US laptop seizures under Microscope - Damages the economy

By Dave Murray @ Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:56 AM

Section - Business/Security

The US economy is being threatened by a policy of seizing laptop computers and other electronic devices from American travellers returning to the United States without notifying them of what will happen to the data

The US Customs and Border Patrol’s policy is expected to be slammed by privacy analysts before a Senate panel today.

The policy has legal backing from the courts, but Susan Gurley, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives said the action places undue burdens on travellers and could have a harmful impact on the economy.

She said that people carry their office around with them on their notebooks. If officials wanted to search an office they would need a warrant and a reason.

Peter Swire, a professor at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University plans to tell the subcommittee how laptop border searches are similar to the failed encryption policies of the 1990s.

It forces people to disobey good security practices by demanding password and encryption keys, which people are trained to never reveal, he said. X

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