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Laptop Searches And Insecure Borders | 25 comments (25 topical) | Post A Comment
Time for the next step...[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#10)
by Anonymous User on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 08:00:57 AM PDT

Lenovo, Dell, and others are now offering laptops with an optional encrypted hard drive. No password = no access.

While I don't forsee a personal need for this, I'm still tempted to go that way with my next laptop --if stolen, it will at least prevent any data from being seen or used, and if I do travel with it, I can refuse to give my password, while still allowing the TSA to turn it on to say "Yup, it's a working laptop all right".

I value my right to privacy. It's a shame any of us have to go to these lengths to ensure it, but it has been proven to us time and time again that governments will not respect that right, regardless of what the law says.

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No password, no entry[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 11:28:25 AM PDT

Sorry, customs can demand passwords and deny entry if you don't comply.  The cases on this are still being litigated, with one encouraging lower court ruling, but the pundits seem to think that customs will get its way on appeal.  Their argument seems to be that the fourth amendment applies within the US but not at the point of entry - otherwise they wouldn't be able to search your suitcase for that fifth of scotch.

I once visited East Germany while it was still communist.  The border crossings were nowhere near as stupid as the US has become in recent years.

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Use encryption...[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#12)
by Anonymous User on Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 09:13:42 PM PDT

While I haven't tried it yet, TrueCrypt sounds like a great free choice. There's an option where you can create a "double-encrypted" that contains two passwords--one that'll open your important-looking "plausible deniability" files, and the other that opens your "real" data.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]


Laptop Searches And Insecure Borders | 25 comments (25 topical) | Post A Comment
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