MyComputerPaladin.com

The Paladin was very surprised recently as he came across an article by the Washington Post regarding U.S. Customs Agents seizing laptops, cell phones, PDAs and other electronics at the border and keeping them sometimes for weeks on end.

You can access the original article by clicking here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html

This story is quite an eye-opener.

For instance, Customs Agents can demand that you enter passwords or whatever else is needed to access your computer and open up the digital contents to them. They can also keep your laptop or other electronic device for days, completely copying its contents, before returning it to you.

Now, the Paladins supports the fact that Customs Agents have to be able to inspect anything being brought into the U.S., but this seems to be going a bit extreme, if for no other reason than the fact that you have no idea what happens to your personal data once Customs is through with it.

That’s right…there is no declaration by U.S. Customs indicating what is actually done with this information. Is it deleted when they are finished? How is your data protected? Is it “archived” somewhere and potentially available to others?

And of course, how well screened are the custom’s agents? The Paladin already commented previously on a very unscientific survey (300 people) that seemed to indicate that a significant percentage of network administrators access individual’s personal information without cause on business networks (see the that article here: http://www.mycomputerpaladin.com/33-of-it-staff-surveyed-admitted-to-accessing-personal-data/48/). What about your information taken by the US Customs Agents? Who confirms that they are not using your information improperly?

These are all very big questions regarding the safety of your sensitive data. This is also apparently the subject of ongoing congressional hearings (see http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=3420).

As the original article points out, some businesses now have specific policies regarding the transportation of company laptops across international borders. Some require their employees to carry a laptop whose hard disk has been “sanitized” (all personal information removed) and then be reloaded with sensitive data by using the Internet once the traveler reaches their destination. Of course, this has its own security issues with respect to how secure is the link between the traveler and his or her home office?

The Paladin will be watching this story very closely…and very likely emailing his congressmen in the near future to let them know his thoughts on the matter. In the mean time, keep in mind that any electronic information you carry across a border can be seized and copied by border agents.