Re: Driving with Laptop across Canada and USA
- From: Observer <usenet_only@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:24:55 -0000
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On Sep 26, 11:23 pm, DevilsPGD <spam_narf_s...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Never had an issue at all -- And last I checked, they aren't allowed to
confiscate anything, just refuse access to the country (unless you're
actually charged with a crime, that is)
Actually, they can. They are all peace officers and can confiscate
whatever they want. It may take a judge to force them to return it
but that can take a while. The California court ruling is not being
adhered to:
"Laptops at U.S. border: No privacy rights
According to an article in the New York Times, the Association of
Corporate Travel Executives is asking the U.S. government for more
detailed guidelines on when and why a laptop gets confiscated at the
U.S. border, which, anecdotally, is happening more often. The story
includes a report from a business traveler who had her laptop
confiscated over a year ago and has yet to have it returned."
A lot of business travelers are walking around with laptops that
contain private corporate information that their employers really do
not want outsiders to see.
Until recently, their biggest concern was that someone might steal the
laptop. But now there's a new worry: the laptop will be seized or its
contents scrutinized at customs and immigration checkpoints upon
entering the United States.
Although much of the evidence for the confiscations remains anecdotal,
it is a hot topic this week among more than a thousand corporate
travel managers and travel industry officials meeting in Barcelona at
a conference of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.
Last week, an informal survey by the association, which has about
2,500 members worldwide, indicated that almost 90 percent of its
members were not aware that U.S. customs officials have the authority
to scrutinize the contents of travelers' laptops and even confiscate
them for a period of time, without giving a reason. Appeals are under
way in some confiscation cases, but the law is clear.
"They don't need probable cause to perform these searches under the
current law," said Tim Kane, a Washington lawyer who is researching
the matter for corporate clients. "They can do it without suspicion or
without really revealing their motivations."
Laptops may be scrutinized and subject to a "forensic analysis" under
the so-called border search exemption, which allows searches of people
entering the United States and their possessions "without probable
cause, reasonable suspicion or a warrant," a U.S. court ruled in July.
The association is asking the U.S. government for better guidelines so
corporate policies on traveling with proprietary information can be re-
evaluated. It is also asking whether corporations need to reduce the
proprietary data that travelers carry.
"We need to be able to better inform our business travelers what the
processes are if their laptops and data are seized - what happens to
it, how do you get it back," said Susan Gurley, the group's executive
director.
Besides the possibility for misuse of proprietary information, travel
executives are also concerned that a seized computer, and the
information it holds, becomes unavailable for a time. A remedy some
companies are considering is having travelers encrypt critical
information and e-mail it to themselves before entering the country,
protecting access to the data, if not privacy.
A U.S. court in California recently went against the trend, ruling
that laptop searches were a serious invasion of privacy.
"People keep all sorts of personal information on computers," the
court said, citing diaries, personal letters, financial records,
lawyers' confidential client information and reporters' notes on
confidential sources. In that specific case, the federal court ruled
that "the correct standard requires that any border search of the
information stored on a person's electronic storage device be based,
at a minimum, on a reasonable suspicion."
In its informal survey, the association also found that 87 percent of
its members said they would be less likely to carry confidential
business or personal information on international trips now that they
were aware of how easily laptop contents could be searched."
.
- References:
- Driving with Laptop across Canada and USA
- From: Observer
- Re: Driving with Laptop across Canada and USA
- From: DevilsPGD
- Driving with Laptop across Canada and USA
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