Show me what's on your laptop

Do you travel to the US on business? Do you take your laptop or PDA with you? Some recent incidents have made me sit up and take notice.

Apparently the US Customs have claimed the right to seize and copy information travelers carry into the United States. In the name of national security, they are asserting the right over private information contained on personal and corporate laptops. Apparently no cause is necessary for them to target travelers – any of us could be selected at random.

Examples recently reported in the Washington Post include laptops being seized - not returned for days or months - and their contents being copied. Although, I’d hate to be without my laptop for any length of time, it’s the copying is what worries me the most. What happens to the data that has been seized? Where is it kept? For how long? How is it destroyed?

As a consultant, I have confidential information on my electronic devices. I have proprietary business information about my client’s businesses and in some cases I have information about their clients. I am also required by my clients to sign legal documents and comply with their privacy policies. These policies include committing that I will not share the information they provide to me with anyone. If I knowingly travel with this information on my hard drive, am I contravening these agreements?

I heard recently of one law firm who requires that their professionals to travel only with “blank laptops”. All information is wiped from their laptop hard drives before they cross the border. When they reach their destination, the information they require is downloaded from the Internet. Despite safety concerns about the Internet, they feel the risk is worth it.

There are a number of lawsuits currently in progress and action groups attempting to force clarity on this policy. But for now, I am going to think long and hard about what I take over the border.