Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Digital Devices

Re:Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travele... by tatsuke95 on Sunday January 22, 2012 @10:30AM (#3496739)

This is ridiculous. Not what EFF is trying do do, but the extent to which people are going to have go to feel secure. Look at the doctor example. Akina the Japanese doctor is going to a wedding out of country. They recommend mailing a laptop to a relative at the wedding, then wiping it there and bringing it back across the border, all to protect the confidentiality of some emails. That is a completely and utterly ridiculous idea. But yet, there it is, seriously stated.

10 years of pacificity towards the erosion of rights and privacy, and here we are.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travele... by guylhem on Sunday January 22, 2012 @11:48AM (#3496949)

"That is a completely and utterly ridiculous idea. But yet, there it is, seriously stated"

Maybe to you, but not for me. I'm a doctor and a geek. I work on confidential patient data which I manipulate with custom software I write (some C, some perl... even some php at times :-).

But every devices this data goes into is encrypted.

To avoid any problem, when I travel I take my special "travel laptop" which has a brand new OS install from the night before. I take absolutely no data at all, unless I absolutely need to work on it during the trip - and in this case, this piece of data travels on an external media, in an encrypted form.

The macbook and the external media are disposable - should any agent want it, they can have it and keep it. I won't even complain.

What I care the most about is preserving the data confidentiality.

Why exactly wouldn't you want this kind of protection on your data from your doctor?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travele... by tatsuke95 on Sunday January 22, 2012 @03:27PM (#3497574)

Hmm...either I wasn't clear enough, or you misunderstood. Maybe replace "idea" with "concept" or "requirement". What the doctor is doing/should do isn't ridiculous. It's the fact that the EFF had to write a 30 page document that instructs people on how to protect themselves from some neanderthal on a power trip who decides to comb through personal emails at the border. All in the name of fighting piracy. That's ridiculous.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travele... by guylhem on Sunday January 22, 2012 @05:46PM (#3498041)

I see you point know. I'd rather say it's a sad situation, but you play the cards you're dealt.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travele... by dereg on Sunday January 22, 2012 @09:13PM (#3498690)

The smart person steps away from the table. Alas, that's not an option.

[ Parent | on HN ]