CBP officer gave me a stern warning that my laptop shouldn't have ripped DVD/Blu-ray
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May 13, 2010, 10:37 pm
#47
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Did I miss the memo? I didn't realize that they were allowed to search files on your laptop. Are they allowed to do that even if you don't give permission? I travel with a lot of legal docs under federal protective order, among other things, and would be pretty miffed if someone insisted on nosing through my HD.
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May 13, 2010, 11:00 pm
#48
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Encryption is CPU intensive, so using an old, slow processor will yield slow performance. Using a symmetric, block cipher like AES, with a larger key size, will make the situation even worse, from a computational perspective. Upgrade your hardware if possible.
May 14, 2010, 6:20 am
#50
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The average CBP agent is probably not very computer literate to find the partition.
When a drive (or files) are encrypted can you be forced to give CBP the key? I seem to remember reading that in Great Britain you are--does this carry-over to the USA?
The best route is to keep only program files on your HD, the data is stored on line and retrieved via the internet. Google's office package assumes that scenario.
May 14, 2010, 7:37 am
#51
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However, two seconds after that, he asked me how I got the movies on the hard drive. Without thinking, I replied that I bought the DVDs(and the Blu-rays) and ripped them on to my hard drive. He said "Ms.____, are you aware that it's against federal law to do that?" I had no idea what to say... so I kind of said "oh... ummm....." He told me to remove those movies as soon as possible. The 2nd officer joined in and said that they have some sort of new directive to crack down on the practice.(even if you have the original DVD next to the laptop, it's still a violation of copyright laws or something like that)
May 14, 2010, 8:14 am
#52
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I'm still waiting for an answer to this question - assuming CBP searches your computer and does not find anything that is truly illegal (i.e. kiddie porn), what is their legal remedy against you if they find your multi-GB collection of downloaded movie and TV torrents?
Can they:
1) confiscate the laptop?
2) levy a fine?
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution?
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you?
Can they:
1) confiscate the laptop?
2) levy a fine?
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution?
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you?
May 14, 2010, 8:22 am
#54
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 41
Can they:
1) confiscate the laptop? Yes
2) levy a fine? Yes
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution? Yes
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you? No
Based on anecdotal evidence, if you fail to provide passwords, your laptop will be seized and held indefinitely:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020604763.html
http://www.aclu.org/national-securit...tion-documents
http://www.tripso.com/today/warning-...aptop-and-pda/
http://www.murthy.com/news/n_cbplap.html
If you travel internationally, you need to make plans now to protect your personal and business data from being copied out of your notebook, cellphone, digital camera, MP3 player etc. by border protection agencies without a warrant (e-mails, address books, web browsing history, browser bookmarks, passwords, schedules, personal notes, business documents, encryption keys, R&D). All this data is retained and analyzed in manners that you cannot control.
Food for thought: An increasing number of companies require all staff to travel with wiped notebooks that get the data restored via an encrypted link to the company server upon arriving at the destination.
1) confiscate the laptop? Yes
2) levy a fine? Yes
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution? Yes
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you? No
Based on anecdotal evidence, if you fail to provide passwords, your laptop will be seized and held indefinitely:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020604763.html
http://www.aclu.org/national-securit...tion-documents
http://www.tripso.com/today/warning-...aptop-and-pda/
http://www.murthy.com/news/n_cbplap.html
If you travel internationally, you need to make plans now to protect your personal and business data from being copied out of your notebook, cellphone, digital camera, MP3 player etc. by border protection agencies without a warrant (e-mails, address books, web browsing history, browser bookmarks, passwords, schedules, personal notes, business documents, encryption keys, R&D). All this data is retained and analyzed in manners that you cannot control.
Food for thought: An increasing number of companies require all staff to travel with wiped notebooks that get the data restored via an encrypted link to the company server upon arriving at the destination.
Last edited by Sam5; May 14, 2010 at 8:38 am
May 14, 2010, 8:38 am
#55
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Can they:
1) confiscate the laptop? Yes
2) levy a fine? Yes
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution? Yes
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you? No
Based on anecdotal evidence, if you fail to provide passwords, your laptop will be seized and held indefinitely:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020604763.html
http://www.aclu.org/national-securit...tion-documents
http://www.tripso.com/today/warning-...aptop-and-pda/
http://www.murthy.com/news/n_cbplap.html
If you travel internationally, you need to make plans now to protect your personal and business data from being copied out of your notebook, cellphone, MP3 player etc. by border protection agencies without a warrant (e-mails, address books, web browsing history, browser bookmarks, passwords, schedules, personal notes, business documents, encryption keys, R&D). All this data is retained and analyzed in manners that you cannot control.
Food for thought: An increasing number of companies require all staff to travel with wiped notebooks that get the data restored via an encrypted link to the company server upon arriving at the destination.
1) confiscate the laptop? Yes
2) levy a fine? Yes
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution? Yes
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you? No
Based on anecdotal evidence, if you fail to provide passwords, your laptop will be seized and held indefinitely:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020604763.html
http://www.aclu.org/national-securit...tion-documents
http://www.tripso.com/today/warning-...aptop-and-pda/
http://www.murthy.com/news/n_cbplap.html
If you travel internationally, you need to make plans now to protect your personal and business data from being copied out of your notebook, cellphone, MP3 player etc. by border protection agencies without a warrant (e-mails, address books, web browsing history, browser bookmarks, passwords, schedules, personal notes, business documents, encryption keys, R&D). All this data is retained and analyzed in manners that you cannot control.
Food for thought: An increasing number of companies require all staff to travel with wiped notebooks that get the data restored via an encrypted link to the company server upon arriving at the destination.
What happened to Feingold's Bill that would ban laptop searches at the border without probable cause?
May 14, 2010, 9:34 am
#56
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,347
I'm still waiting for an answer to this question - assuming CBP searches your computer and does not find anything that is truly illegal (i.e. kiddie porn), what is their legal remedy against you if they find your multi-GB collection of downloaded movie and TV torrents?
Can they:
1) confiscate the laptop?
2) levy a fine?
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution?
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you?
Can they:
1) confiscate the laptop?
2) levy a fine?
3) send a report to another government agency for prosecution?
4) let the trade association know so they can sue you?
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/priority_trade/ipr/
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...nforce_ipr.pdf
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/.../2310-010a.pdf
I will add that the agency tends to focus more on this topic in the cargo trade environment but it can apply in the passenger environment as well. In the OP's example I can't say that I would spend a lot of time on that scenario.
FB
May 14, 2010, 9:49 am
#57
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I typically travel with 2 or 3 laptops for my business and before each flight involving a US border, encrypt and upload about 30gb of private data (source code, customer data etc) to a server.
It's not everything, but it'd be enough to not be out of business. I normally don't delete it off the laptop as it is encrypted (256bit AES). Can they compel me to give them the password?
30 years ago a friend said that in 25 years the US would be more like the USSR and the USSR would be more like the US. How true that is.
It's not everything, but it'd be enough to not be out of business. I normally don't delete it off the laptop as it is encrypted (256bit AES). Can they compel me to give them the password?
30 years ago a friend said that in 25 years the US would be more like the USSR and the USSR would be more like the US. How true that is.
May 14, 2010, 9:56 am
#58
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Some information for your times you are looking for light reading.
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/priority_trade/ipr/
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...nforce_ipr.pdf
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/.../2310-010a.pdf
I will add that the agency tends to focus more on this topic in the cargo trade environment but it can apply in the passenger environment as well. In the OP's example I can't say that I would spend a lot of time on that scenario.
FB
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/priority_trade/ipr/
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...nforce_ipr.pdf
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/.../2310-010a.pdf
I will add that the agency tends to focus more on this topic in the cargo trade environment but it can apply in the passenger environment as well. In the OP's example I can't say that I would spend a lot of time on that scenario.
FB
May 14, 2010, 10:36 am
#59
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With regard to encryption, it's my understanding that if CBP wants to view your files, and you refuse to provide a key, they will send your laptop to a facility that has the capability to do it without you. Is that correct?
May 14, 2010, 10:50 am
#60
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 41
That depends on the country. Remember, we are primarily talking about CBP, but I am at least aware of a couple of European countries that entered the border laptop search spiel.
To give you a few examples, if you do not provide a password, the US takes your notebook. The UK has prison sentences for the failure to provide a password.
However, regardless of giving a password or not, to quote from the Washington Post article linked above,
So a cheap netbook is your friend.
Truecrypt - ^ hidden container ^
PS: Regarding the "They will send your laptop to a facility that has the capability to do it without you" post, the academic review process makes me reasonably confident that some encryption provides a certain level of safety. Now, if you pick the password God, Frequent Flier, Jihad, or abc123, that is an entirely different story.
To give you a few examples, if you do not provide a password, the US takes your notebook. The UK has prison sentences for the failure to provide a password.
However, regardless of giving a password or not, to quote from the Washington Post article linked above,
"I was assured that my laptop would be given back to me in 10 or 15 days," said Udy, who continues to fly into and out of the United States. She said the federal agent copied her log-on and password, and asked her to show him a recent document and how she gains access to Microsoft Word. She was asked to pull up her e-mail but could not because of lack of Internet access. With ACTE's help, she pressed for relief. More than a year later, Udy has received neither her laptop nor an explanation.
Truecrypt - ^ hidden container ^
PS: Regarding the "They will send your laptop to a facility that has the capability to do it without you" post, the academic review process makes me reasonably confident that some encryption provides a certain level of safety. Now, if you pick the password God, Frequent Flier, Jihad, or abc123, that is an entirely different story.
Last edited by Sam5; May 14, 2010 at 10:56 am