Andy Yiu’s Blog

Transporting data on a laptop across the border…is it safe?

Several weeks ago, I traveled to Asia to assist on a customer issue.  I was one of the fortunate ones who did not get stopped mid-way to for any secondary searches, however for countless others the situation isn’t as pleasant.  The US Department of Homeland security seems to think that searching through the data on a laptop, cell phone, iPod or Blackberry is equivalent to searching a briefcase.  In some cases, all of the contact information was copied out or the electronic device was confiscated.  Due to the type of work I do, I have customer files and other sensitive documents on my laptop which wouldn’t be of any interest to homeland security, but nevertheless I do not want them to fall into the wrong hands.  This article has definitely made me rethink what I should store on my laptop when traveling internationally.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html