Laptop searches by agents at border OK, U.S. judge says

CBC News ^ | Jan 02, 2014 | AP

[rickmichaels]

U.S. border agents should have the authority to search laptop computers carried by news photographers and other travelers at international border crossings without reasonable suspicion, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled this week.

In a written decision on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman granted a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by civil rights attorneys who claimed the practice was unconstitutional and sought to have it halted.

[La Lydia]

I sincerely hope not. What a horrible thought.

[Rome2000]

Its OK because the South lost the Civil War

[Greysard]

My theory is every lap top in the country has child porn on it somewhere.

Every computer can be infected with such materials - not necessarily intentionally. Here is an example of how it can be trivially done with no tools whatsoever.

Here, between these brackets, is an image: [] - can you see it? Its visible width and height is set to 1x1 pixel. Your eyes probably will ignore a speck of dust like that. But your computer downloads the entire image and stores it in the cache in its original format, however large it may be. (In this case it's 800x587 pixels.) This image is technically "on your computer," and there is no difference whatsoever if you downloaded it to watch in full size, or you downloaded it because it's part of some Web page and you never saw it. It's not trivial to prove that you haven't browsed to that image intentionally. The proof would require showing the Web page that contained the <img src="..."> tag with that URL. You are mostly OK if you are an expert in computers and know what to look for; or if your lawyer can hire a competent specialist. Everyone else will be convicted because the prosecution will not look for exculpatory evidence, and the public defender has no time or money to spend on digging the facts up.

I used this innocent image from Wikipedia for this example. But the attacker can use any image that he likes - even images that are not publicly known or seen by anyone. To plant this mine he only needs to write a HTML message, just like this one, and wait for the victims to collect the illegal payload, all without knowing it and without even being able to know about it.

There are countermeasures. The easiest, and the only one that a non-geek can afford, is to configure the browser so that all temporary files are removed after you close the browser. This does not entirely eliminate the cache because deleted files can linger for months on a large drive. But going into secure wipe software gets complicated fast. Seasoned geeks would browse in a VM with reverting to a snapshot after they are done. Another way to do it is by using a Live CD distribution of Linux, where nothing that you browse is saved on the hard disk. Firefox has some add-ons that can control automatic loading of images from some sites but not from other. Blocking ads entirely (using AdBlock and Ghostery and NoScript) would be a good first step because ad networks do not screen submitted ads, and from time to time undesirable images are sent to millions of customers.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

He also cited previous rulings finding that the Fourth Amendment constitutional right against unreasonable searches doesn't apply to the government's efforts to secure international borders from outside threats.

Is there some clause in the Constitution stating that the Fourth Amendment can be ignored in this case? Or are these previous rulings based on some judge's whim to abrogate the Bill of Rights?

[USNBandit]

This electronic device search applies to border inspections, not domestic travel with TSA.

[Faith65]

bookmark

[MeganC]

it’s not okay, the judge should be hung. or tarred and feathered for real.

You're far too kind to this kind of traitor.

[MeganC]

Be sure to use a hard drive password and if you use Windows 7 also be sure to use Bitlocker with an external USB key so the computer can’t be read or copied without the USB key.

[ASOC]

"Secret Agent Man to ASOC

will you help them by pulling your undies down and slapping the vaseline on yourself?

good grief."

No, but I will keep my computer from being destroyed by a ham fisted idiot with a badge and a gun.

I don't sit and bitch on line, I message my congress-critter. Paper and email. And I vote in every election.

The CONgresscritters still don't care, because it was them that voted for the law to begin with.

Recognizing reality is the first step in protecting what you still can.

[Secret Agent Man]

Sorry if i came across too harsh. I know reality is reality. It just seemed like you were so resigned to it it sounded kind of Stockholm-syndromish.

[TurboZamboni]

The so-called “border exemption” extends 100 miles inland from the border. That includes the population of the Eastern Seaboard, Miami, Houston, the west coast, and Chicago .