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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.

25 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. Remember by HarryCaul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Keep your opinions to yourself if you don't want to be targeted.

    1. Re:Remember by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Informative

      An be a good and quiet little sheep. Just like they want you to be.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    2. Re:Remember by avandesande · · Score: 5, Informative

      Getting past the age of 19 and believing that people need to know what you are thinking is a form of mental illness....
      https://tech.slashdot.org/stor...

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    3. 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
  3. Re:Mine has.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    his penis is very very tiny

  4. Safety sticker by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Interesting

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

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. 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
    2. 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.

    3. 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?
  5. Re:Not all bad by arth1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The sticker covering your laptop's camera might be a good security idea ;-)

    I wonder...
    Do anyone make laptop camera stickers that look like laptop cameras?

  6. Freeze Peach by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess I should think about taking off that "My other computer is an AR-15" sticker, huh?

    I thought this was America. Isn't this America? I'm sorry, I thought this was America.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Freeze Peach by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The police literally just make shit up, lie until the video surfaces, and do whatever they like -- at this point they're so incompetent and unaware of the law I assume they're also all on the take.

      Probably true, but it's enough for them just to be assholes. If they knew the law, then they could be held accountable for arresting people when they haven't broken it. By maintaining ignorance, they have plausible deniability.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Freeze Peach by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The US Constitution protects the rights of US Citizens.

      Sorry, but you're full of shit:

      Noncitizens undeniably have a wide range of rights under the Constitution. Indeed, within the borders of the United States, they have most of the same rights as citizens do, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent bans most state laws discriminating against noncitizens. There is little if any serious controversy among experts over this matter.

      And much of what he is advocating requires violating the Constitutional rights of people before establishing if they are citizens or not. Like violating 4th ammendment to search people without probable cause to check their ID.

      Trump is a thug, and what he's advocating are the policies of a thug, which completely ignore the law.

  7. 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
  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. Self expression is looked down upon by TheDarkener · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Favor the Lords of the masses, do not express yourself, do not talk to others about your interests, do not put stickers on your laptops and automobiles. Be a good sheep, please the Lords. Be normal. Carry on.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  11. Part of security is stealth. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And much of stealth is just blending in. This isn't really anything new. One key to not getting robbed is to not wear all this flashy stuff that identifies you as someone worthy of being robbed. Who's the pick-pocket going to target, the guy with the $20,000 Rolex, or the guy with the $20 Timex?

    Similarly, If you're doing things governments don't like, you'd far smarter just blending in rather than sticking out. People have this odd idea that they need to TELL EVERYONE who they are. Be Proud, Be Loud! Get over yourself. You can still make changes in the world and not have to stick out like a sore thumb.

  12. 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.

  13. Re:Mine has.. by mspohr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You seem to fail to understand that "the authorities" have more guns and bigger guns and more people and jails. It's cute that you want to display your bravado but that will only get you targeted and will not end well.

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
  14. 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."
  15. Re:Mine has.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You seem to fail to understand that "the authorities" have more guns and bigger guns and more people and jails. It's cute that you want to display your bravado but that will only get you targeted and will not end well.

    And what is very disturbing to this thread is that we're talking about a dystopian police state and nobody seems to notice, or care. And I'm living in a South American country that seems and feels far more free than the US.

    My only advice for you: RISE!

  16. Re:And by all means, if you are going to .... by TheDarkener · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, yes! Please express yourself! Be unique. Put the SAME DAMN sports team sticker on your car as everyone else in your city. What kind of coffee mug do you own? Yeti?! Me too brother, me too! How many people are in your family? How many pets? Oh, I can just look at the back window of your vehicle. Haha, I have the same sticker on mine. Aw look, you know someone that died, so you put a memorial sticker on the back of your car. I know someone that died too... where did you get that?! I need one, so I can be unique and expressive too. Where do your kids go to school? Are you proud of them? That is unique sentiment amongst parents. Salt Life? What is that? Please tell me all about it. I like your Honda... thanks for putting the giant Honda logo sticker on the back window, it makes me not have to look at the other 8 logos that the factory put on it.

    I hate all of that shit too, but I hate oppression even more.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  17. 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.