Customs Now Open To Download Files During Search

TSA Now Open To Download Files During Search

www.washingtontimes.com

Federal security workers are now free to snoop through more than just your undergarments and luggage at the airport. Thanks to a recent series of federal court decisions, the digital belongings of international fliers are now open for inspection. This includes reading the saved e-mails on your laptop, scanning the address book on your iPhone or BlackBerry and closely scrutinizing your digital vacation snapshots.

Unlike the more common confiscations of dangerous Evian bottles and fingernail c

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
seclists.org
www.computerworld.com

[edit on 21-4-2010 by KyoZero]

I am not the type to typically worry and frankly I have nothing on my laptop that is scary for others to see but this seems a bit excessive no? Essentially federal security looked at some files that they shouldn't have and used it to prosecute and they did so successfully due to the ruling that made the evidence admissable.

Tough call. The government claims this investigation took place before his trip.

This is my first article...I really hope I didn't mess this up

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CORRECTION! This article is about Customs and Border patrol and NOT the TSA...regardless I think this might still be a valid article...title was changed

Thoughts?

-Kyo

www.washingtontimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 21-4-2010 by KyoZero]

reply to post by KyoZero


This is outrageous. The material in question by definition requires materiality and context to ascertain whether or not it is germane to any legal action. TSA workers, I think are required to have a high-school education. How are these poorly trained folks supposed to review documents/files on PCs and or hand helds?

What happens should a file accidently be deleted by one of these folks?

Are their protections against theft of intellectual property?

How long is this going to take? Will you be reimbursed should you miss your flight because some tool is checking out your Blackberry?

We're moving to a place where everyone is enlisted by the government to watch their fellow citizens. Cab drivers, teachers, mailmen, general neighbors, bankers, folks who run and work in hardware stores.

More Prove to Me you are innocent and I'll let you go.... Sickening where our country is heading-more so.

I understand the premise of it all-child porn, national secrets, business secrets but come on. What about Invasion of Privacy. Just because I cross over an imaginary line and then back doesn't/shouldn't give them the right to invade my stuff. I'm still an Ameican citizen.

Before too long, you won't be able to drive to the local Wal-Mart (or whatever store you others may shop) without getting search by someone.

S&F Important topic to keep an eye on.

reply to post by anon72


The real idiocy of this is that anyone with anything worthy of being observed will either encrypt it, delete it from their hand held, keep it on a server and off the PC. A 3rd grade kid could tell you how to get from point a to b without those files being reviewed, even if every file was reviewed.

Speaking of kids, my 11 year old just did a report on sattelites. Some pretty technical documentation, schematics, mathmetical formulas, etc on it. Exactly the kind of that were some bonehead would call a supervisor over to look at.

This is like the cops posting a sign "speed trap ahead".

It means nothing yet further underscores the insensitivity that these folks have toward the legitimate concerns of citizens

[edit on 21-4-2010 by dolphinfan]

Originally posted by dolphinfan
reply to post by KyoZero

 

How long is this going to take? Will you be reimbursed should you miss your flight because some tool is checking out your Blackberry?

For the most part I am a fairly staunch skeptic and don't look deep into these things but what you said on invasioon of privacy seems reasonable. Even if this case was indeed started well before when the FBI did an IP tracer, doesn't this set precendence for this type of previously unadmissable evidence to become admissable?

I worry about the time factor too. Who decides what might be dangerous and that decision, made improperly, could be very costly to you flight, your freedom...maybe your life?

-Kyo

I'd just get the ugliest pictures of old fat people naked and put it all over my desktop... They'll open 1 and tell me to move along...

Magnum

According to these guys the article is erroneous: boingboing.net...

If true, we're not talking about the carry on check point folks, but something that is part of customs ... making it slightly more understandable.

Haven't researched the whole thing yet so I will reserve further comment.

ETA: www.tsa.gov...

ETA: www.dhs.gov...

[edit on 21 Apr 2010 by schrodingers dog]

Not for all the tea in China would I subject myself to airline travel and the security procedures in place.

That’s saying a lot considering decades ago I was a Travel Agency Owner, and Manager who travelled often.

The Government might not have any respect for the citizens, but that doesn’t stop me from having respect for myself. Pay for a service and then be prodded, poked, scrutinized, demeaned, and degraded?

Not this ProtoplasmicTraveler!

The government is out of control!

Pack up the HD to your laptop and any other electronic devices and ship them a day or so before you board an international flight, then the TSA doesn't have the ability to touch them. I am hesitant to travel with encrypted files as some places such as the UK have laws in place where they can force you to divulge your keys to the encryption, so its not a fail-safe method of protecting the data. Just remember physical security in this case trumps digital security...

Why people are still flying? Why no terrorist blew up those TSA terrorists? Because between terrorists they don't attack each other?

TSA... worst scum in the universe.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


soooo the question now is...if it is Border Control, is it still legal? Are people not bothered now that we realize it is customs and not TSA?

Also (again I am new to the news area) am I allowed to change the title?

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CORRECTION! This article is about Customs and Border patrol and NOT the TSA...regardless I think this might still be a valid article...title was changed

-Kyo

[edit on 21-4-2010 by KyoZero]

reply to post by KyoZero


Well I'm not a lawyer so I can't attest to the relevant legality.

But the TSA and Customs have different mandates as I understand it. First of all one doesn't have to go through customs when they travel within the United States, so presumably this isn't an issue in this regard ... for now at least.

Customs in many countries who for example have more strict pornography laws have opened computers and checked for such content for a while now. One would have to research the scope and powers of the customs service to see if this lies within it, but I can tell you from experience that customs can pretty much do with you what they want if they choose to, and that's pretty much constant everywhere in the world. They're the type of folks who you just nod to and don't remind of your constitutional rights ... unless of course you have a few hours/days to spare and are amicable to cavity searches.

Originally posted by anon72
More Prove to Me you are innocent and I'll let you go....

The police assume everyone has done something, but what about if you have not, and was born with a heart, and the knowing right from wrong(not everyone knows this).

The police do not care if you never did anything once they target you, like my life its been 18 years of hell, do they stop, hell no.