Comments on: Your Laptop and the Border

By: Mr. Crash

Mr. Crash — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:04:31 +0000

the majority of customs officials in the states are jumped up rentacops.

Not the kind of people I want trolling through my email, my business data or my personal affects.

Asia and Europe must love the increased tourism.

By: kath

kath — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:11:38 +0000

How is this not illegal search and seizure?

By: Jon Moss

Jon Moss — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:23:00 +0000

I love going to the US. I have some great friends there and some great memories.

What I do hate is the US customs people or whatever they’re called. Rude, arrogant, uncaring and downright aggressive.

My worst experience was having my brand new MBP slammed down on a metal surface without any care or respect. A complaint to the neanderthal’s boss resulted in a torrent of abuse and zero customer service.

I loathe going through US customs – it makes coming back to the UK a real pleasure.

I agree with NikLP – a very bitter taste is left in my mouth.

By: NikLP

NikLP — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:56:20 +0000

If you read the TrueCrypt documentation thoroughly, you’ll note well that they provide ample information on plausible deniability. This is a perfect example of when this technique should be employed, especially if you’re up to no good! ;)

This is unfortunately also a classic example of the US taking things “one step too far”, yet again. Quite a few of the more recent items of North American legislation have left me with quite the unpleasant taste in my mouth. Hard to describe… kind of tangy… bitter… parfum de fascism, perhaps?

By: EdoZ

EdoZ — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:53:08 +0000

tiffany, they just take you in a silent room and “ask friendly” for the password.

The only way to go is to leave your notebook at hom eif travelling into unfree countries like China or the USA.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:21:11 +0000

It is really nice to hear that 2 people had no trouble however the problem remains that some people do. That means everybody must assume that it could happen to them.

Apart from practical issues and the inconvenience this poses I am much more concerned how this infringes on some very basic rights to privacy (and probably many others, too). “They don’t need any suspicion of wrongdoing to do this.” – so they can arbitrarily decide to harass you without justification and no way for you to appeal.

It really is not so much you information that has no rights at that point.. it is you.

By: tiffany

tiffany — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:55:31 +0000

For privacy’s sake, I’d suggest encrypting some or all of your hard disk data using TrueCrypt or a similar software package. At least this way, if your hardware *is* confiscated, you can protect some of your data.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:20:14 +0000

We just returned from Canada and didn’t have any problems. If you enter the US or CAN at Interstate, they are more strict.

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:19:41 +0000

I recently traveled abroad with a laptop, and had no issues clearing security or customs at airports on either end.

But i was a little worried because i’ve heard stories about this.

As far as advice, i didn’t bring any crucial or irreplaceable data on the laptop to begin with. I burned backup discs of all the photos i took, which i packed in separate luggage when returning.

The only real hassle i encountered was a guy at customs in LAX that saw i had my camera out while i was in line. He told me i couldn’t take pictures in the customs area and i’d have to delete them if i did.