Cossing The Border With Trade Secrets

On the border laptops remain an interest to Obama's Department of Homeland Security as much as guns and bullets (my apologies to Al Stewart).

From The Los Angeles Times:  Taking an international trip? Scrub those hard drives!.

As News.com's Declan McCullagh reported, the Obama administration continues to take an extremely permissive view toward the power of federal agents at the border. The new directives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection reiterate the Bush administration's stance that agents have the authority to search any digital storage device entering the country, even when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing. They'll need to show probable cause only if they want to seize the device or retain copies of its contents. The primary change in policy is more administrative oversight over how the devices and data are handled after they're seized....

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The best argument that the DHS makes for its approach is that criminals are using new electronic storage devices to smuggle illegal items into the United States:

As the world of information technology evolves, the techniques used by CBP and ICE and other law enforcement agencies must also evolve to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals using new technologies in the perpetration of crimes. Failure to do so would create a dangerous loophole for criminals seeking to import or export merchandise contrary to law.

No way can I summarizeGovernment Directive Addresses Traveler’s Attempt To Prevent Search In A Timely Fashion with its information dumps of DHS regulations and so I will not.  From what I see, the article contains good research.

That article did lead me to DHS: Expect your computer to be seized without suspicion with sources and some interesting points:

The guidelines for Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) agents says pretty much the same thing, adding that whenever a CBP agent encounters technical trouble figuring out how a mechanism works, or what the meaning of some piece of information is, he can seek help from other US government sources. "In such situations, Officers may transmit electronic devices or copies of information contained therein to seek technical assistance from other federal agencies," reads the CBP guidelines (PDF available here).

What's been a subject of contention ever since the government tightened border inspection policies in the wake of 9/11 hasn't been so much agents' rights to act without suspicion (although for some, that already crosses the line) as the authority DHS grants them to transmit the information they find elsewhere, under the auspices of "seeking help." Both guidelines now state that agents may only seek help from other federal sources, but they are not explicit with regard to what level -- for example, whether a private consultant under retainer for the FBI would qualify.

In their assessment of the extent of the risks this clarified policy might pose to citizens' and visitors' personal privacy, published last Tuesday (PDF available here), both border agencies, acting jointly, identified six specific areas: "(1) travelers may need additional information regarding the authority [agents have] to conduct border searches; (2) the traveler may be unaware of the viewing or detention of his/her information by CBP and ICE; (3) personally identifiable information (PII) may be detained where it is not needed; (4) PII may be misused by CBP and ICE officers; (5) CBP and ICE may disclose PII to other agencies that may misuse or mishandle it; and (6) new privacy risks may arise as the technology involved in this activity is ever-changing."