I leave mine behind whenever I travel outside the US, not so much because I am afraid to be on a list (although after reading this article, that fear has risen somewhat) but because I employ encryption on my laptop. If they do search my device for anything illegal, they will inevitably ask for my password, which I don't want to give for philosophical reasons. Then it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll be detained and…
"I don't remember my password."
That is when they detain/harass him and steal his computer anyway.
Obviously the officials involved in this case were let go, right?
Because who would enter into an official database that they want to abuse border searches to search an attorney for a person in an ongoing case with the government, and for that exact reason?
I guess you need to make sure your devices are wiped or left at home. A backup just means you have your own copy of what just got taken off you at the border for no good lawful reason. Having my own copy would not reassure me of much.
Or make sure that they have full-disk encryption and are cold shutdown when you cross the border. While jurisprudence is still a bit fuzzy on this (it has flipped back and forth on a few appeals in a few separate cases, and never been conclusively decided by the Supreme Court), there have been ruling upholding the fact that you can't be forced to hand over your password due to the fifth amendment, unless the Governme…
Even with full-disk encryption, an image will be made of the drive, and the government will keep a copy on the chance that the password will be revealed later. Or the algorithm gets broken/weak enough at some point in the future.
I leave mine behind whenever I travel outside the US, not so much because I am afraid to be on a list (although after reading this article, that fear has risen somewhat) but because I employ encryption on my laptop. If they do search my device for anything illegal, they will inevitably ask for my password, which I don't want to give for philosophical reasons. Then it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll be detained and…
"I don't remember my password."
It's illegal not to provide your password in the UK, not sure what the rules are under these special powers in the US.
I guess you need to make sure your devices are wiped or left at home. A backup just means you have your own copy of what just got taken off you at the border for no good lawful reason. Having my own copy would not reassure me of much.
Or make sure that they have full-disk encryption and are cold shutdown when you cross the border. While jurisprudence is still a bit fuzzy on this (it has flipped back and forth on a few appeals in a few separate cases, and never been conclusively decided by the Supreme Court), there have been ruling upholding the fact that you can't be forced to hand over your password due to the fifth amendment, unless the Governme…
After the past week's NSA revelations, just what full disk encryption system should we be trusting? I think it's fair to assume that any commercial implementation is compromised.
Is the best strategy here to leave your devices at home and just bring a burner phone on holiday or other travels and no other devices? It's strange as an ordinary citizen who might choose to contribute to someone like Manning's defence fund, or post statements supportive of Snowden online, to have to consider that GCHQ or the Homeland Security might put your name on a list for questioning and confiscation at the bor…
Carrying a burner is itself also suspicious -- the safest course it to be as normal as possible which means having a regular computer/phone with some stuff on it, or nothing. Also, it isn't sufficient to focus the the border policies for re-entry to your own country, you also have to consider every country you would travel to, all of which have their own laws, all of which can change at any moment, even while you are in transit. Carrying around "sensitive" data, along with the password (which is in your brain, thus you are carrying it) is just overall a really bad idea.
They say that there were ~5000 such searches per year, which makes them extremely rare occurrences given the hundreds of millions of people crossing the borders in a year.
It's illegal not to provide your password in the UK, not sure what the rules are under these special powers in the US.
The more I read about the laws in the UK, the more I appreciate the laws in the USA. We don't have everything right, but at least our system is rooted in the notion of the sanctity of individual rights. Or was.