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CBP can check hardrives...maybe
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/us...gewanted=print
January 7, 2008 Sidebar If Your Hard Drive Could Testify ... By ADAM LIPTAK A couple of years ago, Michael T. Arnold landed at the Los Angeles International Airport after a 20-hour flight from the Philippines. He had his laptop with him, and a customs officer took a look at what was on his hard drive. Clicking on folders called “Kodak pictures” and “Kodak memories,” the officer found child pornography. The search was not unusual: the government contends that it is perfectly free to inspect every laptop that enters the country, whether or not there is anything suspicious about the computer or its owner. Rummaging through a computer’s hard drive, the government says, is no different than looking through a suitcase. One federal appeals court has agreed, and a second seems ready to follow suit. There is one lonely voice on the other side. In 2006, Judge Dean D. Pregerson of Federal District Court in Los Angeles suppressed the evidence against Mr. Arnold.... FH |
Originally Posted by FlyingHoustonian
(Post 9021898)
The court found that (quite obviously) there is nothing a reasonable person would find suspicious about either having a folder named "Kodak Memories" or being a male between 20-59. Secondly, they found that there is nothing inherently suspicious about having adult porn either. But they did not just open the "Kodak" folder and find child porn as the quote you posted suggests. The child porn was found after a lengthy (and illegal) search. |
Originally Posted by polonius
(Post 9021957)
Your brief quote from the article was factually erroneous. CBP argued in court that they had the necessary "reasonable suspicion" to have a look at his hard drive based on two facts: 1) that he had a folder named "Kodak Memories" on his hard drive and that 2) he was a single white male between 20-59 travelling from southeast asia. They then opened the "Kodak Memories" folder and found ADULT pornography, which they claimed in court in turn gave them the "reasonable suspicion" needed to search his entire hard drive.
The court found that (quite obviously) there is nothing a reasonable person would find suspicious about either having a folder named "Kodak Memories" or being a male between 20-59. Secondly, they found that there is nothing inherently suspicious about having adult porn either. But they did not just open the "Kodak" folder and find child porn as the quote you posted suggests. The child porn was found after a lengthy (and illegal) search. Ciao, FH |
Whatever your opinion of the article is, this has to be the all-time most hilarious comment from a pax in the history of CBP:
"Asked whether he had child pornography on his laptop, Mr. Boucher said he was not sure. He said he downloaded a lot of pornography but deleted child pornography when he found it." |
I'll say it again...that's why you encrypt your stuff. And if you're really paranoid use false-bottom encryption.
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truecrypt dot org baby.
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As was mentioned, truecrypt will solve this problem.
If by some reason the morons at CBP find a judge who will compel you to reveal the passcode (5th amendment considerations aside), you use a "hidden volume." If that does not work, you use a hidden volume with a keyfile that you have on a USB stick. You e-mail this to yourself and temporarily delete it off the USB stick while passing thru customs. You can then claim, honestly, that you do not have the keyfile on your person or available to you at that time. I'd also recommend a service such as hushmail for the e-mail portion, because it'll be encrypted again (and is outside the US). Or, literally mail yourself the USB key with the keyfile. This whole deal with customs is not an insurmountable problem by any means if you are willing to spend a bit of time on data security. Now, that said, if you are doing this to sneak child porn around, you (IMHO) deserve to get caught. |
Originally Posted by ClueByFour
(Post 9182488)
As was mentioned, truecrypt will solve this problem.
If by some reason the morons at CBP find a judge who will compel you to reveal the passcode (5th amendment considerations aside), you use a "hidden volume." If that does not work, you use a hidden volume with a keyfile that you have on a USB stick. You e-mail this to yourself and temporarily delete it off the USB stick while passing thru customs. You can then claim, honestly, that you do not have the keyfile on your person or available to you at that time. I'd also recommend a service such as hushmail for the e-mail portion, because it'll be encrypted again (and is outside the US). Or, literally mail yourself the USB key with the keyfile. This whole deal with customs is not an insurmountable problem by any means if you are willing to spend a bit of time on data security. Now, that said, if you are doing this to sneak child porn around, you (IMHO) deserve to get caught. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11...shmail_update/ PGP would be a better option. |
Originally Posted by ClueByFour
(Post 9182488)
As was mentioned, truecrypt will solve this problem.
If by some reason the morons at CBP find a judge who will compel you to reveal the passcode (5th amendment considerations aside), you use a "hidden volume." |
Originally Posted by oneant
(Post 9023294)
Whatever your opinion of the article is, this has to be the all-time most hilarious comment from a pax in the history of CBP:
"Asked whether he had child pornography on his laptop, Mr. Boucher said he was not sure. He said he downloaded a lot of pornography but deleted child pornography when he found it." |
Originally Posted by polonius
(Post 9021957)
Your brief quote from the article was factually erroneous. CBP argued in court that they had the necessary "reasonable suspicion" to have a look at his hard drive based on two facts: 1) that he had a folder named "Kodak Memories" on his hard drive and that 2) he was a single white male between 20-59 travelling from southeast asia. They then opened the "Kodak Memories" folder and found ADULT pornography, which they claimed in court in turn gave them the "reasonable suspicion" needed to search his entire hard drive.
The court found that (quite obviously) there is nothing a reasonable person would find suspicious about either having a folder named "Kodak Memories" or being a male between 20-59. Secondly, they found that there is nothing inherently suspicious about having adult porn either. But they did not just open the "Kodak" folder and find child porn as the quote you posted suggests. The child porn was found after a lengthy (and illegal) search. I'm not defending this guy's perv habits one bit, but you cannot search someone after finding that they were doing something completely legal. Adult porn (I do not like it, but I defend your right to look at it) is still legal in this country. It's like a cop asking to search your car or your house. (If he has to ask, he does not have reasonable suspicion. Whether or not you did anything, always say no.) Saying "No" is NOT reasonable suspicion that you have done something wrong, and anything found from said search (a search performed after you said 'no') should be thrown out. Same as not giving your ID, which is a perfectly legal thing to do in most parts of this country, is not reasonable suspicion. Yet some officers of some agencies find it totally creepy and freak out about it. |
Originally Posted by Superguy
(Post 9182510)
I wouldn't trust hushmail so much. They seem willing to give over data with a court order:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11...shmail_update/ PGP would be a better option.
Originally Posted by gleff
(Post 9182705)
IIRC (and far beyond the details of the median news story) this case revolves around whether you can be compelled to reveal the code to access the files, as so doing demonstrates that you do in fact know the code and had access to the files. In other words, a 5th amendment issue. But that the specific facts of this situation were that the person had shown access to the files in front of CBP already, thus had already revealed he had the access.
Better yet--give the keyfile to someone who is outside the subpoena and/or warrant reach of the US Government until you are safely inside the border, and then tell them where they can get the keyfile. |
Originally Posted by KleineFrau
(Post 9183111)
I'm not defending this guy's perv habits one bit, but you cannot search someone after finding that they were doing something completely legal. Adult porn (I do not like it, but I defend your right to look at it) is still legal in this country.
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Originally Posted by KleineFrau
(Post 9187984)
The store was breaking a city code.
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