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DHS Allowed To Take Laptops Indefinitely
andy1307 writes with a Washington Post story giving details of Department of Homeland Security policies for border searches of laptops and other electronic devices (as well as papers). (We have been discussing border searches for a while now.) DHS says such procedures have long been in place but were "disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter," according to the article. Here is a link to the policy (PDF, 5 pages). "Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop 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, US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement... DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies — which apply to anyone entering the country, including US citizens — are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism... The policies cover 'any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,' including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover 'all papers and other written documentation,' including books, pamphlets and 'written materials commonly referred to as "pocket trash..."'"
This is crazy, people. Make sure you're not wearing any clothing with text on it, you might have to enter the USA naked.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070125.jpg
I thought it was funny the first time I read it, it's scary that it may be more true now. )=
BOFH from DHS : I have an excellent way to reduce our IT spending...
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
The policies cover 'any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form
My brain is a device that can record patterns in an analog form. If they want it, they'll have to get it over my dead body ;-)
"Sockets are the standard networking API, also useful for stopping your eyes from falling onto your cheeks" zeromq.org
What we really need is a new Linux distro that's just Rickrolls, goatse and 2 Girls One Cup. "Wait, officer! Don't forget these DVDs here."
I carry a 500gb passport of random useless data and encrypt it.
That should keep someone busy for a few weeks.
What happened to needing "probable cause" as a justification for a search?
Dick Cheney stabbed it to death with a letter opener and then as it was trying to draw it's last breath he took a razor to it's throat slicing it deep, then pulled it's tongue through the cut as a message to the other rights and justifications.
Last I heard, Dick was standing in the national archives with a jug of white out screaming, " SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I find long keys to protect funny files are best. For instance, the key:
"Hithisisagoodpasswordforprotectingmyfilezyoubetterkn0wthepassword"
To protect a single text file which reads:
"Waste of time"
Crackin' Wise - Blogging about whatever we want
It depends, are they planning on making big trouble for moose and squirrel?
Then you ship it inside a dead beaver to a Canadian taxidermist undercover spy in Minnesota. From there he places it inside a stuffed bear that is shipped to the hotel you will be staying, late at night you recover the laptop from the stuffed bear when nobody is looking.
If you need the number of the taxidermist, let me know... 15 inch and smaller laptops please, he cant find beavers large enough to ship 17 inch laptops anymore.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Why? What do you have to hide? HMMMMMM? red flag! red flag!
he cant find beavers large enough to ship 17 inch laptops anymore
Yeah I hate when I can't find a beaver large enough to contain something that's 17 inches in size ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
and you remember the last time Americans became angry with their government?...
They were beaten with clubs, battons and shot with riot rounds?
Those were the days.
Boy, the way Glenn Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days.
Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days.
And you know who you were then. Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.
People seemed to be content. Fifty dollars paid the rent.
Freaks were in a circus tent. Those were the days.
Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win.
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin.
Hair was short and skirts were long. Kate Smith really sold a song.
I don't know just what went wrong. Those Were The Days.
Ok - I'll tattoo the Library of Congres on your head, and you can do the customs thing.
It's not like there's some LAW that protects your personal effects against unreasonable searches and seizures or anything. Geez what are you guys, a bunch of terrorist-lovers?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
You left out the part where Dick shot it in the face.
I am officially gone from
Even better, fill large files with random data tagged as an ecrypted file
Eh you can get more creative than that. Download a few thousand pictures of puppies and kittens off the internet and encrypt them all ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Sir, you are welcome to inspect my laptop, but I am afraid there is no information in it.
At all.
"In fact, sir, your laptop plainly shows the maker's name, the model number, a serial number, and the letters A through Z on this bit just below the screen. That is plainly information, and it correlates with intelligence I received from "What PC" magazine that this is a highly desirable model, so I will be confiscating it indefinitely."
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
You didn't read the article.
"For a reasonable time" implies that the equipment is returned if you're found innocent.
TANSTAAFL GIGO Acronyms to live by!
You realize what this means of course.... extremely courteous and polite terrorists.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
"IANAL. Does this mean I could seal a flashdrive in a letter-class envelope, put a US Mail stamp on it, and they would need a court order to unseal it?"
It said it actually had to be in the mail... Didn't it?
If you do try to mail something like that in a letter class envelope, it might get sen't back as not suitable for mailing...
I had a fun experience with this little problem a long time ago.
I was in Melbourne, Fla and before leaving to come home to the Bahamas, I dropped a gift in a mailbox for someone also in town. (It has a piece of a small tree in the envelope. Under a quarter inch thick and less than two inches in diameter most likely.
Months later (I guess) it shows up in my mail in the Bahamas with a stamp on it that it is unsuitable for mailing. The markings show it went over to Orlando for the first sorting so I am goessing letters mailed in Melbourne at the time for delivery also to Melbourne first were shipped to orlando for sorting and then shipped back ot Melbourne for delivery.
in any case, something that was unsuitable for mailing could not make it down the street but somehow could make it over the sea to another country... by mail...
all the best,
drew
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
So you encrypt the contents of your hard drive with a one-time pad, carry the hard drive across the border and mail yourself the one-time pad. They can intercept both parts, but only way they can decrypt it is inter-agency cooperation, and the odds of that happening are less than 1 in 2^256. Better than AES!
I'm not sure about you, but /I/ store my USB stick with my encryption keys down south when traveling, if you catch my drift.
It sure is a pain in the ass to recover it though.
Imagine if the passphrase to your key was the contents of a large binary on your system.
Even better, set your passphrase to:
"Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
That way even if they do crack it they'll probably die of shame as they're typing it in.
Why not just use your wife's name + her birthday?
That's no good, I need something that I can remember.