10 ms·

Another way would be to have truecrypt completely encrypt the drive in the laptop and have a colleague set up the password. Then, when you have arrived, you as

by yaeger 13y ago

Another way would be to have truecrypt completely encrypt the drive in the laptop and have a colleague set up the password. Then, when you have arrived, you ask your colleague to send you the password. That way you have security of the laptop data and you can confidently tell any government agency that you do not know the password should they request it. I hear some companies do it this way. Should the man request the password of the work laptop you brought along? You can just tell em "Take it up with my superior back home"

celticninja 13y ago
Of course they may employ the rubber glove and wrench treatment to make sure you don't know the password.
- timbro 13y ago
  This story is about New Zealand, but I'm sure we agree on which government exerts the pressure that these police state tactics are about to become the new (and apparently accepted) "normal". I really hate to see the US going down that path, it would have had so much potential to exert positive pressure, to make the World a better place.
- tripzilch 13y ago
  What's the rubber glove for?
  - test1235 13y ago
    To blow up and make amusing animal shapes with, while everyone's waiting.
duiker101 13y ago
That sound the way to ask them to take it away seeing how they are treating companies that encrypt their data(lavabit)
Spearchucker 13y ago
Why a. go to all that trouble and b. even expose anyone to the knowledge that you have encrypted data? All this requires is a TrueCrypt file volume uploaded to your favourite cloud storage service. When you've cleared customs go find a Starbucks or something and download it. Border officials won't have a clue. If they confiscate your laptop, buy a new one.
- rfnslyr 13y ago
  > Border officials won't have a clue. If they confiscate your laptop, buy a new one. Is that really your mentality? That's fucked up. If they take away my $3000 work mac I'd be absolutely livid. Actually I'm travelling soon. What precautions should I take? What can I even do if they take my electronics?
  - anoncowherd 13y ago
    >> What can I even do if they take my electronics? "Write to your representatives!!" .. nah, I'm kidding. You can't do shit about it. We live in an increasingly totalitarian world, as the article shows. It's fucking insane.
gnaffle 13y ago
That's a really bad idea, especially if you're not a US citizen. If they want to access your computer, they _will_ call your superior back home and might tell him that they will either get the password or deny you entry.
- Avenger42 13y ago
  I think they'd just threaten to keep the laptop instead. Once they've taken the laptop from you, presuming that's the only reason they're stopping you, they should no longer have cause to prevent you from continuing.
  - gnaffle 13y ago
    Why would they threaten that? An encrypted laptop would be useless to them without the password. The worst they could threaten you with is denied entry or detainment, so I think it's far more likely that they would threaten with that to compel you to produce the password. In any case, if you are worried about protecting your data, you put yourself in a pretty bad situation if you rely on encrypting that data and hide the password. Bringing a relatively clean laptop will just avoid the issue altogether and will allow you to be cooperative with them. Remember that they don't _need_ any cause to deny you entry or detain you, as long as you're not a US citizen.
    - pstuart 13y ago
      > Why would they threaten that? Because messing with you is equally rewarding as "protecting the country."
DanBC 13y ago
That is an absolutely terrible idea. You are asked when you check in if anyone has given you anything to carry for them. You presumably answered "no" to that question, yet now you're saying "Yes, they asked me to carry this unknown data". They don't care if you know the password or not. They care if the data can be made available in plaintext or not. While you do not know the password you do know the method of making the plaintext available - you get whoever does know the passphrase to enter it. Thus, you're going to be detained until the passphrase turns up, or the machine is going to be confiscated and all data cloned and you're going to be denied entry. Being denied entry is expensive. It also has consequences for future travel. Visas might be different. Customs clearance will be different. Possibility of getting in is lower. > You can just tell em "Take it up with my superior back home" They do this all the time. Watch a couple of hours of any of the various border-crossing / customs control "reality" tv shows. You'll see someone held in a room for hours, questioned for hours, with all their documents being searched for phone numbers and people being called to corroborate the story. They have no problem making phone calls back home and to the destination country. This method is going out of your way to give them something to detain you for; it is making extra effort to look guilty.
- e_proxus 13y ago
  You could create a hidden partition in your TrueCrypt volume, put some plausible data in the public partition and give them the password for that.
  - Retric 13y ago
    Why bother when you can just download anything you want after you cross customs.
    - rfnslyr 13y ago
      Because I should not have to go out of my way to make a legal activity, LOOK like a legal activity, when it's not even remotely illegal. It's privacy, that's all it is. Lock is to box as encryption is to computer. We live in a very sad state of affairs that will continue to deteriorate.
elwell 13y ago
I would be more worried about the TSA accidentally wiping my hard drive when they try to crack the encryption.

by yaeger 13y ago

celticninja 13y ago

Of course they may employ the rubber glove and wrench treatment to make sure you don't know the password.

timbro 13y ago
This story is about New Zealand, but I'm sure we agree on which government exerts the pressure that these police state tactics are about to become the new (and apparently accepted) "normal". I really hate to see the US going down that path, it would have had so much potential to exert positive pressure, to make the World a better place.
tripzilch 13y ago
What's the rubber glove for?
- test1235 13y ago
  To blow up and make amusing animal shapes with, while everyone's waiting.

duiker101 13y ago

That sound the way to ask them to take it away seeing how they are treating companies that encrypt their data(lavabit)

Spearchucker 13y ago

Why a. go to all that trouble and b. even expose anyone to the knowledge that you have encrypted data? All this requires is a TrueCrypt file volume uploaded to your favourite cloud storage service. When you've cleared customs go find a Starbucks or something and download it. Border officials won't have a clue. If they confiscate your laptop, buy a new one.

rfnslyr 13y ago
> Border officials won't have a clue. If they confiscate your laptop, buy a new one. Is that really your mentality? That's fucked up. If they take away my $3000 work mac I'd be absolutely livid. Actually I'm travelling soon. What precautions should I take? What can I even do if they take my electronics?
- anoncowherd 13y ago
  >> What can I even do if they take my electronics? "Write to your representatives!!" .. nah, I'm kidding. You can't do shit about it. We live in an increasingly totalitarian world, as the article shows. It's fucking insane.

gnaffle 13y ago

That's a really bad idea, especially if you're not a US citizen. If they want to access your computer, they _will_ call your superior back home and might tell him that they will either get the password or deny you entry.

Avenger42 13y ago
I think they'd just threaten to keep the laptop instead. Once they've taken the laptop from you, presuming that's the only reason they're stopping you, they should no longer have cause to prevent you from continuing.
- gnaffle 13y ago
  Why would they threaten that? An encrypted laptop would be useless to them without the password. The worst they could threaten you with is denied entry or detainment, so I think it's far more likely that they would threaten with that to compel you to produce the password. In any case, if you are worried about protecting your data, you put yourself in a pretty bad situation if you rely on encrypting that data and hide the password. Bringing a relatively clean laptop will just avoid the issue altogether and will allow you to be cooperative with them. Remember that they don't _need_ any cause to deny you entry or detain you, as long as you're not a US citizen.
  - pstuart 13y ago
    > Why would they threaten that? Because messing with you is equally rewarding as "protecting the country."

DanBC 13y ago

That is an absolutely terrible idea. You are asked when you check in if anyone has given you anything to carry for them. You presumably answered "no" to that question, yet now you're saying "Yes, they asked me to carry this unknown data". They don't care if you know the password or not. They care if the data can be made available in plaintext or not. While you do not know the password you do know the method of making the plaintext available - you get whoever does know the passphrase to enter it. Thus, you're going to be detained until the passphrase turns up, or the machine is going to be confiscated and all data cloned and you're going to be denied entry. Being denied entry is expensive. It also has consequences for future travel. Visas might be different. Customs clearance will be different. Possibility of getting in is lower. > You can just tell em "Take it up with my superior back home" They do this all the time. Watch a couple of hours of any of the various border-crossing / customs control "reality" tv shows. You'll see someone held in a room for hours, questioned for hours, with all their documents being searched for phone numbers and people being called to corroborate the story. They have no problem making phone calls back home and to the destination country. This method is going out of your way to give them something to detain you for; it is making extra effort to look guilty.

e_proxus 13y ago
You could create a hidden partition in your TrueCrypt volume, put some plausible data in the public partition and give them the password for that.
- Retric 13y ago
  Why bother when you can just download anything you want after you cross customs.
  - rfnslyr 13y ago
    Because I should not have to go out of my way to make a legal activity, LOOK like a legal activity, when it's not even remotely illegal. It's privacy, that's all it is. Lock is to box as encryption is to computer. We live in a very sad state of affairs that will continue to deteriorate.

elwell 13y ago

I would be more worried about the TSA accidentally wiping my hard drive when they try to crack the encryption.