Feds can search laptops without reason at airports
By ELLEN NAKASHIMA Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.
Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
...The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5918770.html
Labels: 1984, citizen's rights, police, surveillance
Randall Stross looks at whether Google's relentless collecting, processing and commercializing of our most personal information begs for public oversight, in this article (designed to promote his book Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know, Free Press, 2008)
