post

1984

Nothing new, I’ve seen this movie before, albeit in a different world:  border crossing a painful, sometimes fearful event.

We had no laptops, or any form of electronic media back then (the 80’s), but the armed customs agents searched through bags, and if you brought any form of printed material from the “West”, it likely got confiscated.

It was the 80’s, then-communist (sort of) Hungary.

Fast forward to 2008, the United Sates:

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed…

The policies state that officers may “detain” laptops “for a reasonable period of time” to “review and analyze information.” This may take place “absent individualized suspicion.”

The policies cover “any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,” including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover “all papers and other written documentation,” including books, pamphlets and “written materials commonly referred to as ‘pocket trash’ or ‘pocket litter.’ ”

(source: The Washington Post)

Welcome to … 1984. smile_sad

Update: Oh, how could I missed this angle: this is a Grand Promotion run by Apple.  As the Register points out:

But officers cannot read, or allow others to read, “correspondence contained in a sealed letter class mail (the international equivalent of First Class) without an appropriate search warrant or consent”

Now, as we know, the Macbook Air fits into an evnelope, all you have to do is carry your laptop Air in a sealed envelope to avoid search. smile_wink (But don’t blame me if the advice fails…)

Update #2:  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is one more argument to travel “data-light”: keep your stuff in the cloud, don’t risk customs agents sniffing through it all.  Still, nothing protects you from the inconvenience (and potential business loss) of not having your laptop, or even mobile phone for a few days, or more.

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Comments

  1. No it is totally different you see, It’s the US. They are the good guys, it’s written on some papers, so it is not like when the same thing is done by the “bad” guys.

    Actually, I don’t worry, because I don’t intend to go to the US any time soon.

  2. Unfortunately for me, I live in the US. Worse yet, I’m an international tax lawyer. I have every expectation that my phone calls are monitored, etc. due to the people I deal with and the places I go.

    My last trip to Switzerland (2 weeks ago) is the last trip my laptop goes on. Sorry, MacBook. You stay home from now on.

    Now. How do I deal with my iPhone? It has names/addresses/email/calendar info. Nothing fancy there, since I keep a zero inbox. I have to find a system to deal with that stuff.

    The customs people can watch the old Diggnation episodes on my iPhone if they want to. 🙂

  3. I wish I could leave. I’m sick of the Zionist USA Govt.

  4. On the Macbook Air in envelope …only envelopes carried by USPS are exempt from that search …not sure if an individuals carries that envelope he/she is protected from such a search…

  5. Ouch… well I have some other ideas, developed on that other border, around 1984. Perhaps I should start a consultancy in this field 🙂

  6. You should have tried Romania in the ’80s, they searched us all the time while visting communist Hungary. It’s very sad to see what’s happening in the land of the free. Fear always beats freedom if the scene is set right.

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