, to stop drug traffickers, why not legalize these drugs?
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
The only solution get all your data on your laptop copyrighted and sue the US government under thier own Digital Millennium Copyright Act =D
Doesnt this also violate United Nations Human Rights?
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I think they should only be alowd to check if there may be contraband hiding in the laptop. They shouldnt beable to search any files on the computer. Data copied by the feds can not be trusted. What if you are a minor and take a nude picture of yourself on your cell phone and they search the cell phone at the border. First thing the border agent is gonna do is email it to himself. You only ever hear about child porn on laptops. Never anything else that may be illegal. What if they see a folder on the desktop labeled The Dark Knight TS Line audio. They gonna arest you and fine you 100k?
I live in Canada and downloading for personal use is legal. Now if I cross the border with 50k songs whats gonna happen to me?
And I think terrorists are smart enough to send their plans via email, website postings and file hosting sites.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 am
They make these wonderful things called usb flash drives. They can fit in the anus. But of course, use the guise of protecting us from terrorists (which is their excuse for every ounce of freedom they STEAL from us) by checking laptops at the border. It’s interesting that they’ve so far (that I know of) only found child porn only. Perhaps Mr. Al Qaeda might not be hiding his plans to a nuclear dirty bomb in “My Pictures”. MAYBE, it’s actually a 32 gig USB Flash Drive shoved up mr. Qaueda’s anus wrapped in a condom that contains the plans for our demise. JUST MAYBE.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:47 am
A waste of money. Americans are already experts at getting at the perfect data storage system, the brain. The methods are used at Guantanamo.
I propose that all tourists arriving at US ports be interrogated using the Guantanamo methods. That will really get the job done.
Laptops hardly hold any data, compared to the brain, and searches are too complicated. On the other hand a “tourist” that learned how to make explosives overseas can spit out what he knows, who he met abroad, etc, in an instant.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Regarding the “found underage pictures that turned out to be 100% legal,” I feel it would be irresponsible of me to withhold the name “Kelly Hoose.” Mr. Hoose reported finding possible child pornography on his computer that he did not put on the machine, and the authorities involved twisted his statements to sound self-incriminating, seized his computer equipment, prosecuted him for possession of child pornography, attempted to use some kind of test called the “Tanner scale” or “Tanner stages” to determine model age based on apparent pubic hair and breast development (saying the girl was 10 years old), and lost the case miserably.
Why did they lose the Hoose case miserably?
Because Kelly Hoose didn’t have kiddie porn on his computer. He had pictures from ALS Scan on his computer. Some ALS Scan models are relatively “flat-chested” and, as with many adult models and porn stars, have waxed their genital areas clean of all hairs. In fact, Hoose flew in an ALS Scan model that goes by the name “Ashley” to TESTIFY FOR HIM that she wasn’t under 18 when the photographs were taken.
To further drive the point home, this is Ashley’s page at ALS Scan (THIS LINK IS VERY MUCH NSFW, ADULT MATERIAL): http://www.alsscan.com/bios/modelashley.html
You can see at that page how one might believe that she was underage in those photos. She’s 20. The government KNEW THIS and STILL attempted to prosecute Hoose with those photographs as evidence. ALS Scan keeps proper 18 USC 2257 records for its models, and they haven’t been shut down.
I digress somewhat, but you should now understand the significance of my point. The Feds being able to arbitrarily seize your laptop at the border and pluck data is a disaster waiting to happen. Look at “Ashley” from ALS Scan, and the Kelly Hoose case. That alone is a real-world example of what can happen in a country where we live with a completely fabricated “predator panic” and assume that anything that looks illegal IS illegal as a result.
Linux with dm-crypt is starting to sound damn good to me.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Hello it’s Ben, remember the guy who uploaded “Ben’s guide to protecting filesharers from going to prison”, now I uploaded how to sneak data past the freaken border patrols, and also, how to be protected when the ACTA gets passed.
heck with my guide anybody can now sneak data across the border patrols, TAKE THAT BORDER THUGS HAHAHAHAHA
DDD 
)))))