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Putting Stickers On Your Laptop is Probably a Bad Security Idea (vice.com)

From border crossings to hacking conferences, that Bitcoin or political sticker may be worth leaving on a case at home. From a report: Plenty of hackers, journalists, and technologists love to cover their laptop in all manner of stickers. Maybe one shows off their employer, another flaunts that local cryptoparty they attended, or others may display the laptop owner's interest in Bitcoin. That's all well and good, but a laptop lid full of stickers also arguably provides something of a red flag to authorities or hackers who may want to access sensitive information stored on that computer, or otherwise cause the owner hassle.

"Conferences, border crossing[s], airports, public places -- stickers will/can get you targeted for opposition research, industrial espionage, legal or investigative scrutiny," Matt Mitchell, director of digital safety and privacy for technology and activism group Tactical Tech, told Motherboard in an online chat. Mitchell said political stickers, for instance, can land you in secondary search or result in being detained while crossing a border. In one case, Mitchell said a hacker friend ended up missing a flight over stickers.

14 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. This is why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I only paste QR codes for bad dragons and onaholes on my laptop.

    1. Re:This is why by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 5, Funny

      I put this sticker on my laptop. Two times now security theatre performers have gingerly handed it back to me, and wiped their hands afterwards with sanitiser.

  2. Hold on.... by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...while I slap some stickers on this honeypot.

    --
    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
  3. Re:Mine has.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    his penis is very very tiny

  4. Re:Safety sticker by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    My MacBook Pro has a Gateway sticker and is painted like a Holstein cow.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  5. Re:Safety sticker by burtosis · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just put a sticker with the Compaq logo over my Apple logo. Never had my laptop messed with.

    Ahh, the laptop equivelant of putting a ragged, oil stained repair manual in the back window of your car.

  6. Re:Even my OS/2 sticker? by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those ensure you go straight to GITMO.

    --
    Time to offend someone
  7. Re:Safety sticker by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's so weird... I have an apple sticker covering the Dell logo on my Inspiron. here's to camouflage.

    --
    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
  8. Re:Stickers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    got a sticker of your mom on my machine, you're right, it is ugly

  9. Re:just about anything ODD can have the same effec by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nice try, Joker! The Gotham City Police Department aren't so easily fooled!

  10. Re:Remember by ArchieBunker · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes my identity depends on the stickers on my laptop. Fuck you dad you can't tell me what to do anymore! *runs away crying*

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  11. Re:Not all bad by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, but you can make your own out of some old-fashioned shiny clear Scotch tape.

  12. Re:Self expression is looked down upon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
  13. Re:Yep by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

    Unsure if this is related, but I am also old and single, and have been single most of my life.

    Probably is. I mean dumb slogans, pseudo-intellectual quotes and in-jokes are practically the definition of "chick magnet".

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."