Traveling to USA with a laptop? BEWARE

[TotallyOz]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...isrc=newsletter

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border

No Suspicion Required Under DHS Policies

By Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, August 1, 2008; Page A01

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer 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, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The policies . . . are truly alarming," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

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.

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.

"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies "don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched."

Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy." In a statement submitted to Feingold for a June hearing on the issue, he noted that 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.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.

With about 400 million travelers entering the country each year, "as a practical matter, travelers only go to secondary [for a more thorough examination] when there is some level of suspicion," Chertoff wrote. "Yet legislation locking in a particular standard for searches would have a dangerous, chilling effect as officers' often split-second assessments are second-guessed."

In April, the U.S. 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. The Customs policy can be viewed at:

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel...h_authority.pdf.

[TampaYankee]

Yup, almost seems un-American doesn't it. More likely the case will be made that not ceding your right against unreasonable search and seziure is un-American. I hope an Obama aminstration and Dem Congress with introduce some measure of probable cause. That won't happen with a McCain adimistration. Maybe congress can push it anway but only if veto proof.

Another in a long list of reasons for me to seek a return of Democrats to power at this time. I know they too eventually will abuse their power too. We have to endure pendumlum politics and turn out the scoundrals, whoever they are, when the abuse of power become too great to tolerate, and cherish the time spent near the nadir of the swing arc where previous abuses are righted and fresh starts are made.

[BiBottomBoy]

About three years ago flying from Paris to New York the customs people grabbed my cell phone and went through it - very obviously reading all of the dirty text messages I'd had saved on it.

The shitty looks and smirks they were giving me made me want to punch them in the face. Unfortunately they were carrying machine guns, so I decided this would be a bad idea.

[OneFinger]

I recently returned from a trip to Europe and had absolutely no problems with my laptop. Personally, I won't travel without it.

While this article is written to scare the hell out of you, I doubt that having a laptop is going to be the "trigger" for a detailed search. IMHO, you're more likely to be selected because:

• You act nervous.
  
• Other "problems" with your carry-on raises suspicions such as: 1) liquids not properly packed; 2) lots of electronics stuffed in a single bag; 3) extra batteries "bound" together with a rubber band.
  
• You're traveling on a new passport or your ID looks "funny". (For example, I was selected for secondary search in the USA because TSA had trouble finding the expiration date on my driver's license.)
  

When traveling abroad, it's always important to go to Customs before you leave and register your electronics. Here's a link that explains about CBP Form 4457.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation...ister_items.xml

That being said, I'm also very careful about I keep on my "on-the-road" laptop. For example, I don't use it to store my lavender library. I always clear my cache, history, cookies, etc before turning off my laptop.

But, I sure appreciate Totally Oz for posting the article and giving us fair warning. Makes me mad as hell that they can do something like that. It's just not right.

[TotallyOz]

For years, I was stopped EVERY single time upon entry into the USA. Mostly it was because of my long time trips to Thailand. They put me on a list and it took 2 -5 hours upon each entry into the USA. i do have some nudes on the computer for websites I own and I also have a legal ID with them. First they want to know how old each model is and then when I show them the ID, they say it is not legal to carry someone else's ID. You can't win with them. They would go through each computer and hard drive looking at every single photo, every time. I got so frustrated that finally, I just had everything shipped back to USA. When I did this, and went thorough without anything, they asked and I told them the constant harassment at the boarder will make me travel light each time and told them I will ship things as opposed to them making me lat on flights each time. They were not happy. After one 3 plus hour visit, I just sat down and played with my dogs and they would ask me who is this on the photo, I would not even look and say, someone I know. After about 100 of these they called a supervisor over. He asked about my music and videos. I told them they were all purchased at itunes.com. He said that was not true as I had over 5,000 songs and 800 videos I replied, "I know you guys will never get me on anything illegal for photos, etc and that you will try to get me on someone that is total BS. So, yes, all are purchased in Itunes and I even saved the e-mail receipts for you in case you asked me." He asked why and I said because you have stopped me on every trip for at least 2-4 hours so I get everything organized for you and you will never find anything illegal on my computers or in my possession. I am just not that stupid. He waived me by and they rarely checked after that. But, I also don't carry 5 hard drives anymore as that was the longest part of the check. Just an FYI. You loose all rights when you come back to your own country and you are in no man's land.

[BiBottomBoy]

For years, I was stopped EVERY single time upon entry into the USA. Mostly it was because of my long time trips to Thailand. They put me on a list and it took 2 -5 hours upon each entry into the USA. i do have some nudes on the computer for websites I own and I also have a legal ID with them. First they want to know how old each model is and then when I show them the ID, they say it is not legal to carry someone else's ID. You can't win with them. They would go through each computer and hard drive looking at every single photo, every time. I got so frustrated that finally, I just had everything shipped back to USA. When I did this, and went thorough without anything, they asked and I told them the constant harassment at the boarder will make me travel light each time and told them I will ship things as opposed to them making me lat on flights each time. They were not happy. After one 3 plus hour visit, I just sat down and played with my dogs and they would ask me who is this on the photo, I would not even look and say, someone I know. After about 100 of these they called a supervisor over. He asked about my music and videos. I told them they were all purchased at itunes.com. He said that was not true as I had over 5,000 songs and 800 videos I replied, "I know you guys will never get me on anything illegal for photos, etc and that you will try to get me on someone that is total BS. So, yes, all are purchased in Itunes and I even saved the e-mail receipts for you in case you asked me." He asked why and I said because you have stopped me on every trip for at least 2-4 hours so I get everything organized for you and you will never find anything illegal on my computers or in my possession. I am just not that stupid. He waived me by and they rarely checked after that. But, I also don't carry 5 hard drives anymore as that was the longest part of the check. Just an FYI. You loose all rights when you come back to your own country and you are in no man's land.

What I do now is have one laptop I use when I'm in France (the vast majority of the time) and then I store an older laptop at my parent's house that I pick up when I go home and use while I'm in New York. And I leave my cell phone in France and just buy a new pay as you go cell phone as soon as I get to the states.

It saves a lot of time.