Crossing the US Border with a computer

[yinzerk]

For those of us who are ever concerned about coming back to the US with your laptop you might find the following article informative.

 

http://boingboing.net/2011/12/21/howto-keep-your-data-safe-at-t.html

 

Yinzerk

[altec123]

Best thing to do is make sure that there is nothing on your computer that is going to get you into trouble. If the guys at Homeland Security think you are hiding something on your computer they are going to seize it and you may or may not get it back. Do not think that encryption is going to work either, they will just ship it over to the guys at the NSA and they will get into your files for sure.

[Snappy]

There should not be a problem.  You can always encrypt.

[nrvous]

What altec123 is considered to be true. However if you are not a big target, they will decline the request from the requesting agency, even DHS. They don't have unlimited number people and equipment. So if it a slow day, your screwed but it would seem that most of the time they are working on higher targets.  

 

What most people forget is that just deleting files doesn't really get rid of them on your drive. In Windows, "DELETE" just puts them in the recycle bin. A double-delete aka, removing from the recycle bin too (or other methods) just deletes the pointer to the data but the data is still on the drive. Free and cheap software can get those files back with a click of the button. If those blocks on your drive have been written over (actual 1 written) then the equipment and training becomes exponentially more expensive... but yes, data has been recovered off drives that have been purposely wiped (2 or 3 full wipes). DoD spec I believe is 5 wipes. Again, they really want to want you to spend the serious dollars to get the data. If you just leave it in the recycle bin or even delete from there.... easy to get back.