U.S. Clamps Down On Laptop Snoops

The U.S has got a new bill that guarantees travellers rights in cases of laptop seizure at its borders. The ‘Travelers’ Privacy Protection Act of 2008’ (Senate bill S. 3612 and House bill H.R. 7118) was introduced on September 26 and requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials to demonstrate reasonable suspicion - and to obtain a warrant - before seizing a laptop or other electronic device and randomly copying the data it contains.

The bill introduces a much higher, and necessary, level of accountability to the laptop examination process. It requires the authorities to seek a warrant, which makes it subject to judicial process. This is great news as it puts an end to the indiscriminate ransacking of data, lets you witness the process of a total stranger rifling through your Céline Dion collection of MP3s, and limits the time officials can hold onto your hardware to play Unreal Tournament III. It even provides compensation for damage to your computer.

The warrant strictly defines the material that can be copied, stored, and shared with other government agencies. It also sets a brief timeline in which laptops and other devices must be returned to their owners. Finally, it requires all U.S. government agencies to keep any confiscated data in a secure facility, with limited access, and to be immediately destroyed beyond recall if further action is not forthcoming.

Unlike other ‘closed containers’ that cross the border, laptops can contain full libraries of information about a person, including medical records, financial disclosures, e-mails, privileged work products, journals, and dodgy music taste. All of this material may be subject to invasive examination by search engines that are indiscriminate in their discovery.

The bill states: ‘Electronic search tools render searches of electronic equipment more invasive than searches of physical locations or objects. Requiring citizens and other legal residents of the United States to submit to a government review and analysis of thousands of pages of their most personal information without any suspicion of wrongdoing is incompatible with the values of liberty and personal freedom on which the United States was founded.’

The Travelers' Privacy Protection Act of 2008 will also dramatically change the procedure used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities in examining laptops and other electronic devices. Inspectors will have to state the suspicion, secure the approval of a superior, and examine the contents of the laptop in a confidential surrounding - in the presence of the superior and the laptop’s owner. Border officials will have three days to secure a warrant, or 21 days to secure a ruling from a Foreign Intelligence Court. Suspicious data may be used in the application. However, failure to receive a warrant or a ruling within the specified period of time will require any data to be destroyed, and the device returned to the owner.

The entire U.S. business travel industry should support this bill as a beginning to the end of indiscriminate security procedures. This bill is a good beginning and it will be perfect when these protections are extended to all travellers, not just U.S. citizens. Sadly, the softheads who run our country probably don’t understand a word of this...