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A chilling article that’s must-reading for anyone who travels with a laptop, smartphone, or any other electronic device that stores personal data. Some snippets:

[At San Francisco International Airport] a tech engineer returning from a business trip to London objected when a federal agent asked him to type his password into his laptop computer. “This laptop doesn’t belong to me,” he remembers protesting. “It belongs to my company.” Eventually, he agreed to log on and stood by as the officer copied the Web sites he had visited, said the engineer, a U.S. citizen who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of calling attention to himself.
[…]
“I was assured that my laptop would be given back to me in 10 or 15 days,” said Udy, who continues to fly into and out of the United States. She said the federal agent copied her log-on and password, and asked her to show him a recent document and how she gains access to Microsoft Word. She was asked to pull up her e-mail but could not because of lack of Internet access. […] More than a year later, Udy has received neither her laptop nor an explanation.
[…]
The U.S. government has argued in a pending court case that its authority to protect the country’s border extends to looking at information stored in electronic devices such as a laptop without any suspicion of a crime. In border searches, it regards a laptop the same as a suitcase.

My view: Airport security officers should be there to check the materials you intend to bring into the airport for explosives or weapons. Not for content. Screen the computer to see if it’s loaded with plastic explosives, sure. But don’t read my e-mail. You shouldn’t be editing for content the books I bring onto the plane, you shouldn’t be viewing the phone numbers I dialed, or the web sites I accessed unless you have a warrant and I am a suspect in a crime. And even then, such a search should be conducted by appropriate law enforcement officers, such as the FBI.

But the current administration argues that things like warrants aren’t necessary at the border. Anything goes, regardless of the color of your passport. Here’s hoping the next president has the backbone to reassert some control over this runaway fearmongering security apparatus and reincorporate some basic all-American rights into the legal movement across our borders.

In the meantime, individuals and businesses need to be aware that anything electronic can be confiscated, copied, or destroyed if you’re arriving at an American airport from abroad. That means backing up and/or deleting anything of possible personal or business value. Simply renaming files, as suggested here over a year ago, may not cut it anymore.

Related:
- Rename filenames, avoid laptop confiscation
- Batteries not included: New rules ban loose lithium batteries from checked luggage
- A handy guide for luggage inspectors
- Your shoes remain a threat to security

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Effective January 1, 2008, travelers to, from, or within the United States will have yet another rule to track: A new, more stringent policy governing the transportation of rechargeable batteries, which have occasionally caught on fire.

If you’re putting rechargeable batteries into your carry-on, you’ve got little to worry about. But if you put any of those rechargeables into checked baggage, you’ll need to master the arts and science of lithium weights and measures. Huh?

For example, a “Lithium Metal Battery, Spare or Installed (over 2 grams lithium)” is now prohibited across the board. But under 2 grams lithium? No problem in your carry-on.

Huh? Lithium Metal vs. Lithium Ion? 2 grams vs. 8 grams of lithium in the battery? How many travelers know the difference? Perhaps more importantly, how many airport security personnel do?

But this isn’t a beef with the TSA… yet. No, the TSA isn’t to blame for this new rule. Rather, reserve your ire for the Department of Transportation and its Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

The DOT’s battery website shows just how confusing this can be. The TSA’s site, on the other hand, offers a far simpler set of guidelines:

Under the new DOT rule, lithium batteries are allowed in checked baggage under one of the following conditions:

* The batteries must be in their original containers.
* The battery terminals must not exposed (for example placing tape over the ends of the batteries).
* The batteries are installed in a device.
* The batteries are enclosed by themselves in a plastic bag.

Of course, the biggest risk, going forward, is uneven enforcement. In a few days, I’m sure we’ll start hearing stories about some legal batteries being removed, or prohibited batteries being permitted aboard. THEN, you can go back to griping about the TSA.

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Taking your laptop to the airport has been increasingly met with inspections. There’s a rising risk that your laptop and all its data might be confiscated if a search (random or otherwise) yields “suspicious” files.

Joe Sharkey’s column this week offers a simple, if potentially tedious and time-consuming suggestion: Rename files that raise suspicion because of their potentially terror-inducing names like “blueprint.” Instead, give them more innocuous names like “fuzzy kitten photos” or “grandma.”

So how long before Joe gets accused of aiding and abetting terrorism by giving the baddies a way to circumvent laptop seizures? Or before everyone with actual fuzzy kitten photos or files related to their grandmother gets their laptop confiscated? Wait for it…

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