Border agents cleared to search laptops and gadgets
By Leslie Poston
In a blow to privacy, laptops and gadgets have been determined to be “dumb luggage” for people heading to other countries from the United States. This means that the border agents are allowed to crack them open, turn them on and take a look around for… treason? Bomb plans? Sedition pamphlets?
What it means for the happy traveler, besides the invasion of privacy, is that you may find those naked photos of your wife or girlfriend from that fun weekend in Vegas on display at the airport for all to see. Thinking you are safe because you are not into that? What about those blog entries you wrote about the state of the Middle East, or that folder of bookmarks you thought no one would ever see?
How did this happen? The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has lumped laptops and other devices into the dumb luggage category, which means there is no probably cause requirement for the search. This isn’t a huge shock – your travel journals, maps, books, diaries and other items falling under “personal material” were already subject to basic search without cause during air travel.
Even though this is an extension of that existing search, the outcry over this is likely to be huge. People are very protective of their expensive laptops and gadgets, and with good reason. I’m not too keen on the idea of some yob from the border patrol getting their grubby, tired, harassed hands on my precious MacBook, and it isn’t because of any incriminating material like porn being on there. It is because I don’t want the tool I use the most for my writing damaged, even inadvertently.
What can you do? For now, I would recommend not taking any gadgets you are concerned about outside US borders. If you feel comfortable shipping your gadgets to yourself, you can try that, but I would personally just put any work related info on a flash drive and use someone else’s computer when you get to your destination to avoid potential breakage. If you can’t do that, for whatever reason (if you must have your own machine) than be sure to remove anything you aren’t comfortable having someone else see, and maybe buy that extended warranty after all.
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April 27th, 2008
So what’s new … passengers on flights ex Australia bound for the good old US of A have already been subjected to similar scrutiny for over 12 months with US border personnel (after clearing outbound Australian customs) insisting that cameras etc be switched on and demonstrated to ensure they really are cameras and not some deviously disguised ‘dangerous weapon’.