Message To The Federal Government: No, You Can’t Search My Laptop!
Message To The Federal Government: No, You Can’t Search My Laptop!
Our guest blogger, Peter Swire, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and served as the Clinton administration’s Chief Counselor for Privacy, working on encryption policy and other issues.
In recent months, I have become increasingly aware of what I consider a deeply flawed and disturbing policy. In April, a federal appeals court held that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) can search laptops, and even copy their entire contents, as a routine part of border searches. The ruling held that the CBP does not need probable cause, or even the lower standard of “reasonable suspicion.”
The government’s legal theory is that it can open a suitcase at the border, so it can force a traveler to open a laptop and reveal passwords and encryption keys as a condition of entering the country. This simplistic legal theory ignores the massive factual difference between a quick glance into a suitcase and the ability to copy a lifetime of files from someone’s laptop, and then examine those files at the government’s leisure. Some of the problems that arise with this policy:
– U.S. policy creates bad precedents that totalitarian and other regimes will follow. If the United States adopts a policy, then it is generally much harder for the United States to object if other countries adopt a similar policy. Even if you trust handing your encryption keys to the United States, would you feel the same way handing the keys for all your communications to a totalitarian regime?
– Severe harm to personal privacy, free speech, and business secrets. Intrusive laptop searches by the United States and other governments would chill free speech. One vivid example is a human rights activist entering or leaving China, perhaps on a religious or other mission that is controversial in that country. The government may say that they would not do such things, but the lack of legal safeguards once again means that we must simply trust the government not to misuse its power.
– Disadvantaging the U.S. economy. Foreign tourists will not like the idea of having their laptop inspected at the border, and may decide to visit elsewhere. International conferences and conventions will choose to locate elsewhere. If laptop searches were vital to the fight against terrorism, then we might craft procedures to do them while minimizing the intrusion. The available cases, however, are not about terrorism-related investigations.
CPB has refused to acknowledge any limits on its discretion to search laptops, Blackberries, and other computing devices whenever someone enters or leaves the country. Today, I will be testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding the first hearing about this increasingly common problem. The hearing, called by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), features a coalition of civil liberties and business groups that oppose these searches. I hope that today’s hearing will spell the beginning of the end of this troubling policy.
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U.S. policy creates bad precedents that totalitarian and other regimes will follow.
I think he meant that other totalitarian regimes will follow.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
June 25th, 2008 at 11:05 amJebus. That sucks. Big.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:10 amWow, I’m old. I can actually remember a time when rescumlicans actually cared about privacy and governmental overreach. But don’t worry, those blue-dog dems aren’t far behind.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:14 amThis is how they’re going to start restricting our movements.
Sky-high gas prices keep us close to home, and privacy violations will keep us from leaving the country.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:21 amJust be sure you’ve got everything backed up and insurance, then just THROW UP ON YOUR LAPTOP, THEN SEE HOW INTERESTED THEY ARE IN IT.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:23 amAnd all the reich-wingers readily and myopically accept this further infringement of our rights.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:25 amSky-high gas prices keep us close to home, and privacy violations will keep us from leaving the country.
Those of us close to the southern border have advantags:
Cheap Gas in Mexico Lures U.S. Motorists
audio link
June 25th, 2008 at 11:26 amp.s. U.S. gas prices have spiked MUCH higher than Worldwide prices.
Got market manipulation?
June 25th, 2008 at 11:27 amGood grief. We can’t carry toothpaste or hair gel on a plane; we’re got to deal with our own luggage, and now we need to leave our laptops behind or be searched? This government is going to kill the airline industry and destroy tourism.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:27 amI heartily agree with all three of Peter Swire’s objections to our government’s CPB policy, and I’d like to add a fourth.
Just as telephone surveillance isn’t all that effective against terrorism because no serious terrorist is going to say anything on a medium that can be traced, this type of privacy intrusion at our borders won’t be all that effective because no serious terrorist will bring a laptop across the border with their terrorist plans on it (if they HAVE to carry computer files, they’ll just put them on an easily smuggled flash drive).
And as with our warrantless wiretapping, the main purpose of laptop intrusion will be to gather information on citizens that the politically powerful will use for their own nefarious purposes. All in the name of “national security”, of course.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:27 amAMcG773 Says
June 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Good grief. We can’t carry toothpaste or hair gel on a plane; we’re got to deal with our own luggage, and now we need to leave our laptops behind or be searched? This government is going to kill the airline industry and destroy tourism.
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Look at it this way. We’ve already p!ssed off most of the world, and anti-U.S. feeling increases daily. Perhaps we ARE better off if we just stay home…
June 25th, 2008 at 11:29 amA clever hacker could infect computers with these illegal searches.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:33 amDamn, big brother has been even busier than I thought…Guess my 357 should be on the table next to the lap top……
It is painfuly clear to me Lady Z and other’s are correct here..
This entire mess in our gov. remind’s me of a life experiance awhile back…A neighbor with 3 DUI’S to his name, none of which he had paid his fine’s to nor completed his judge ordered substance abuse treatment plan wanted to borrow $5.00 and my truck to go to the store and buy beer for breakfast..No, No, and more no….Even after he got out of a 30 day stunt in jail his first priority was to go and drink and get pill’s from a local pusher…
We are seeing what the user’s and pusher’s in our gov. can and will do to have complete power…Time to take the car key’s away from all these drunk teen’s on both side’s……Blessings
June 25th, 2008 at 11:34 amSen Dorgan’s on C-span, right now, talking about the Divertoli scandal.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:36 amDorgan’s saying the State dept. had a red flag out on this guy for previous dealings, and the military ignored it.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:39 amWhere are the reich-wing trolls to defend this?
June 25th, 2008 at 11:42 amSo, racist_rogers, do you defend these actions? You have no comment on the infringement of our civil liberties by your reich-wing masters. Your only whine is about the Democratic Party holding a hearing to protect our civil liberties? In other words, you are putting your party ahead of this country. How typical for the anti-American reich-wing GOPigs.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:44 amDrunk, druggie spotted on isle 16…
June 25th, 2008 at 11:47 amSo, I guess/know anti-Americanism worked on you.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:48 amAgain, racist_rogers, do you defend these actions? Are you going to provide any relevant commentary to this thread or are you just going to continue to make a fool of yourself with inane and quite laughable posts?
Do you have any comment on the infringement of our civil liberties by your reich-wing masters. Your only whine is about the Democratic Party holding a hearings to protect our civil liberties? In other words, you are putting your party ahead of this country. How typical for the anti-American reich-wing GOPigs.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:50 amDr. Hussein Matt Says
June 25th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Again, racist_rogers, do you defend these actions? Are you going to provide any relevant commentary to this thread or are you just going to continue to make a fool of yourself with inane and quite laughable posts?
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Please remember to whom you are talking. Rogerse is a troll, whose only purpose is to push the GOP agenda. His job is to take the side of the neocons and oppose the Democrats on all issues — even if the Democrats came out in favor of God and motherhood, Rogerse would come out against them. So naturally, if the Democrats defend the civil rights of Americans, Rogerse has to oppose them.
For Rogerse, it’s all about his side “winning”. Issues mean nothing. Points “scored” mean everything.
I’ve tried to engage in reasonable debate with this troll, but he’s just a sock puppet. Don’t waste your time.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:03 pmrogerse Says:
so I guess the pandering worked on you..how many is it now?.
SPEAK ENGLISH.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:06 pmWith Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld “protecting us,” 15 Saudi nationals, armed with boxcutters, slip through and aided by 4 other boxcutters, and attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Bush response: to try to destroy our Bill of Rights, destroy Habeus Corpus and to try set up a nazi police state dictatorship… Heck of a treason, Mr. Bush.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pmI love a good game of Whack-a-Troll ™ as much as the next guy, but let’s just start flagging these unforgivably stupid trolls, ok?
June 25th, 2008 at 12:08 pmracist_rogerse, again, do you defend or oppose these infringement of our civil liberties by your reich-wing masters. We all know you are too f**king stupid and poor to ever have to travel outside of your mother’s front yard….but, that’s beside the point. Some of us to do travel across boarders for work and pleasure.
Are you going to provide any relevant commentary to this topic? Are you just going to continue to make a fool of yourself with increasingly pathetic and myopic posts?
Why are are putting your party ahead of this country? How typical for the anti-American reich-wing GOPigs.
So, racist_rogers, do you defend these actions?
June 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pmrogerse Says:
June 25th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
White trash,
SPEAK ENGLISH.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pmYup. I agree. racist_rogers doesn’t want to contribute a dissenting voice. racist_rogers just wants to spam these threads.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pmThis is part of an all-out effort to subdue and bring down the american economy. More and more people are staying at home because of the high prices of airline tickets. In addition to that now we have TSA agents searching deeper into your stuff and your laptops. The american economy is like a runaway horse, strong and hard to slow down. The goal of this administration is to bring that horse to a halt and finally knock it down to the ground so they inject sedatives and have total control over it. In just 8yrs we have seen our rights and the state of the economy devoured by neocon piranhas. This is not coincidence nor casualty. THIS IS ALL PLANNED!
June 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pmyou obviously have something to hide
That’s always the blanket claim of nosey, insecure people.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pmSo, racist_rogers supports the infringement of our civil liberties by her reich-wing masters. Thanks for clearing up your anti-American views.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pm.
The beginning of the end… of America.
This troubling policy has been underway for some time now. Witness the FISA “COMPROMISE” of our Fourth Amendment Rights.
THEY(sic) HATE US FOR OUR FREEDOMS…
… That policy I find very, VERY troubling.
.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pmno one forces you to go to the border
Strawman alert!
You and your ilk are forcing tourists from crossing the border. You are obstructing the flow of culture and commerce.
Why would Dr. Matt have to be personally affected in order to care for those who are?
Now stop posting.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:24 pmWell, I guess our little roggie is just fine with searches and seizures - as long as nobody finds all the kiddie porn stuffed under his mattress….
June 25th, 2008 at 12:39 pmHow come the faux president, who has declared unprecedented security for the WH, has expedited these unwarranted intrusions into people’s private life ?
Right on.
As a personal point, if I go through a checkpoint with paper files in a suit case, the customs officer sees the paper files but doesn’t get a copy of them.
If you copy my laptop, you have copied all my personal files (may include mail / email, financial records, the work of my life (my research in progress), etc.). It also may include a copy of personal files of my clients (many with whom I may have a confidentiality agreement).
June 25th, 2008 at 12:40 pmFeingold has been on C-Span for awhile on the FISA mess…Great job, I love this man….Blessings
June 25th, 2008 at 12:49 pmI guess you don’t expect your car to be searched either…
I do expect RNC Troll headquarters to be searched on January 21, 2009, and for you to scream in your cubicle, frantically attempting to delete those suspicious photos on your company-issued laptop.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:50 pmthere’s going to be a lot of executives very very very unhappy about coming back into the US after a business deal having customs officials copy all the details at the airport–including demanding personal passwords.
June 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pmEspecially when the the customs official is able to buy that Dodge Viper by selling the secrets?
Lots of unhappy people…
What the hell is it about the Fourth Amendment that this administration doesn’t understand? These actions, taken without an individual warrant, is a violation of the U.S. Constitution!
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
The Fourth Amendment was designed as a response to the “Writ of Assistance,” which was a contributing causative factor in the American Revolution. Read this information, and judge for yourselves whether this sounds similar to what the Government is doing NOW.
“A Writ of Assistance is a legal document that serves as a general search warrant.
Unlike the warrant, it is generally open-ended, and requires all parties to support the officer to whom it was issued. Its normal use is in support of customs and excise inspections. The writ authorizes an officer to search any person or place they suspect and it does not expire. They were legalized by the Townshend Act of 1767. While they were condemned in England in 1766, general writs of assistance continued to be issued until 1819.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writs_of_assistance
June 25th, 2008 at 1:45 pmRogerse,
June 25th, 2008 at 4:33 pmHere’s a question for you, “why can’t anyone go to a regressive right site, post their opinion without having it censored?” You come here and can post most anything your little nit-wit brain comes up with!
Don’t try to avoid answering the question because you know darn well right wing blogs censor out anything that doesn’t comply with their,”My way or the highway” attitude!
Be something else besides a snot-nosed drooling,whiny,overgrown sniveling little momm’s boy pecking away at a public computer in a public library, just answer my question!
The fellows down at Deeb.at had a very interesting discussion about this topic last month. I’d invite everyone to check out their in-depth discussion on this controversial topic.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:59 pmAnyone who truly knows computers knows how to get around this.
With hidden and virtual partitions and the like, it is easy to have multiple OS booting, and actually have partitiions in unreadable from windows partitions, because the system truly in operation is Linux, and excrypted. So who is to say that you have to let them into a user account that can see ALL the folders. Make your folder only readable by a certain user, and have the user (your name) be the account that you log the cretins into.
Pretty simple actually.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:58 pmOr just use hamachi, and leave everything at home anyway.