Defend the Global Network

December 20, 2011
Protect Yourself from Intrusive Laptop and Phone Searches at the U.S. Border
EFF's New Guide Helps Travelers Defend Their Data Privacy
San Francisco - Anytime you travel internationally, you risk a broad, invasive search of your laptop, phone, and other digital devices – including the copying of your data and seizing of your property for an indefinite time. To help travelers protect themselves and their private information during the busy holiday travel period, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a new report today with important guidance for safeguarding your personal data at the U.S border.

Thanks to protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, the government generally can't snoop through your laptop for no reason. But the federal government claims those privacy protections don't cover travelers at the U.S. border, allowing agents to take an electronic device, search through all the files, and keep it for further scrutiny – without any suspicion of wrongdoing whatsoever. For business travelers, that could expose sensitive information like trade secrets, doctor-patient and attorney-client communications, and research and business strategies. For others, the data at risk includes personal health histories, financial records, and private messages and photos of family and friends. EFF's new report, "Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices," outlines potential ways to protect that private information, including minimizing the data you carry with you and employing encryption.

"Different people need different kinds of precautions for protecting their personal information when they travel," said EFF Senior Staff Technologist Seth Schoen. "Our guide helps you assess your personal risks and concerns, and makes recommendations for various scenarios. If you are traveling over the U.S. border soon, you should read our guide now and get started on taking precautions before your trip."

Over the past few years, Congress has weighed several bills to protect travelers from suspicionless searches at the border, but none has had enough support to become law. You can join EFF in calling on the Department of Homeland Security to publish clear guidelines for what they do with sensitive traveler information collected in digital searches by signing our petition. You can also test your knowledge about travelers' privacy rights and help spread the word about the risks by taking our border privacy quiz.

"We store detailed records of our lives on our laptops and our phones. But the courts have diminished our constitutional right to privacy at the border," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. "It's time for travelers to take action and protect themselves and their private information during international trips."

For Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices:
https://www.eff.org/wp/defending-privacy-us-border-guide-travelers-carrying-digital-devices

To take the border privacy quiz:
https://www.eff.org/pages/border-search-quiz

To sign the petition
https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8341

Contacts:

Marcia Hofmann
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
marcia@eff.org

Seth Schoen
Senior Staff Technologist
Electronic Frontier Foundation
seth@eff.org



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 Consumer privacy, civil liberties, innovation, and the free flow of information on the Internet are all under attack by ill-conceived international intellectual property proposals. EFF released Global Chokepoints, a website that documents attempts in key countries to turn Internet intermediaries into copyright police, to help Internet activists worldwide combat similar proposals in their own nations.
Securing Privacy Rights and Civil Liberties of Internet Users EFF is one of the strongest voices for Internet users’ rights at the OECD, the United Nations, the annual privacy commissioners' meeting and the Council of Europe. 
This year, we worked to secure privacy rights and civil liberties protections during the legislative implementation of the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Convention, and we fought proposals that would have compromised anonymity, free expression and association.
Ensuring Corporate Responsibility 
In the wake of news that American companies are involved in the sale of surveillance equipment to authoritarian regimes like Syria's, EFF ramped up our efforts to ensure that technology companies take human rights