General Reports

[Brain666]

a warning to all flying into the usa. even though this topic has been covered, and solutions have been discussed, i believe it bears repeating. i will be posting this in the thailand and indonesia forums, and if anybody feels like quoting it in another country they frequent, be my guest.
i landed at san francisco international at 7.00 pm on a flight from taipei. i had a lot of luggage, including some commercial samples, so i was expecting to go through secondary inspection. and sure enough i was. first question was where had i been. answer: thailand and indonesia. where in thailand? bangkok.
i am then asked to open my carry on luggage, and he pulls out my computer, my camera and a usb memory stick. he spent 20 minutes looking through my computer. i could tell he was looking at photographs, and then he looked through my camera and the usb stick. not once did he give me any indication of what he was looking for.
after 20 minutes he let me go. i asked him what he had been looking for, and he just blew me off.
i am not one to take many pictures, for obvious reasons, i cannot have them in my computer. if i do take some naughty pics, i post them on isg, and then delete them. i don’t know what the situation is if they the kind of pics we see every day on isg is, but i don’t want to find out.
i am 99% sure he was looking for **** photos. if that is all he was looking for, i am sure that most people are safe. however, i must say it was a very unpleasant experience.
the few times i have wanted to save photographs, and not want them seen on my computer, i have emailed them to a yahoo account nobody knows exists.
again, i know this has been discussed before, just thought i would pass on an experience which happened to me less than 24 hours ago.

there is at least an easy protection for the light check (of course it does not protect for an intensive harddrive analysis). why not simply camoflage the jpg sas excel, powerpoint, word files. hidden in a busines folder with real files and named with a business project should hold him up at least for a quick run through. if a group of jpgs are collected in a zip file and simply renamed as ppt could make the thing at least not so obvious and as well rather economical. of course there should be more powerpoint files then the one in the folder. and of corse there should be also real jpg pics, lets say from your cultural tours etc. in a pic folder.
of course the ananymus upload/ download thing is even better.

so does somebody know if he can ask us to enter the password? my work contract says it is strictly not permitted if this would be my business computer.

regards

brain666

[Rebad]

a warning to all flying into the usa. even though this topic has been covered, and solutions have been discussed, i believe it bears repeating. i will be posting this in the thailand and indonesia forums, and if anybody feels like quoting it in another country they frequent, be my guest.
i landed at san francisco international at 7.00 pm on a flight from taipei. i had a lot of luggage, including some commercial samples, so i was expecting to go through secondary inspection. and sure enough i was. first question was where had i been. answer: thailand and indonesia. where in thailand? bangkok.
i am then asked to open my carry on luggage, and he pulls out my computer, my camera and a usb memory stick. he spent 20 minutes looking through my computer. i could tell he was looking at photographs, and then he looked through my camera and the usb stick. not once did he give me any indication of what he was looking for.
after 20 minutes he let me go. i asked him what he had been looking for, and he just blew me off.
i am not one to take many pictures, for obvious reasons, i cannot have them in my computer. if i do take some naughty pics, i post them on isg, and then delete them. i don’t know what the situation is if they the kind of pics we see every day on isg is, but i don’t want to find out.
i am 99% sure he was looking for **** photos. if that is all he was looking for, i am sure that most people are safe. however, i must say it was a very unpleasant experience.
the few times i have wanted to save photographs, and not want them seen on my computer, i have emailed them to a yahoo account nobody knows exists.
again, i know this has been discussed before, just thought i would pass on an experience which happened to me less than 24 hours ago.

ice has been real tough in sfo lately. this has been widely reported in other travel forums. regular business people have been targeted because they fit a profile namely single adult male 20 - 40 years old visiting se asia.

dont blame me i voted for the other guy.

i had my bags and laptop searched following my new years trip.
i also carry gov badges and my laptop is clearly gov property.

i just returned last month and was waived through without a secondary.
hopefully the seach over new years cleared me for future searches.

[Bill Buxton]

Not to change the subject but,I would like to take a 3-5 day trip with the wife in September over here.Would like some info on the best place to stay with the little woman.Or if that's a mistake I could go alone before returning back home in October.

Play Safe,Stay Sharp.

B.B.

[JuiceSpike]

For those of you interested in uploading your files to a storage service I did a test with a video file of 70.9 MBs. I used fast cable internet.

Upload time: 16 minutes (351kb/sec)
download timeof the same file: 4.5 minutes (540kb/sec)

Not a lot of time considering that you can store the files safely away from you computer. I used ibackup.com which works with Mac and PC.

juices

[Seeko]

You can google for "file transfer services" or "file hosting services" and get both free and paid sites. I recently used Yousendit and zUpload to transfer a huge powerpoint brief across the Pacific. Apparently, its size was too big for email servers. Sigh...

If the USB thumb drives are too obvious as a target, then, another method is to upload the files onto your MP3 player (assuming you have the kind that allows plug-n-play and shows up on WinExplorer with a drive letter).

Good luck,
Seeko

[JuiceSpike]

I have never had my computer searched (yet) although once a prick had me open 2 suitcases and looked for whatever he was looking for but found nothing. In this case, it was in San Francisco and he made a mess of all the stuff I was bringing (some art) and I told him to help me put it back together becuase I could not close them. When I asked him what he was looking for he said heroin. I started laughing telling him that if I was bringing heroin it would not be in my suitcases. Some of these guys have an inferiority complex and have nothing better to do than play out their authority and waist people's time especially after a long ass flight...

Computers

If you own a Mac laptop chances are they wont even know how to navigate through the OS becuase they are not familiar with these computers.

If you have lots of pics and video and don't want to risk them found the best way to do it is to upload it to a storage website. Most decent hotels in Thailand have "fast" internet access and you can easily upload the stuff during the night when you are getting your beauty sleep.

Juices

[Old Thai Hand]

As regards OTH advice, forget it unless you want to spend many hours in detention waiting for your lawyer to show up. And these days, HS can put you in detention till they feel like it, just by saying one is a potential suspect. Sorry, OTH, this is not Canada. The US has changed while you were out. They will take your computer and go thru it while you are cooling your ass.

Yes, I agree with you. I was merely answering the legal question. BTW, I have been through the US security cordon within the last year and I know what kinds of hassles there can be.
You're probably right, though, the reality would be something different all-together, if they wanted to flex their muscles. Long before homeland security, I experienced the excessive paranoia of the US customs service the day after the Oklahoma bombings. At that point, they didn't know who had done it and were looking at anyone. They detained me on my way to Chicago from Toronto for 1 1/2 hours because of a drug charge (I wasn't convicted) I had 25 year earlier, when I was 17. These guys have always been nuts and they've just gotten far worse in recent years.

[Likach]

Will be in Bangkok soon, and looking to have some suits made. Can any one give me a ballpark U.S. Dollar value on having one made? Or even recommend a tailor.

I recommend Rajawongse between the Landmark and the Subway sandwich shop on Sukhumvit. Great service and excellent suits.

Anyone who thinks they can get a better deal in the US has been drinking too many spiked Singhas. No matter what - it's a custom cashmere-wool suit.

I agree with RA same sweatshops (more or less) but its the "aftermarket" mods, fabrics and perks you get.

[1Ball]

Duni, if you look at my original post, the guy found my USB memory stick, and looked through that. It was loose in my carry on, and yes, he did look through my toiletries.
At first, I thought all he wanted was to make sure it was in fact a computer, but after booting up, that is when he started playing with it.
apparently, they are allowed to look at anything and everything one brings in. Saying what you say below, Man on the Street is all well and good, but does one need the aggravation? and yes, I could say that to them, and then sit in a holding cell until he crack the codes.
the US is fast becoming a Big Brother country, hence my decision to relocate ASAP. Going through immigration and customs is always an ordeal as it seems they live by the Napoleonic code.

[Noplobrem]

Just log out....the only reason you have to boot up is to prove the electronic device is in fact a computer. If anyone were to ask you to log in just say 'no' if you were pressured you could say 'That would violate several non disclosure agreements as all of the information on my machine is sensitive and work related, I cannot comment any further.'

This will either get you through quickly or hold you up for days. I like the flash drive idea, the yahoo email idea, or if you had access to a web server just upload. Better safe than sorry.

[Tiger 888]

Anyone interested in knowing how you can password protect your computer, hand out a password to show them something and still keep your secrets, without any evidence that there is hidden data. PM me, I am in Bangkok until saturday. (A short note to the cheap Charlies: The software is freeware and way better that the one you need to pay for. Can encrypt harddrives that look unformatted with no drive letter on Win XP). For a beer or 2 I can explain someone how it works and he then could pass it on. But I insist on someone not competely computer illiterate, please. Could meet at Giotto's for example. But I donot support the real illegals like paedo etc.!!!

You have to see deeper into the matter, since just encrypting a file or disk might not eb enough. Encrypted Data might show up unencrypted in your swap file or hibernation file for example. Even throwing away a USB stick doesn't help in this case.

And besides the legal issue, what would you do if someone finds your laptop that you lost. With simple tools all data is readable not matter how you password protect it, as long as it is unencrypted. You even might want to protect your business data.

[Duniawala]

oth, i guess what you mean is equivalent to someone searching your vehicle without probable cause?
ok, so now is there someone out there who can show us computer illeterates how to secure our computers?

no need to get paranoid. the reason imho they want to see the computer is 1) if you have anything which is detrimental to homeland security and 2) if you are carrying any **** materials etc. or commercial porno contents like dvds etc. it is a crime to import commercial materials. you should not have any probs regarding mature contents which are private. they are after criminals so you should be safe (right?).

although i have never been searched for computers, one thing i do is put the stuff on a flash usb drive and erase the folders. it is small, unobtrusive and you can throw it in your toiletries bag, if you want. or just keep it in your pocket. you can buy them at most places for $50 for a 1gb model. the outside front pocket of my carry on is where i keep loose change, keys, chewing gums, nicotine patches etc. etc. nobody has ever bothered to search that bag as yet.

last but not the least, is that if it is your day, there is nothing you can do about it no matter how secure your computer is.

as regards oth advice, forget it unless you want to spend many hours in detention waiting for your lawyer to show up. and these days, hs can put you in detention till they feel like it, just by saying one is a potential suspect. sorry, oth, this is not canada. the us has changed while you were out. they will take your computer and go thru it while you are cooling your ass.

[BKK Dreaming]

I think that you have no rights when you are at the Airport , until you pass Customs and Immigration you are not officially in the USA ,

Plus I would not want to [CodeWord140] them off , so they flag you every time you come thru,

BK

[1Ball]

OTH, I guess what you mean is equivalent to someone searching your vehicle without probable cause?
OK, so now is there someone out there who can show us computer illeterates how to secure our computers?

[Old Thai Hand]

But you do raise an interested point. What if my computer were password protected, and he asked me for the password so he could browse through it? Am I obligated to give him the password?
does anyone know the answer to this? I beleive the answer is yes!

The short answer is no. Under US law, it would be viewed as invasion of privacy. He's need the equivalent of a search warrant to access a secure computer. However, having said that, given the Nazi-like behavior of many US customs agents, it wouldn't surprise me if some wouldn't try to intimidate you into giving them the password. But, you are not obliged to do so. Therefore, I would suggest that securing your computer with passwords is good ploy to use if people are worried. These guys would not want to go through any possible legal challenge, as long as you stand your ground.