Maybe the issue with laptop protection isn't so much "before you leave the country", but should really be "before you let your laptop out of you direct control" (out of your possesion or visible range, etc.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/us/politics/01tsa.html (Summary, blogger wrote about TSA security mandate on his blog - the TSA showed up at his house, interrogated him, left, came back and took his laptop - it hasn't worked the same ever since.) His blog is at: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish/ And on this post, http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish/2009/12/31/the-fallout-from-sd-1544-0906-the-feds-take-my-computer/ the real issue for most of us would be this: "When the TSA removed my laptop from my home, my computer and system was functioning perfectly. Shortly before the TSA returned to my home they called me to tell me that the Secret Service computer forensic investigator was encountering many ‘bad sectors’ in my hard drive. Upon checking my MacBook following its return, and running Disk Utility it appears that I have many bad sectors in my hard drive, countless errors in my operating system, my MacBook will not synch with Time Machine to be backed up, my audio is no longer working and a red-light inside my audio jack is on constantly. " Now I don't know if they had a warrant or what - but I have a hard time imagining letting strangers walk off with my laptop without all legal options having been covered. Stories like this make me want to store everything on removable storage. I doubt that most machine scans as you travel through customs are at this level - this was a more direct hit at a blogger who was being considered a suspect or something. Still doesn't seem right. Chris Penn wrote: > Another update: > http://www.macworld.com/article/143986/2009/11/acta_treaty.html > > "What has been leaked is disturbing. Some reports state that customs > officials at international borders would be empowered to search the > contents of your laptop, cell phone, and iPod under the pretense that > they're looking for ripped or downloaded music and videos, with > confiscation of your devices as a potential penalty. Others state that > Internet providers would be required to look through the data > traveling over their networks for illegal transmission of copyrighted > material. Various officials have denied both claims as being part of > outdated drafts of the treaty—but obviously, without access to the > text of the treaty and with no news of the negotiations, there’s no > way to confirm any of this without waiting for a fait accompli > announcement." > > More and more of a reason to encryption your data. > > Chris... > > On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Chris Penn <cantorm...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Interesting update: ACLU Sues DHS over Laptop Searches >> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2352055,00.asp >> >> "The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday(in august) sued the >> Department of Homeland Security in an effort to uncover documents >> related to laptop searches at the border. >> >> "The ACLU believes that suspicionless searches of laptops violate the >> First and Fourth Amendments," the group wrote in the suit, filed in a >> New York District Court. " _______________________________________________ LinuxUsers mailing list LinuxUsers@socallinux.org http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers
