Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
August 1 2008
Now the US government has taken on the right to retain for a reasonable period of time your laptop, cell phone or other recording devices and share its recorded information to any number of public and private agencies.
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.
Read the entire article here.
So what about if one simply encrypts the hard drive or else loads up the material on to one's idisk before hand and erases one's private data? What then? Will they force us to give them the password?
If they won't then why can they touch the laptop in the first place. To apply this to US citizens with no cause seems to smack of "big brother!
Asher
Now the US government has taken on the right to retain for a reasonable period of time your laptop, cell phone or other recording devices and share its recorded information to any number of public and private agencies.
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.
Read the entire article here.
So what about if one simply encrypts the hard drive or else loads up the material on to one's idisk before hand and erases one's private data? What then? Will they force us to give them the password?
If they won't then why can they touch the laptop in the first place. To apply this to US citizens with no cause seems to smack of "big brother!
Asher