I like freedom. I like liberty. This makes me sad.
I found this on Bruce Schneier’s blog.
The U.S. Government has published its policy on laptops and other electronic storage devices at customs border crossings. Here is a quick quote, emphases mine:
Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption, or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
[...]
DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies — which apply to anyone entering the country, including US citizens — are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism.
[...]
The policies cover ‘any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,’ including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, 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…”
Wow. I agree with the commenter on Schneier’s blog who wondered where this went (from the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights):
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.
Of course, the excuse is terrorism. I certainly don’t endorse terrorism in any way, shape or form, but I’m not sure how we justify destroying the rights and freedoms of the masses in the futile attempt to catch people who are (generally) smart enough to evade this search by placing their files in an encrypted file on a server somewhere before passing through the border, then downloading it later.
Yep, it’s another feel good measure, like taking off your shoes at the airport to pass through the security checkpoint. It does nothing to keep people safer and does everything to demean and disrespect the millions of innocent and honest people who pass through these checkpoints daily. Oh, wait. Maybe that’s the point. It’s one more step in teaching the masses to be quiet, submissive, and do what we are told no matter how ridiculous or presumptious or invasive.
“The terrorists have won” (Anonymous)
By terrorist you have propably on mind nazi-usa goverment..
Okay…pardon my rant here but:
How does the US Govt, even with these ridiculous laws on the books even compare to the Nazi’s?
When was the last time you were rounded up and sent off to a prison camp simply because you had the bad luck to be born Jewish? Are they passing laws that require to register your race with a central office somewhere? Are they confiscating your property simply because you are not a member of the superior race?
Read your freaking history before you start comparing the government to Nazi’s.
Wow. We made it to the second comment before Godwin’s Law came into effect. That’s impressive!
Let’s start over and pretend the Nazis hadn’t been mentioned.
Anon…try Gitmo for seizures based on race, try the detainment of all Japanese on US soil after Pearl Harbor…there are parallels, and it is no mute point to mention a parallel when noticed, no matter how benign we would prefer to believe the US gvmt to be.
Without even touching on the US’s UGLY foreign policy record, I would agree with the sentiment that a trained, passive people is in the best interests of the ruling class, and that this type of “security measure” appears to do nothing more than enforce that type of “training”/suppression.
“Those that would give up essential liberties and freedom for a little bit of a temporary sense of security, deserve neither liberty or freedom” –paraphrased Ben Franklin
I’ll most likely be reinstalling my Ubuntu with the “encrypt everything” option before my visit to the US.
When I left the US for UDS Prague, I slicked my laptop and had a fresh install (that did not include any secret keys). This has been the policy for a while, not sure why it’s news now (not that it makes it any better).
I’m not sure having everything encrypted would really comfort me that much. If they did take it, would I assume they couldn’t break it?
Unless you’re using encryption keys far greater than 1024 bits, I would be disappointed in our government if they could not break your encryption. There are a few KNOWN clusters out there capable of discovering standard keys in a few hours using little more than brute force.
I heard that they can’t ask for the password though. Not sure about hacking it… but the encryption should offer some security, no?
Hey did any of you bother to read the PDF?
This stuff ONLY applies if they have PROBABLE CAUSE
ref: Section D, para 1, sub para b
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/admissability/search_authority.ctt/search_authority.pdf
Wow… this upsets me greatly. I certainly hope that it will get challenged in court and get struck down as Unconstitutional.
I notice how they specifically include the ipod, but then fail to mention any other media player…..
I’m not defending this policy in any way but if you believe your data is safe traveling elsewhere throughout the world you’d be mistaken more often than not. I watched a PBS program on this subject (among other things) and they sited several European and other countries throughout the world who have given similar or even more rights to border officials. Essentially you give up much of your privacy when entering a country.
This is indeed a good bed-time story!
Sleep tight in the knowledge checks and balances are in place when they seize your stuff. They only work after they violated your rights, of course, and as I’m reading it here through “internal audit and review”:
Part A
“Notwithstanding this law enforcement mission, in the course of every border search, CBP
will protect the rights of individuals against unreasonable search and seizure. Each
operational office will maintain appropriate mechanisms for internal audit and review of
compliance with the procedures outlined in this policy. “
The part Alan suggest should sooth our fears of violation is not about what happens to you or your stuff, but what happens to them AFTER they find no probable cause:
Part D 1,b
Absent probable cause, CBP may only retain
documents relating to immigration matters, consistent with the privacy and
data protection standards of the system in which such information is
retained.
In case you are wondering what happens to your stuff, don’t worry: all copies are to be destroyed and your stuff terurned. Not to you though:
In the event that any original documents or devices are
transmitted, they must not be destroyed; they are to be
returned to CBP unless seized based on probable cause by
the assisting agency.
Part D 2,b,i
In the event that any original documents or devices are
transmitted, they must not be destroyed; they are to be returned to CBP unless seized based on probable cause by
the assisting agency.
Presumably you and your children will still be at the CBP station where they captured your Ubuntu Laptop with Encrypted HardDrive, so they can hand it back to you, after winking at your wife and making remarks about her “amazing pictures”. Don’t worry though, they’re not Nazi’s (Thank for the link to Godwin’s Law matthew!) and you wont be taken to Gitmo.
Good Night.
Release: Call for participation in the international action day “Freedom not Fear”.
Paris, July 27, 2008
Noting a drift toward a surveillance society where freedom of expression and information is threatened, officials of many organizations throughout the world call for an action day on October 11, 2008.
link : http://www.humanrights21.org/?p=26&langswitch_lang=en
An interesting addition to the discussion of the issue is on this blog.
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2008-07/2008-07-10.html
Basically, the post relates these border searches to wiretapping laws and says that to the government, it does not appear to matter whether the information is coming in via a physical means, like a laptop hard drive, or whether it comes in electronically, they still feel entitled to have access to it.
Bit extreme but, you could always post your laptop across boarders. Postal services are surprisingly difficult for government agencies (or any other agency) to tamper with under the law.
It’s would be extremely unlikely in my opinion that this power would be abused by border officials.
Just as an continuation of the theme.
There is in order at the present time an agreement between the British and United States Government to intercept and record phone and other communications of the respective governments Subjects/Citizens on behalf of the other and then make the data available to the other. The reason for this agreement is that it’s illegal both in the United States and the UK for the presiding governments to intercept its Subjects/Citizens information in this way but not illegal for the UK government to intercept and record the US data and vice versa thus convienently side stepping any legal issues by either government. These intercept facilities are located on sites in the UK that are US territory such as air-force bases or military or US Government compounds, if they were not it would become illegal to carry out the intercepts because they would be being carried out on British soil. I presume the same applies in the US.
To the best of my knowledge this agreement has been running for many years long before any public mention of Islamic Fundamentalism. It was first put in place to combat the rise of Communism in the respective countries.
It did not work and most likely will not work now even with the advances in computational power. The sheer weight of information often makes it untenable to investigate every mention of bomb or WMD or whatever other key words/phases are to trigger an flag.