WTF? Guy gets laptop seized for two weeks in "random inspection of electronic media" at border.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-laptops26-2008jun26,0,5399274.story

Laptop seizures at customs raise outcry.

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Bill Hogan was returning home to the U.S. from Germany in February when a customs agent at Dulles International Airport pulled him aside. He could reenter the country, she told him. But his laptop couldn't.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said he had been chosen for "random inspection of electronic media," and kept his computer for about two weeks, recalled Hogan, 55, a freelance journalist from Falls Church, Va.... "It's not an inspection. It's a seizure," he said. "What do they do with it? I assume they just copy everything."

For several years, U.S. officials have been searching and seizing laptops, digital cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices at the border with few publicly released details. Complaints from travelers and privacy advocates have spurred some lawmakers to fight the U.S. Customs policy and to consider sponsoring legislation that would sharply limit the practice. As people store more and more information electronically, the debate hinges on whether searching a laptop is like looking in your luggage or more like a strip search.

"Customs agents must have the ability to conduct even highly intrusive searches when there is reason to suspect criminal or terrorist activity, but suspicion-less searches of Americans' laptops and similar devices go too far," said Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), who chairs a subcommittee that examined the searches at a hearing Wednesday. "Congress should not allow this gross violation of privacy." Authorities need a search warrant to get at a computer in a person's home and reasonable suspicion of illegal activity to search a laptop in other places. But the rules change at border crossings.

...more...

[ReadTomPaine]

1. Here's another good thread on this topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3519786

[A-Schwarzenegger]

2. Oh, thanks, I searched for the article & author & didnt find anything.

So many outrageousnesses it's hard to choose!

I gave the other one a kick...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I read that article too...

And it made my blood boil!

Damn 'em all to hell!

How dare they interfere with us this way?

It is an outrage!

:nuke:

[hfojvt]

4. screw the violation of privacy

there's nothing especially private on my laptop, but you take away something of mine, that I spent over $800 for, and keep it for an undetermined amount of time and do who knows what to it, and this is based on some blind suspiscion? Screw that!

Of course, I kinda regret taking my laptop to Europe. It was kinda useless there, and I could have used a pair of rollerblades instead. I thought it was kinda ironic that I went to the Netherlands, Deutschland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and France and kinda got the most harrassment when I re-entered my own country. That'll teach me to not pack a razor, eh? (I use an electric, which would not do much good in Europe anyway.)

[tblue37]

13. Among other things, I am a writer and a college instructor, and all my work is on my

computer--both my writings and my material for teaching my classes. If they were to seize my computer, I would suffer a greater loss than just the temporary loss of an expensive piece of equipment!

The man in the article is a journalist. That means that they actively interfered with his ability to earn a living. It's like seizing not only a carpenter's tools, but also his half built projects and commissions and even his completed but not yet delivered or sold items.

Furthermore, people keep private diaries and pictures and personal information and emails on their computers. So where those are concerned, this is not like searching luggage, but like going through someone's boxes of personal , pictures, and diaries.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

15. Yep.

Outrageous on many levels.

[provis99]

5. If I had been him,

I would have said, fine, and then destroyed the laptop right in front of them.

[southern_belle]

6. kick

[AzDar]

7. Kick...

:kick:

[pimpbot]

8. I would have removed the battery and hard drive

Then given it to them. It would have taken those idiots too long to figure out what had happened. In fact, why not just remove the HDD and keep it separate when returning. Most laptop HDDs are smaller than a deck of cards, keep it in your pocket or hidden in your checked luggage. Worst case, ship it back to yourself before your depart. I know you shouldnt have to do this, but until we have sane lawmakers that will crush this kind of crap, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I can think of a million ways that real criminals can get past whatever the customs people are supposed to be looking for. Once again the only people they annoy are the general public.

[ForeignSpectator]

9. But they need the HDD to install all spyware they got on his machine, no?

:shrug:

[Lance_Boyle]

10. if your laptop will not boot at the security checkpoint,

it will be confiscated. For this reason, removing the HD is a decidedly bad idea. Better idea would be to remove all data you wish to keep secret - upload it to online storage, or carry it on a flash drive in checked baggage. Encryption is another option, but if they keep the damned thing for 2 weeks rifling through open-access contents, who knows how long they'd keep it with something "suspicious" like inaccessible data.

[truebrit71]

11. Not that ANY of that violates the fourth amendment or anything...

...is it fascism yet?

[Lance_Boyle]

12. what 4th amendment?

Oh, that's right - we still have one (on paper, anyway) until after the July 4 recess. ;-)

[Indenturedebtor]

17. What? Oh you mean that quaint little idea on that "Goddamn Piece Of Paper"?

That died a few years back.

Get back to work citizen.

[windoe]

14. Backup all your data

before traveling, unless you want to lose it.

[slampoet]

16. That is why i always have a HUGE anount of Viruses and Trojans in a folder plainly marked "PORN"

They are totally innocuous until you click on the icon.


You would be surprised at how many "repair" techs i have caught with this method.

[ecstatic]

18. I didn't know about this and I'm glad I do now. Thanks nt

[rocktivity]

19. Why sieze the digital camera when its the card that holds the images?

:shrug:
rocknation