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New Bill To Rein In DHS Laptop Seizures

Posted by kdawson on from the give-it-back-now dept.

twigles writes with news of a new proposed bill that seeks to curtail DHS's power to search and seize laptops at the border without suspicion of wrongdoing. Here is Sen. Feingold's press release on the bill. The new bill has more privacy-protecting safeguards than the previous one, which we discussed last month. "The Travelers Privacy Protection Act, a bill written by US Senators Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., would allow border agents to search electronic devices only if they had reasonable suspicions of wrongdoing. In addition, the legislation would limit the length of time that a device could be out of its owner's possession to 24 hours, after which the search becomes a seizure, requiring probable cause."

8 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Accountability by crossmr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If they take a laptop to search it for 24 hours they should first detail their "reasonable suspicion" on a form to which the person's whose laptop is being taken receives a copy to chat with their lawyer about.

  2. In our current political climate by ZorbaTHut · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd also like to know what measures the bill takes to prevent the border guards from saying "well, we lost it, sucks to be you". Does it have guarantees spelled out? If my laptop gets "lost" while they have it, will they buy me a new one? Will someone lose their job or go to jail over it?

    Because if the answer is "no", then at this point I just plain don't believe it will matter.

    --
    Breaking Into the Industry - A development log about starting a game studio.
  3. More than a pita by SpazmodeusG · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How do i get my laptop back after 24hours when i'm just a tourist with no address to have it sent to?
    Also if the "reasonable suspicion is truly reasonable" wouldn't that be the probable cause that the op was stating should be required?

    1. Re:More than a pita by stephanruby · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Oops, I just caught that last part (for the US).

      Note that many post offices within a medium to large city do not have general delivery, and mail addressed to these zip codes will either be forwarded to the Main Post Office or returned to sender.

      If a US Post Office doesn't have "General Delivery". Do try and call "Mailbox, Etc." That's a private company that rents out mailboxes in many American cities, and I would almost be sure they do this kind of thing (thought, obviously don't take my word for it, you should call them first).

      As a last resort, you should use a nice hotel for this kind of thing, most nice hotels will hold mail, messages, faxes, and valuables for a long time before you arrive -- as long as you have a reservation for at least one night with them. In fact, I know someone who's an importer/exporter who does that for his business. Everywhere he goes, he stays one night at the Hilton or at some other expensive hotel, this way he can furnish his clients with their address and number. And he also sends out any letters and faxes in batches as soon as he arrives there, this way he'll use their notepad stationary and their fax stationary, and he'll have the staff at the hotel send his stuff from the hotel's mail room and fax machine. And of course, the rest of the time that he's abroad, he'll usually stay at the cheapest places he can afford for the rest of the time.

  4. Expedited shipping? by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, right....

    More like "we're done installing rootkits, you can come and pick it up whenever you want".

    --
    No sig today...
    1. Re:Expedited shipping? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Any laptop if I go to the US (not that I will, but we'll forgo that point for this rant) would be vanilla xp with office, some non-personal documents, pictures of holidays etc and nothing else. Personal data would be encrypted on a seperate machine and emailed / stored online for retrieval at destination. I'd be sure to epoxy the screws in place, and at least 6 points of the casing so they couldn't slip a little piece of kit onto a spare USB header or whatever.

      If it gets seized / inspected, it's left in its bag for the entire trip, taken home and wiped clean, then sold on eBay. I can buy another laptop without too much hassle.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  5. Mail it by ArchieBunker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seriously. You will have a tracking number and a guarantee it will arrive. If I have to fly somewhere within the USA my clothes and belongings are going by Fedex. They don't seem to care if my tube of toothpaste is 3.04 ounces.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  6. Probable cause? "whatever..." by lenski · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In 2005 I allowed my drivers' license to expire on my birthday at the beginning of the month, thinking that I had until the end of the month.

    Traveling 3 days after the "official expiration", I flew to California, and what a pain in the ass that was! I was selected for the extra special search-every-bag at every security checkpoint both out and back.

    I'm guessing that "probable cause" is whatever niggly-ass detail they want it to be.

    Worse yet, my work involves lots of proprietary code, and I support my wife's psychology business accounting work. All that stuff is or should be on an encrypted partition and I can just see that...

    Goon: What's on this encrypted partition?

    Me: Patient mental health records for my wife's psychology business.

    Goon: Decrypt it.

    Me: Certainly, as soon as I have a legally binding signed agreement that all observers agree to the HIPAA privacy agreements that are required for medical records.

    Goon: Step out of the line and come with me, sir.

    < Uh-oh, this is probably not going to work out very well... >