LWN: Comments on "EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops"

EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops

dvdeug — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:06:40 +0000

It's not a US legal requirement to hand over the decryption key if asked; that's the UK. To
force you to turn over decryption key would require a court order in the US.

EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops

jebba — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:07:54 +0000

"Because allowing Uncle Sam this uncontrolled access to your computer is *illegal* under our
Data Protection legislation."

But if the US government does take your data illegally, European courts are almost certain to
do nothing about it.

See, for example, this case where the data protection act was clearly violated, various
european governments knew about it, and none did anything:

http://www.eff.org/cases/indymedia-server-takedown

-Jeff

EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops

jebba — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:03:28 +0000

lmb wrote: "the constitution only applies to US citizens"

No, it applies to the US *government*. It restricts them, not the people. If the government is
prohibited from doing something by the constitution, they are prohibited from doing it to
*anyone* whether they are a citizen or not.

Of course, de facto, the US constitution has lost its power to restrain the executive.

-Jeff

EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops

pr1268 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:53:15 +0000

The current administration seems to be pushing the boundaries of what is "Constitutionally acceptable". Interpret that as you may.

To answer your question about citizens v. foreign travelers, I perceive that there is/will be a double standard on how the the Constitution is applied--Non-citizens might not enjoy freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights, but other parts of the Constitution may be applied as necessary for "national security".

Going just slightly off-topic, I'm curious if anyone knows the answer to this: Does the Border Security Patrol/TSA need a search warrant to look at the files on my computer? I'm thinking of how most laptops have a login screen where the user must enter a login name and password. How can these federal agents "force" you to log in? (Yes, I do know that even if you don't log in, they could send your laptop to a forensics lab to extricate the files, etc.)

EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops

NRArnot — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:27:17 +0000

As far as this potential tourist is concerned, the land of the no-longer free has just added a
final reason why I won't be taking any vacations in or via the USA any time soon. Boorish
officials, long queues, and mandatory fingerprinting are bad enough, but this is the last
straw.

In passing, any traveller from Europe needs to be aware that this could put them in legal
jeopardy back home, should they have any personal data (concerning anyone other than
themselves) on their laptop. Even if it's encrypted (because it's a USA legal requirement to
hand over the decryption key if asked). Even if it's deleted, unless you know it was shredded.
Because allowing Uncle Sam this uncontrolled access to your computer is *illegal* under our
Data Protection legislation. The only legally safe thing is not to take your computer at all.

EFF: Judges Urged to Curtail Random Searches of Travelers' Laptops

lmb — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:21:12 +0000

I wonder how likely it is that the court will indeed rule this in disagreement with the US
constitution; but of course, the constitution only applies to US citizens, so foreign
travelers will still be subject to search ...?