October 22, 2015 at 4:39 pm
Ha! But Wayne, most iPhones, Androids, ChromeBooks are manufactured in China to begin with.
Yeah, the question is: what is not manufactured in China anymore?
England has one-upped everyone, throwing people in prison for not giving up passwords on electronic equipment. And never forget that if you're within 100 miles of the US border, which is like 80%+ of the US population, that you're in a Constitution-free zone when you're at an airport or border crossing security point. Or if the airport is not within 100 miles of the border and it serves international flights. Come to think of it, I've lived my entire life within about 100 miles of the border.
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that all of its investigative agencies have to get warrants to use Stingray devices, except for the presidential security detail. I guess I can live with that, not that I have any choice.
Then there was that recent news that NYPD has vans equipped with military-grade x-ray equipment and they won't say how often its used or even how many of them there are because Terrorism! I wonder if I could file a FOIA request for my x-rays before my next doctor visit since they may already have been done?
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
October 22, 2015 at 5:20 pm
Does "100 miles of the border" include the entire east and west coastline?
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 22, 2015 at 8:11 pm
Jayanth_Kurup (10/22/2015)
a virtual machine hosted on a cloud provider like Azure or AWS would help , all you need is a internet connection at that point, but you are at the mercy of network speeds at client locations
Remote Desktop can work readonably well at DSL speeds, and a decade ago I would occasionally use it actoss a 56kbs dialup modem, barely, just for checking email and SSMS.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 23, 2015 at 1:25 pm
According to this page from the ACLU, it starts at the coastline and moves in. I wrongly assumed it would have started at the international water boundary, makes me glad that I looked it up.
The ACLU goes on to say that 2/3rds of the population of the USA live in that 100 mile zone and that 9 of the 10 largest cities are in it. Some states, like Florida and the New England area, are entirely in it. Something is a little wonky, though. They list Phoenix, AZ as in the 9 of 10 list, but their map doesn't show it as in the zone.
It's not a Constitution-free zone, it's just that Border agents treat it as such. So you have to make the decision to surrender the passwords on your equipment or be willing to sit in a back room for hours if they decide to hassle you.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
October 23, 2015 at 2:18 pm
Wayne West (10/23/2015)
According to this page from the ACLU, it starts at the coastline and moves in. I wrongly assumed it would have started at the international water boundary, makes me glad that I looked it up.The ACLU goes on to say that 2/3rds of the population of the USA live in that 100 mile zone and that 9 of the 10 largest cities are in it. Some states, like Florida and the New England area, are entirely in it. Something is a little wonky, though. They list Phoenix, AZ as in the 9 of 10 list, but their map doesn't show it as in the zone.
It's not a Constitution-free zone, it's just that Border agents treat it as such. So you have to make the decision to surrender the passwords on your equipment or be willing to sit in a back room for hours if they decide to hassle you.
From the website you provided:
... Between 2006 and 2010 in the Rochester, NY, area, approximately 300 immigrants with legal status were arrested by Border Patrol agents, then released. The arrests coincided with an incentive program that rewarded agents with cash bonuses and Home Depot gift cards based on the number of arrests they made...
If these border agents are truly motivated by cash rewards for the number of arrests, and they are not necessarily committed to following through to conviction, then you can steadfastly maintain that it's not your cell phone, you just purchased it used from a stranger you met on Craigslist earlier that day, and you don't know the password. Stick with that story and they'll probably just let you leave with your cell phone five minutes before they punch out at the end of their shift.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 24, 2015 at 7:00 pm
The article makes a very good point. I already am paranoid about what data I make available online, and I will NEVER use cloud storage for anything, PERIOD.
Here's a thought right off the top. I already keep all my information and application data in a single directory simply called 'c:\DATA\ under which each application is given it's own directory for it's data files. I learned this from an old VP of IT that I worked for long ago. Now I'm the old guy, and I still use his method. I can quickly back up all my data without copying all the installed software and such. Lots easier to rebuild a system and reinstall software than to recover data. I also keep a directory called 'c:\INSTALLS\' where I keep subdirectories with most of the install packages for the applications I use regularly. This gets backed up regularly also. This way, I can reinstall an application as needed and recover its data quickly as I need them in case of a total wipeout. Also, keep a list of the keys required for re-installation somewhere that will get backed up too. For this I use Microsoft OneNote, with it's files and backups also in the c:\Data directory.
Here's what you could do for travel:
Back up your c:\data\ directory to a USB drive, remove the directory from your PC, and from the recycle bin, and if necessary, even ship the USB drive to yourself at your destination, so it arrives separately at your destination. Then also carry another USB drive with you but in separate location from your PC.
Caveat:
1. Always, in any case, be sure you have two backups on different devices so if one dies, you have another copy even if not totally up to date. Always have some kind of fall-back. Don't trust ANY hardware as your only backup.
2. Especially if you keep things like backups of your financial data history in annual files, be sure these ALL get upgraded to the current software version. Then burn them to DVD storage. Don't put it off until you need it.
3. Test your restores regularly to be confident that they are up to date and will work correctly.
Forty-two years of working in IT taught me a few things that I still practice in retirement with my own data. Even in the old days of backups to the reel-to-reel magnetic tape, we always had two people take copies home with them for off-premises safety. Maybe you have a family member close by with whom you can trade off-premises backup storage, just in case you have a home disaster. Set up a shared drive on an old desktop at their house and copy your backups over during the night. Or trade USB drive backups when you visit them. Or at least hide a USB drive in your vehicle so it is out of your home. You can back up lots of data - from your DATA directory - on a 1TB or 2TB usb drive.
I've even known guys who maintain a PO box to which they ship backups for off-premises safety.
My laptop is an Asus ROG machine which has the excellent design feature of a second internal hard disk that serves as a convenient self-contained backup location but on a separate hardware device. Unlikely that two hard drives would fail at the same time.
Data security can be simple with multiple possibilities if you just USE them.
Rick
One of the best days of my IT career was the day I told my boss if the problem was so simple he should go fix it himself.
October 27, 2015 at 5:30 am
I agree that there is no excuse to take non-obsfuscated data across borders but surely there is also no excuse to USE non-obsfuscated in development. If there is a requirement to do so then it should be very much limited.
I am not worried about any government finding out my "secrets"...I don't really have any.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
November 26, 2015 at 4:50 pm
Luis Cazares (10/22/2015)
eric.notheisen (10/22/2015)
Once you cross the border you need to consider that you are on a network controlled by another government. Anything you transmit whether it is email or an web request is going to be captured and annotated against your device. Once you connect to the overseas network they have access to your device. I barely trust the networks we have in the USA; I would never trust a network in another country.Are you serious? I'll trust other networks (not all of them) over the USA networks in terms of privacy. Most countries aren't as paranoid as the US government, which means they're less intrusive.
There have been quite a few stories over the years of data obtained by examination of laptops when crossing USA border somehow getting into the hands of American companies. Denied (of course) by US government. The policy of taking an empty laptop and downloading data after entry into the USA (downloading using decent encryption after generating a new key pair after entry) has been quite strongly advocated in some European circles. I wouldn't trust the networks in the USA or the UK, and reckon Spanish, German and French networks are probably a lot safer (although French networks may be about to change as a result of the recent terrorism in Paris), and as far as I know no country in the EU (not even the UK, which does demand keys in some other circumstances) requires passwords or keys for border inspection of devices.
Tom
November 27, 2015 at 4:05 am
TomThomson (11/26/2015)
...as far as I know no country in the EU (not even the UK, which does demand keys in some other circumstances) requires passwords or keys for border inspection of devices.
It is essential that we keep it so it is only allowed through a Judge issued warrant.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
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