Seizing Laptops and Cameras Without Cause

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/seizinglaptopsandcameraswithoutcause&printer=1;_ylt=AgkEaIr_z48o90FSjjro2CSSl7MF 
 >

U.S. News & World Report

U.S. Seizing Laptops and Cameras Without Cause
By Alex Kingsbury
Wed Jun 25, 11:41 AM ET

Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was  
selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles  
International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan's  
luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any  
digital media cards or drives in his pockets? "Then they told me that  
they were impounding my laptop," says Hogan, a freelance investigative  
reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq  
war to the impact of money in presidential politics.

Shaken by the encounter, Hogan says he left the airport and examined  
his bags, finding that the agents had also removed and inspected the  
memory card from his digital camera. "It was fortunate that I didn't  
use that machine for work or I would have had to call up all my  
sources and tell them that the government had just seized their  
information," he said. When customs offered to return the machine  
nearly two weeks later, Hogan told them to ship it to his lawyer.

The extent of the program to confiscate electronics at customs points  
is unclear. A hearing Wednesday before the Senate Committee on the  
Judiciary's Subcommittee on the Constitution hopes to learn more about  
the extent of the program and safeguards to traveler's privacy.  
Lawsuits have also been filed, challenging how the program selects  
travelers for inspection. Citing those lawsuits, Customs and Border  
Protection, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, refuses  
to say exactly how common the practice is, how many computers,  
portable storage drives, and BlackBerries have been inspected and  
confiscated, or what happens to the devices once they are seized.  
Congressional investigators and plaintiffs involved in lawsuits  
believe that digital copies?so-called "mirror images" of drives?are  
sometimes made of materials after they are seized by customs.

A ruling this year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that DHS  
does indeed have the authority to search electronic devices without  
suspicion in the same way that it would inspect a briefcase. The  
lawsuit that prompted the ruling was the result of more than 20 cases,  
most of which involved laptops, cellphones, or other electronics  
seized at airports. In those cases, nearly all of the individuals were  
of Muslim, Middle Eastern, or South Asian background.

Travelers who have their computers seized face real headaches. "It  
immediately deprives an executive or company of the very data?and  
revenue?a business trip was intended to create," says Susan Gurley,  
head of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, which is  
asking DHS for greater transparency and oversight to protect copied  
data. "As a businessperson returning to the U.S., you may find  
yourself effectively locked out of your electronic office  
indefinitely." While Hogan had his computer returned after only a few  
days, others say they have had theirs held for months at a time. As a  
result, some companies have instituted policies that require employees  
to travel with clean machines: free of corporate data.

The security value of the program is unclear, critics say, while the  
threats to business and privacy are substantial. If drives are being  
copied, customs officials are potentially duplicating corporate  
secrets, legal records, financial data, medical files, and personal E- 
mails and photographs as well as stored passwords for accounts from  
Netflix to Bank of America. DHS contends that travelers' computers can  
also contain child pornography, intellectual property offenses, or  
terrorist secrets.

It makes practical sense to X-ray the contents of checked and carry-on  
luggage, which could pose an immediate danger to airplanes and their  
passengers. "Generally speaking, customs officials do not go through  
briefcases to review and copy paper business records or personal  
diaries, which is apparently what they are now doing now in digital  
form?these PDA's don't have bombs in them," says Marc Rotenberg,  
executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. More  
troubling is what could happen if other countries follow the lead of  
the United States. Imagine, for instance, if China or Russia began a  
program to seize and duplicate the contents of traveler's laptops. "We  
wouldn't be in a position to strongly object to that type of  
behavior," Rotenberg says. Indeed, visitors to the Beijing Olympic  
Games have been officially advised by U.S. officials that their  
laptops may be targeted for duplication or bugging by Chinese  
government spies hoping to steal business and trade secrets.