Your laptop and law enforcement
This is the last of my Ars Technica-skimming posts (should have known I can’t write ’short’ ones).
If you move in and out of the US frequently, you might want to read this.
Here’s the scenario: you return from an overseas trip and find yourself facing US Customs officers in an airport. They see your laptop, demand that you turn it on, then take it from you and start rifling through its contents. They have no reason for the search, and they can and do look for anything they like. Is this legal? In a new decision, the Ninth Circuit says yes.
Thankfully, you can take steps to keep those prying eyes away. If you didn’t read the Ars Technica post (go do it now – if you value your privacy – and try to follow all the related links the helpful people at Ars have provided), check this article which tells you how you can get back some kind of control.
Now that you cannot prevent scanners at airports from looking directly through your clothes, cannot protect your computers from the government and cannot use the phones and internet without constantly worrying about possible monitoring, I guess the only thing left is for governments to go for mandatory implantation of chips directly into the brain. That should ‘fix’ all security probems once and for all and people can go on and start doing something constructive.
