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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.

9 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. 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?
  2. Re:Mine has.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    his penis is very very tiny

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

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

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    #DeleteChrome
  4. 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.

  5. 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
  6. Re:Stickers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  7. 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!

  8. 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.

  9. 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.