Deeplinks Blog posts about Travel Screening
U.S. border control agents want to gather Facebook and Twitter identities from visitors from around the world. But this flawed plan would violate travelers’ privacy, and would have a wide-ranging impact on freedom of expression—all while doing little or nothing to protect Americans from terrorism.
Customs and Border Protection, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, has proposed collecting social media handles from visitors to the United States from visa waiver countries. EFF submitted comments both individually and as part of a larger coalition opposing the proposal.
As we’ve acknowledged before, our lives are increasingly contained on our digital devices, which makes travel—and the decisions we make about what to carry with us—increasingly complicated.
A recent case in which two young travelers to Israel were requested not simply to provide their laptops for arbitrary searches, but to log in to their e-mail accounts and allow Israeli officials to search through their e-mail for specific strings and correspondence highlights the increasing obstacles to privacy that travelers face, as well as the increasingly global nature of security theatre.
When it comes to the government's ability to search your electronic devices at the border, we've always maintained that the border is not an "anything goes" zone, and that the Fourth Amendment doesn't allow the government to search whatever it wants for any (or no) reason at all. And this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear a case that gave the government carte blanche to search through electronic devices at the border.
The New Year is upon us, and you might be partaking in the tradition of making a resolution for the coming year. This year, why not make a resolution to protect your data privacy with one of the most powerful tools available? Commit to full disk encryption on each of your computers.
Many of us now have private information on our computers: personal records, business data, e-mails, web history, or information we have about our friends, family, or colleagues. Encryption is a great way to ensure that your data will remain safe when you travel or if your laptop is lost or stolen. Best of all, it's free. So don't put off taking security steps that can help protect your private data. Join EFF in resolving to encrypt your disks 2012.
EFF has long been committed to helping international travelers protect their electronic devices and digital data at the U.S. border. We're continuing to push for some legal limits on the government’s sweeping authority to search electronic devices at the border with an amicus brief we recently filed along with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear and reverse its disturbing decision in United States v. Cotterman (pdf).
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