Expect your computer to be seized without suspicion at border

Published on August 28th, 2009

DHS: Expect your computer to be seized without suspicion | Betanews

In what was presented to the public this week as a clarification of its privacy policy, the US Dept. of Homeland Security published a paper referring to new guidelines for its immigration and customs agents regarding how they may conduct border searches of travelers’ computers and electronic media. Clarifying the existing law, both sets of guidelines reiterated the department’s policy created during the previous administration: Agents may seize, detain, and/or retain individuals’ PCs and media without having reason to suspect that those people or those machines and devices are connected with a crime.

This is ridiculous. But my advice, smile a lot and tell these idiots (if it is an idiot in which you have to deal with) that you appreciate the fact that they are protecting you from terrorists.

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# 1 killer duck said, on August 28th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

I bet the RIAA and MPAA are behind this….
“its for our children” You can perform a lot of atrocities against civil liberties in the name of protecting children.

# 2 pedro said, on August 28th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Well put John

“This is ridiculous. But my advice, smile a lot and tell these idiots (if it is an idiot in which you have to deal with) that you appreciate the fact that they are protecting you from terrorists.”

You would think Obama would at least require first a legally demonstrable reason to suspect that those people or those machines and devices are connected with a crime.

I guess, Obama is just not the Peoples person he claimed to be during his campaign.

Agency Number of Battles won:
Homeland Security 24
Obama 0

# 3 Jetfire said, on August 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

This is nothing new and perfect Legal. There is no 4th Amendment rights crossing the border and never have been. This is not just for terrorist but will also cover import and export of legal and illegal items.

# 4 deowll said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

#3 I sort of thought you had the right to property unless you were doing something illegal. Heck according to this they don’t even have to suspect you were doing anything illegal. They want it they can take it.

I know organizations like the KGB have other views but I thought we did a little better than that. My mistake.

# 5 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

Hey John Dvorak

Maybe there is hope after all.

Dated:: Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 10:02:31 AM PDT

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU

Today the ACLU filed a lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) demanding records about the CBP’s policy of searching travelers’ laptops without suspicion of wrongdoing. The lawsuit was filed to enforce a Freedom of Information Act request we filed in June, when we requested the criteria used for selecting passengers for suspicionless searches, the number of people who have been subject to the searches, the number of devices and documents retained and the reasons for their retention.

# 6 pedro said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

…and the change keeps a coming.

BTW, nice to see there’s another pedro around with about the same views.

# 7 Jetfire said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:16 pm

#4 This is not the KGB. It’s actually a requirement if you look at it correctly. This only applies to boarder crossing. They have been searching everything else and have the Constitutional right too. Their just now doing it to Electronic forms of storage. I bet they been doing it for a long time and some is just making a stink about it now.

The only question I would want to know is how they safe guard devices and documents retained and what happens if nothing is found and the time frame they have to find something.

# 8 Improbus said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

How is this not like living in prison? Oh, right, we are paying for our own room and board. Where I to travel abroad I would drop off an encrypted thumb drive with noting in it just to add to their work load. Peckers.

# 9 Mr Diesel said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

Let’s see now, Bush started this shit all in the name of security and now the Obomba administration is taking it to new heights.

Change we can believe in.

# 10 Improbus said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:29 pm

They will be stealing that change later to pay for healthcare.

# 11 sargasso said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:32 pm

Pretty much common practice around the world.

# 12 Jägermeister said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Some tips…

* Don’t travel abroad with your everyday PC. Use one that’s blank except for the OS and normal apps.
* If you need documents that contains secrets (such as business documents), upload them to a server on the net (files being encrypted). Download them when you arrive.
* Use file shredder software to obliterate the files when you’ve used them.

# 13 Jim w. said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

CNET story found via the dreaded Drudge Report

BILL WOULD GIVE OBAMA ‘EMERGENCY’ CONTROL OF INTERNET

a bill that would allow the president to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat.

(italics used to quote from the article)

# 14 BigBoyBC said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

“They can have my computer, when they pry it from my cold dead hands…”

# 15 Jim w. said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pm

I apologize for all caps in the link. I was in a hurry and not paying attention.

# 16 Jetfire said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

#9 Bush did not start this. This is common practice. This perfectly legal and only applies at boarder crossing, no where else.

#14 This is not denying anyone their rights.

Just do what #12 says if you want this info when you cross borders.

# 17 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

# 7 Jetfire,

The may have been searching, but not the “seizing” with out cause.

# 18 The Pirate said, on August 28th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

The only thing that changed last fall was the name of the liar.

# 19 So Dissapointed in the President said, on August 28th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

It just keeps getting gets worse every day, Thanks President Obama…I thought you were going to undo some of this crap. I voted for you you worthless POS.

# 20 bill said, on August 28th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

How about PDA’, memory sticks, iPhones, iPods, anything that takes a battery or is electronic?

They are leaving the door wide open on that one!!!

MY DOG!!! a cell phone can send out a radio signal!!!

Romulans would never do this to us.

# 21 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 4:19 pm

# 12 Jägermeister,

Face it America, the U.S. Government owns the Internet and it’s contents.

You can run but you can’t hide, between the NSA/CIA/FBI/DoD/HLS they can crack/hack/take anything they want.

Uploading it, to download it to your favorite computer is not going keep your stuff safe.

# 22 Greg Allen said, on August 28th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

I hate to keep harping on this same issue — but we need to have security built into all our computers.

The (personal) data on every computer should be powerfully encrypted — transparently, by default.

It is inevitable that computers are going to be stolen and/or confiscated.

How many stories have we heard about a laptop being stolen out of a trunk with thousands of credit card numbers on them? This just will not do.

# 23 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

# 22 Greg Allen said,

“(personal) data on every computer should be powerfully encrypted — transparently, by default.”

What the heck does “POWERFULLY ENCRYPTED – TRANSPARENTLY” mean??

That statement sounds like an inbreed oxymoron if ever there was one!

# 24 Raff said, on August 28th, 2009 at 5:41 pm

Just store all your sensitive information at a remote location. Website space is cheap these days.

# 25 Special Ed said, on August 28th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Travel with a NetBook. That way if they want it, it is really no BFD. Or better yet, give them some Microsoft Mobile piece of shit.

# 26 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

# 25 Special Ed,

Please explain to me, why are you lugging around something you don’t really want?

If you don’t really want it, why carry it?

# 27 Ron Larson said, on August 28th, 2009 at 5:52 pm

As a rule, I would assume that any government agency that take possession of your computer for more than 15 minutes has cloned your hard-drive and/or memory. This is true for any government, not just the US.

Once they have cloned it, they can take their sweet time analyzing the data, or attempting to decrypt it.

They could also install spyware on your computer before returning it to you. This would allow them spy on you in the future.

Specifically for the US, there are no rules that I know of that control how long they can retain their copy of your data. Nor are there rules about what they do with your data. And even if their are rules, I would not expect them to follow them.

So in summary: Assume that any data you carry with you crossing a border can end up in the hands of a government agency. Expect that data to be used against you in any way they can think of. If you don’t want that, then don’t have that data on your computer.

# 28 Common_Sense said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

#9 / Mr Diesel —
“Let’s see now, Bush started this shit all in the name of security and now the Obomba administration is taking it to new heights.”

>>This isn’t new. Look back, under the Bush administration, basically this same article was posted to this very blog. And we were about as unhappy about it then as we are now.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense in that everything you physically bring across the border is subject to search. The annoying thing is, there’s essentially no chance that your suitcase is going to be held for months at the border crossing if they suspect you’ve got something in it they don’t like, because they can search it completely in a few minutes. The laptops might take them that long to fish through, so they retain that option, and the fear that they’re going to keep it indefinitely is seriously off-putting.

#20/bill — This policy applies to iPods and Cell phones, too. The article blurb isn’t entirely clear about what “media” is, but the previous stories on this made that clear.

I’d hoped that Obama would have changed these types of policies by now. However, there’s a lot to undo, and a day doesn’t go by that Cheney rattles his tired sabre that every reversal puts us at risk, and makes it more and more difficult politically for Obama to take the risk that some random attack gets politically blamed on one of those reversals. (You know it would, regardless of reality, if there was a major attack on US soil).

The issue is not the search, but the lack of any need for any reasonable suspicion. I mean, how hard would it be to create a damn secret court like the FISA courts that they could present evidence to, that an affected person could appeal to in order to provide some kind of oversight to keep the government honest on not taking your iPod just because you got irritated with an agent after a 13-hour flight in a middle seat, or your digital camera because the agent thinks you’re hot and might have nude pictures of yourself on it they’d like to copy, or whatever? Not like it would be a high hurdle to cross, but SOME reasonable suspicion standard ought to exist.

For the record, I’ve crossed the border multiple times since this policy was in effect, stood in the lines and watched as people entered and exited the country, and I’ve never seen anyone be subject to any screening of their belongings beyond the level that we all go through for domestic flights these days. The only time I’ve even seen someone really get grilled was the couple who tried to re-enter the US and claim they didn’t have passports for their two kids when they left. (I didn’t get to see the resolution, but it was pretty clear the agents felt he would have needed that to get OUT of the country, and thought they might be smuggling kids into the country for adoption or something.)

# 29 Faxon said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:04 pm

So? Don’t take your computer traveling.

# 30 Jägermeister said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:06 pm

#21 – noname

If NSA wants to spend some years worth of super computer time on it, so be it… but you don’t have to hand over your decryption key at the border.

# 31 Greg Allen said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

>> noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
>> What the heck does “POWERFULLY ENCRYPTED – TRANSPARENTLY” mean??
>> That statement sounds like an inbreed oxymoron if ever there was one!

No need to get pissy. What’s your problem? But I’ll answer anyway — it’s pretty standard terminology.

POWERFULLY = strong enough so the government can’t easily break it.
ENCRYPTED = I think you get this
TRANSPARENTLY = It’s a transparent process for the user – (CRC checks on downloads are an example of this.)

# 32 Greg Allen said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

>> Faxon said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
>> So? Don’t take your computer traveling.

Great advice for vacationers — but not practical for businessmen.

Conceivably, a business person could just travel with a USB stick but this can be stolen or confiscated, too.

# 33 Special Ed said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:19 pm

#26 – noname, I have to travel with a computer. I’d rather give up a NetBook than a MacBook Pro.

# 34 Greg Allen said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

>> Jägermeister said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
>> If NSA wants to spend some years worth of super computer time on it, so be it… but you don’t have to hand over your decryption key at the border.

I think you have that right. Some naive people watch CSI and think no technology is beyond the government to break in seconds.

But, to my understanding, large-bit encryption is still very hard for the government to break.

But, you have to keep the encrypting key off your computer, otherwise all they have to do is guess your passphrase which is usually easy.

# 35 roastedpeanuts said, on August 28th, 2009 at 6:58 pm

As a Canadian I can proudly say I will never go to the United States again unless it is necessary for business purposes.

This is just the straw that broke the camels back. Unbelievable.

# 36 Animby said, on August 28th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

I travel a lot. Though I have never had my laptop pulled aside and “searched”, it wouldn’t bother me. I always clean and defrag my computer before I cross any international borders. While I do not have a porn collection (been meaning to get one) I do have a lot of confidential info. So I have a partner in smuggling this across the border. My partner, for a small fee, would likely help you, too. My partner’s name is (whispering) Carbonite…

# 37 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

# 31 Greg Allen, Apologies if I was “pissy”, but; ok thanks for the decryption.

# 38 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

If forgot to add to my post in #37,

NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!

# 39 Al said, on August 28th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

Roastedpeanuts – sorry, but you are as likely to have your computer taken by CBP when you return.

ALL governments have the authority to confiscate and/or search anything that crosses the border, this includes rectums and computers. The fact is that it doesn’t happen very often (I had a laptop searched once when entering the UK for no apparent reason.

For an example of CBP misbehavior see http://tinyurl.com/nmnz6f

# 40 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

# 30 Jägermeister,

“If NSA wants to spend some years worth of super computer time on it, so be it…”

Maybe or maybe not, Holding onto the No. 1 spot with 1.105 petaflop/s (quadrillions of floating point operations per second) is the Roadrunner system at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) which was built by IBM and in June 2008 became the first system ever to break the petaflop/s Linpack barrier. It still is one of the most energy efficient systems on the TOP500.

# 41 Somebody said, on August 28th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

#35 roastedpeanuts said

“As a Canadian I can proudly say I will never go to the United States again unless it is necessary for business purposes.”

Don’t worry. We’ll come to you.

# 42 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

# 41 Somebody, That’s funny.

# 43 Somebody said, on August 28th, 2009 at 9:07 pm

#40 — noname

Hate to shake your faith in the God-like power of the State, but there are encoding systems which are unbreakable in principle.

# 44 Ron Larson said, on August 28th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

Security is only as strong as its weakest link. Having a great encryption program doesn’t protect you if you have have a crappy password. All they have to do is a brute force attack and they will guess right. If they cloned your HDD, then they can mount their copy on a fast machine that does nothing but attempt brute force attacks. Then it is just a matter of time before they succeed.

If you need to bring sensitive data with you, then either encrypt it with a good program AND a good password. Or remote access it through a VPN after you cross the border.

# 45 Two to the Head said, on August 28th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

#39 “ALL governments have the authority to confiscate and/or search anything that crosses the border, this includes rectums and computers.”

The government can HAVE my rectum.

Thank you very much.

# 46 noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 10:06 pm

# 43 Somebody,

Please specify which system you are referring too.

# 47 Number6 said, on August 29th, 2009 at 12:31 am

There is a lot to be depressed about in this, of course. But for the me the saddest thing is how very wise the advice given is. Smile, thank the nice man for taking your laptop for no reason. Don’t argue, don’t even let them see you are angry.

Smile, do what our masters tell you, and move along.

I wish that advice wasn’t so needed. It would be nice to live in a country where we had public servants and not masters to be feared.

I suppose that’s why so many people are just fine with this. It’s so much easier to pretend we do have that. Yes, I’ll just internalize the lesson that this is all for my security. Please, take my stuff. Please, treat me like a criminal for no reason. I feel so much safer.

Thank you for your service, kind sir. Shall I smile and bend over?

# 48 sargasso said, on August 29th, 2009 at 1:41 am

In Soviet Russia, computer seize airport.

# 49 Jägermeister said, on August 29th, 2009 at 6:25 am

#34 – Greg Allen – But, to my understanding, large-bit encryption is still very hard for the government to break.

It sure is.

#40 – noname – Maybe or maybe not, Holding onto the No. 1 spot with 1.105 petaflop/s (quadrillions of floating point operations per second) is the Roadrunner system at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) which was built by IBM and in June 2008 became the first system ever to break the petaflop/s Linpack barrier. It still is one of the most energy efficient systems on the TOP500.

And this proves what? That they have one giant penis extension… Seriously… it’s not strong enough to break strong ciphers in a reasonable amount of time. Now, if they had those quantum computers that lurk around the corner… it might give them the edge.

Seriously… NSA wouldn’t go about to decrypt some business mans encrypted files unless they think he’s a threat. And even then, it would take them a heck of a long time to break a 448 bit Blowfish encrypted file.

Just like you don’t want the Government to have free access to your house, you don’t want them free access to your computer.

# 50 C,S, said, on August 29th, 2009 at 6:42 am

You have no rights of any kind at a border.
Remember, they hate us for our freedom.

# 51 pfkad said, on August 29th, 2009 at 7:00 am

The paranoia of political entities is a sight to behold. Pin ball around between your own borders as much as you like, but try to cross some line on a map (invisible on the ground, mind you) and suddenly you become someone worthy of oversight. As so many of you have said before, “Stupid humans.”

# 52 noname said, on August 29th, 2009 at 7:24 am

# 51 pfkad,

Yes very true, but is it really arbitrary?

I take it, you have walls and a door on your home?

Do you lock this “arbitrary” boundary and why?

Ok, you say, it’s not the same thing.

Well what do we call people inside that “arbitrary” boundary we call our boarder, Americans.

What do we call people outside this “arbitrary” boundary, Suspicious.

Isn’t there something SUSPICIOUS about an AMERICAN who willing want to leave AMERICA???

Where you not here during the Bush years?? If there is one thing Papa Bush has taught U.S. is we can’t trust anyone not working for the CIA/NSA/FBI/DoD/DoJ/HLS. All people not working CIA/NSA/FBI/DoD/DoJ/HLS are SUSPICIOUS.

Do you work for CIA/NSA/FBI/DoD/DoJ/HLS? If not you are automatically SUSPICIOUS and a person of interest, subject to monitoring of all your movements, communications, financial flow, associations, books you read …

You are very Naive, if you don’t think our government is not doing this.

I was at Ft Meade during the 9/11 attacks. I saw what the NSA started doing more of. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!!

# 53 noname said, on August 29th, 2009 at 7:54 am

# 49 Jägermeister,
You sir sound like Bill Gates.

Bill Gates in 1981 said “640K is more memory than anyone will ever need”.

Almost 30 year later look where we are at.

No one would have predicted a 1.105 petaflop/s (quadrillions of floating point operations per second) in 1981.

Where will we be in another 5 years?

Yes you can continually encrypt with higher and higher key lengths.

Currently a key length of 80 bits is generally considered the minimum for strong security with symmetric encryption algorithms. 128-bit keys are commonly used.

# 54 deowll said, on August 29th, 2009 at 8:12 am

You want to know what’s really stupid about all this? A micro dote would still get the job done and go unnoticed. Of course you could just use email or stash what you want on line and take an empty machine with you. Heck you could even do remote computing and leave your information elsewhere.

If this was meant to catch criminals/terrorists they are way to many generations behind the curve to catch anyone other than a total novice. I would think this more about a power grab than anything.

# 55 Jägermeister said, on August 29th, 2009 at 8:22 am

#53 – noname

And you sound very ignorant. Did you even type 2^448 combinations into your calculator? Here’s the rough result:

726838724295606890549323807888000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 combinations

Compare that number with your dear little super computer, which does 1105000000000000 operations per second… which is roughly 34871148000000000000000 operations per year (One year = ~365.25, and let’s pretend that this fantastic machine doesn’t have any overhead, and that it can make one guess per operation… which it doesn’t)

So, take the first number and divide it with the second one, and you’ll get the number of years it take to try all combinations… just some 208435559476162611723974159923840000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years. I hope you’ve got patience.

You need a GIANT leap in computer power to do it.

# 56 noname said, on August 29th, 2009 at 8:25 am

# 55 Jägermeister,

Yes, but as a rule most people don’t do as they say the do.

Therefore, if I was to stop you and take your computer and give it to one of our computer experts, I am certain I could find a way to charge you with something.

You wouldn’t be the first chump to think he’s smarter then everyone else.

# 57 Jägermeister said, on August 29th, 2009 at 8:26 am

#53 – noname – Bill Gates in 1981 said “640K is more memory than anyone will ever need”.

And btw… Bill Gates never said that.

# 58 Jägermeister said, on August 29th, 2009 at 8:28 am

#56 – noname – if I was to stop you and take your computer and give it to one of our computer experts, I am certain I could find a way to charge you with something.

For having Windows installed?

You wouldn’t be the first chump to think he’s smarter then everyone else.

LOL – Reason doesn’t work on you.

# 59 pedro said, on August 29th, 2009 at 9:03 am

#56 & #57 What, troubles in paradise? I love it when deranged people discover the other one is a loon.

# 60 Greg Allen said, on August 29th, 2009 at 9:20 am

>> noname said, on August 28th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
>> # 31 Greg Allen, Apologies if I was “pissy”, but; ok thanks for the decryption.

Thank you for the apology! I’m not the most civil person on this board so I don’t get too flustered. Still, thanks!

# 61 Greg Allen said, on August 29th, 2009 at 9:32 am

>> Jägermeister said,
>> Seriously… it’s not strong enough to break strong ciphers in a reasonable amount of time.

“reasonable amount of time” is key.

This is why I have a bee-in-my-bonnet about having _all_ our data and communication encrypted.

Even if the government could decrypt the data, it would have to be extremely fast to be useful, considering the massive volume of data flying around.

BTW, I’m not some anti-government militia type.

I think the biggest personal security threat is a running tie between corporations and scammers.

(Well, if you live in China and some places in the ME, the government might be the biggest threat.)

# 62 Greg Allen said, on August 29th, 2009 at 9:48 am

>> Jägermeister said, on August 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
>> * Don’t travel abroad with your everyday PC. Use one that’s blank except for the OS and normal apps.
>> * If you need documents that contains secrets (such as business documents), upload them to a server on the net (files being encrypted). Download them when you arrive.

Having traveled to a few oppressive countries, I’ve given this a lot of thought.

The main problem with your system is that some countries are going to “red flag” you for even downloading encrypted data. They use packet sniffers and only-goodness-knows what sets off the alarms.

Hiding it on your hard drive is probably safer.

This is where steganography has always intrigued me. If you could embed your data in a playable video file, that would be cool. The problem, though, is you also have to hide your encryption program.

But, I’ll say it again. The best solution is for ALL data to be encrypted. That way, YOURS won’t get red flagged.

# 63 Jägermeister said, on August 29th, 2009 at 10:20 am

#61 – Greg Allen

It’s a matter of privacy. The government never had the right to open your private snail mail, but for some reason, they think they’re allowed to read all your emails. You don’t have to be a right-wing militia nut to think this isn’t right.

#62 – Greg Allen

Even a totalitarian regime like China allows SSL, so you can just download your encrypted file from a secure server. They won’t find out unless they’ve hacked your machine.

I took a security course a while back, where they talked about – among other things – steganography… it’s amazing how much information you can hide inside for instance an image without anybody seeing it.

# 64 Mr. Fusion said, on August 29th, 2009 at 2:05 pm

#57, Jag,

The things ya c’n learn on the internetwebtubies thingsamajigs. All theses years I was wrong on that point.

Thank you for pointing that out.

# 65 Mr. Fusion said, on August 29th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

Crossing borders with a clean laptop and then d/l the material from some web site is just as wrong headed. The government can and does monitor ALL traffic crossing the border. Encrypted material can and will get their attention.

While you might be secure in your own home against unreasonable search and seizure, try crossing a border with your home on wheels and use the same argument. It has been that way for as long as I know of.

# 66 Jägermeister said, on August 29th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

#64 – Mr. Fusion – Thank you for pointing that out.

No problem. That’s what the Internets are for…

#65 – Mr. Fusion – The government can and does monitor ALL traffic crossing the border. Encrypted material can and will get their attention.

And how much of that encrypted data (we’re talking about TBs of data per day) do they try to decrypt? I’ve never heard of US law enforcement agencies arresting people for running TOR or encrypted torrents.

# 67 noname said, on August 30th, 2009 at 2:09 am

# 66 Jägermeister,

Yes there are limitations to what the government can do.

All I am saying, it’s not a static game.

Gov is working hard on new hardware, software (better algorithms) and facilities to expand it’s capabilities to crack any code thrown at them. They also do the same to track all forms of electronic communications.

Bin Laden kerned the best way to communicate with the world was to throw his phone and electronics away.

# 68 Jägermeister said, on August 30th, 2009 at 6:19 am

#67 – noname – it’s not a static game.

Fully agree. Let’s follow the arms race. It’s a good mother of invention.

Gov is working hard on new hardware…

Yes, they are… the big leap will be when the get real quantum computers. Right now they’re just in their infancy (currently they’re just fiddling around with a few memory cells), but some 20 years down the road, they’re probably a reality. Simulations that took months to make with todays super computers, will take mere minutes with a quantum computer. So, yes… cracking encrypted files in a reasonable time will be within reach. But then again… we’ll probably have way longer keys and perhaps way different algorithms.

# 69 Mr. Fusion said, on August 30th, 2009 at 7:49 am

#66, Jag,

Good point. I would imagine, simply because I don’t know, the “government” is sufficiently versed in deciphering encryption this isn’t such a problem. I also imagine they can also guess that a message coming (for example) from Siemans in Germany to a GE email address in America that the message will be legit. On the other hand a large email from a Romanian server to Joe Smuck in East Bumfuck Idaho might warrant deeper investigation.

My assumption is the BP is looking more for kiddie porn than anything else. Movies and music are too easily down loadable through regular internet channels. Busting someone with kiddie porn is a much bigger deal than busting someone with an illegal copy of Tropic Thunder or Dark Side of the Moon.

The BP is aware of politics. If they get carried away they will end up effectively stopping cross border traffic. Too many communities are closely tied to that traffic to have it stop.

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Discounts on domain names!