How to prevent US Customs from peeking at your private data

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Not so long ago, the simple way to ensure that private data stored on your laptop stayed that way was to encrypt it. Not any more. Now that that US Department of Homeland Security has reiterated that its Customs officers have the power to search any electronic device being carried across the US border, your private data is anything but.

This isn’t a new policy – US Customs officials have long had the power to search and seize documents and information storage devices – but it’s hit the headlines again after a spate of recent Customs confiscations and a Senate hearing into the legality of the practice.

The fact that the DHS is only trying to ensure that material being brought into the country complies with Federal laws is little consolation when a Customs official is mooching through material that's perfectly legal, but also highly sensitive or legally privileged. So what’s the solution? Well, the good news is that there is at least one…

Now encryption your laptop hard drive with a program like TrueCrypt may still keep sensitive data safe, but should a Customs officer spot an encrypted file or partition, they can ask for it to be decrypted and even make a copy of the encrypted file for further analysis. Since Customs officials have the authority to seize storage devices if they determine that there is “probable cause of illegal activity”, you may even run the risk of losing your laptop (albeit temporarily) if you refuse to decrypt your perfectly legal data.

The bad news is that it’s not very convenient and the only guaranteed way to keep both your data and your devices out of US Customs hands is to not pack them in the first place. With a little pre-planning though, this doesn’t mean you don’t have access to your data.

Set up your home or office PC for remote access before you leave and you can then purge your laptop of all private data and simply take it with you for use as a terminal to access your files from afar. Configuring a remote access service doesn’t mean you need a degree in Computer Science, either – LogMeIn is a free online remote control service that lets you access a remote computer using any web browser. You’ll need to upgrade to the paid service if you want to transfer files, but not if you’re happy with the rigmarole of just emailing them to yourself.

Alternatively, if you know in advance which documents you’ll need access to, just upload them to Google Docs and you can open them in any web browser and share them (intentionally) with other users. Check with your IT department to see if this transgresses any of your company’s privacy policies before you try it, though.

We’ve avoided mentioning carrying a suite of portable applications on a USB flash drive, along with your data, for good reason. While this may be a brilliant way to carry a bevy of brilliant programs in your pocket, you still need access to a computer to use them and still run the risk of having the drive examined, copied and possibly seized – leaving you without the lot.

Smartphone users face more of a predicament, not least since leaving a phone at home defeats the point of having one in the first place. If your handset supports it, it’s worth making a full backup of your data to a memory card that you can slip into a pocket before passing through Customs, and then even if your phone is confiscated for further probing, you’ll still have a copy of your data.

Windows Mobile, Palm OS (with the appropriate application) and Symbian smartphones will even let you install programs to a memory card rather than main memory, so removing the card will revert the phone to a basic state – though your contacts, calendar and other information may still be stored on it.

Spb Backup and NVBackup will backup (and subsequently restore) everything on a Windows Mobile and Palm OS device, respectively. Once an on-device backup has been made, you can perform a hard reset to erase everything, eject the memory card and safely send it through a customs check. You can carry out an on-device restore and be back where you started in just a matter of minutes. We’re not aware of any on-device backup applications for Symbian and BlackBerry smartphones, so let us know in the comments if you do.

So, while the DHS’ policies will only catch the most technically illiterate of data smugglers and represent a serious invasion of privacy for law-abiding travellers, there is still a way to keep your private information private when entering the US.

[US Customs & Border Patrol Search Authority]