Entering without a computer II

Earlier I mentioned the new on-line registration system the US has come up with, which may well make things difficult for people who don’t have a computer. I’ve also mentioned efforts to make getting your laptop through security less burdensome. Increasingly, those who travel internationally with a computer may want to rethink bringing their laptop with them at all, or at least consider which data should really be on there.

According to recent reports, US border officials have increasingly been “inspecting” laptops of US citizens and non-citizens alike, and holding those laptops for, in some case, an extended period of time. Courts have thus far been unwilling to stop border officials from perusing pretty much whatever they want on those laptops, which is a bit of a frightening prospect for even those of us who are otherwise law-abiding folk.

If you, like me, carry most of your work with you on a laptop when you travel that’s a bit disconcerting to say the least.