You know, I remember back in the good old days when you could cross the US/Canada border relatively easily. The worse thing that would typically happen was for you to have your car searched, or get asked a pile of questions from a border guard.
That changed a few years ago when the border agents were given the ability to search your laptop for child pornography. And while I think the end goal (cracking down on pedophiles) is a good one, I have to say that I’m against the current method of blindly searching through digital content.
Luckily I’ve never been searched at the border, which is rather strange given that I actually do a fair bit of traveling with my current job. My friend Jason however got searched in the Ottawa airport last time he landed there, and was forced to sit in a chair and watch as a security person went through every file on his computer. He was even forced to give up his personal passwords for any content that was protected.
In the last few days some documents have leaked out here in Canada about some secret (and extremely alarming) negotiations going on in the area of copyright:
The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.
The deal could also impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.
Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.
The agreement is being structured much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) except it will create rules and regulations regarding private copying and copyright laws.
Federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval.
The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.
The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.
The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials – even if the content was copied legally.
“If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas what would they look like? This is pretty close,” said David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. “The process on ACTA so far has been cloak and dagger. This certainly raises concerns.”
The leaked ACTA document states officials should be given the “authority to take action against infringers (i.e., authority to act without complaint by rights holders).”
Anyone found with infringing content in their possession would be open to a fine.
They may also have their device confiscated or destroyed, according to the four-page document.
The trade agreement includes “civil enforcement” measures which give security personnel the “authority to order ex parte searches” (without a lawyer present) “and other preliminary measures”.
In Canada, border guards already perform random searches of laptops at airports to check for child pornography. ACTA would expand the role of those guards.
On top of these enforcement efforts, ACTA also proposes imposing new sanctions on Internet service providers. It would force them to hand over personal information pertaining to “claimed infringement” or “alleged infringers” – users who may be transmitting or sharing copyrighted content over the Internet.
Currently, rights holders must collect evidence to prove someone is sharing copyrighted material over the Internet. That evidence is then presented to a judge who issues a court order telling the Internet service provider to identify the customer.
….
Fewer expressed concerns about the part of the proposal that calls for ACTA to operate outside of accepted international forums such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.
In the discussion paper, it is proposed ACTA create its own governing body and be overseen by a committee made up of representatives from member nations.
“This initiative is unprecedented,” he said.
There are so many alarming things there, I’m not even sure what to focus on. Even the courts these days have a hard time determining what constitutes copyright infringement with regards to digital content, and yet the government now wants to give border agents the ability to make that determination on their own? Forcing ISPs to pass over personal information just on suspicion of copyright infringement? So much for privacy and due process I guess.
Let’s hope this measure doesn’t get passed. If it does, it would be a monumental step backwards for Canadians, and bring us that much closer to a police state.
This is a timely post. I am traveling from Winnipeg to Minneapolis tomorrow and was thinking of bringing my laptop and MP3 player, but if it’s going to cost me hours in customs I think I will just do without them.
i remember crossing the border into washington once when i was a kid…my sister and i were with our mother, and we had left my dad at the BC campground we were staying at, so we could do some cross-border shopping…the border guard asked the typical types of questions..and his final ones were “WHERE IS YOUR HUSBAND?” and “DOES HE KNOW YOU TOOK THE KIDS?” and finally “ARE YOU SURE YOU’RE COMING BACK??”
that was 1993.
This makes me frown.
I’m had no idea they could search your computer… and you have to give up passwords? That seems so violating. Look through my personal medications and underwear, sure… but leave my files out of it! (Note to self: carefully vet photo collection before crossing border…)
As for ACTA… Jesus, that’s scary. This is going to expose how completely techno-unsavvy I am, but how would they know if my mp3 collection was downloaded illegally or copied from purchased CDs or downloaded from iTunes?
(I love the Christmas quote.)
pretty unbelievable.
Wow,
Having to give up passwords sounds sketchy. I wonder if they have the right to do that? I know many times they will use tricks to try and catch ppl in lies. Like leaving the room & returning with the look like they now know everything you’ve ever done since you entered elementry school & saying………..
Gard- “I thought you said you didn’t have a criminal record”
Visitor-“um um well I once was caught for shoplifting some Playboy & Penthouse mag’swhen I was 12..”
Gard- “That’s it you lied go back the way you came!”
They bullshit all the time…now the government wants to get into the anti-counterfeiting buiness??? Wow Big Brother keeps getting bigger. I guess we’ll have to go back to cassettes, VHS & scribblers… Lol
I can just see the conversations now.
Guard A: “Hey, these look like blueprints for a dirty bomb on this laptop. Maybe we should–”
Guard B: “STOP! WAIT! GO BACK TO THAT LAST FOLDER!”
Guard A: “What, the ‘My Music’ folder?”
Guard B: “Yes, I saw a bootlegged copy of ‘ABBA Gold.’ Arrest this man!”
“Let’s hope this measure doesn’t get passed.” Does need to pass, as trade agreement, Department of International Trade can do the deal and Parliament would have little involvement. We need to make our MP’s aware of the seriousness of this issue, about Canadian sovereignty at steak and that they better start asking big questions about ACTA and why we are informed about via leaks!
-so they’re going to protect the rights of some by infringing upon the rights of others?
That sounds like a Harper idea to me (His official meeting with Arnold Schwarzenegger (probably spelt WAY wrong) made it crystal clear where his political priorities stood).
I don’t believe in illegal downloads, but I do believe in my right to not have every Tom, Dick, and Harry pawing through my personal files and very personal info such as SIN, tax shit, bank accounts, credit cards, etc.
Yikes…
Great story, Duane!
Sweet! Just the other day I was thinking, “I have too much privacy.”
I was thinking of just having the lock on my front door removed, but now it looks like the problem will be solved for me. I like when the government steps in a solves my problems before I have to. It makes me feel like an important part of the machine.
and to think that just last week we were all about complete personal privacy, now we’re not entitled to any…
god forbid i buy a movie and put it on my computer to watch while i travel so i don’t have to pay 8 million dollars to watch whatever crap they provide.
geez
Yikes, that won’t stop people from having copyrighted material on computers. I’m sure this law breaks some laws in our charter of rights and freedoms. If it passes I know personal encryption software will become a little more popular.
Everyone start saving receipts from any cds you purchase in the future!
Good lord. The one upside to creating a law so completely bonkers is that it will ultimately prove to be unenforceable. It’s only going to take a couple of ipods seized without merit for this to get challenged in court. Investigating or punishing people without having evidence beforehand is a clear violation of the charter of rights and freedoms. Bingo bango, one more crazy law tossed out. Unfortunately this will mean that the country is on the hook for millions of dollars for pulling out of an international trade agreement, but at this point I think it’s the best we can hope for.
The part of this that I find the most amazing is that multinational companies seem to have, with little effort, set the course of the entire G8.
Okay so just to be safe I’m leaving the laptop at home. I’m nervous enough about getting back into the states with only my birth certificate, my ID and my old expired passport from 10 years ago. Let’s not give them a reason to keep me in Canada…though it would be a great excuse to not have to go back to work…
The DMCA didn’t work in the States so why are we setting it up over here?
Searching for bootleg mp3s on your laptops at the border really isn’t going to help stop illegal downloading either. If you really wanted to, you could just make an image of your current installation, save it to an external drive, and then flatten/reformat your laptop drive and reinstall Windows/OSx. When you get home all you’d have to do is ghost the image back onto your hard drive and your Kenny G CDs are back in action.
Things like this have made me stop supporting the EU.
Hopefully this will never go through. It probably won’t apply to Australia, let’s hope.
well hey, if bilderbergs plan for a north american union happens we wont even have to cross a border to go anywhere in north amerca
how convenient
Wow, you mean it’s about to get worse? I routinely fly internationally with three cameras, a laptop, and one or two personal hard drives in my carry on, it wasn’t a problem in China, nor was it in Vietnam, or anywhere in the EU, but it is in the US, Canada, and the UK. On top of being asked to remove batteries, to swab underneath my lenses, and to scan film & polaroids… I guess I’ll have to widen that three hour pre-flight window a little closer to five.
For anyone crossing international borders, especially the US, with laptops and other data storage media, I suggest installing TrueCrypt. It’s a free, open source encryption utility that has the ability to create hidden volumes. This means that even if the border guards search through each of your files individually, you’ll still be able to keep prying eyes away from any files that contain private, personal, or sensitive data.
Also, you could run linux. I find it really messes up anyone who isn’t particularly familiar with it.
Actually, you’re obligated to give over our personal encryption keys for even encrypted volumes. If you don’t comply, they’ll confiscate your computer and deny you entry.
Duane-
“Actually, you’re obligated to give over our personal encryption keys for even encrypted volumes. If you don’t comply, they’ll confiscate your computer and deny you entry.”
Wow,
That seems very unfair, I wonder under what circumstances can a guard demand passwords? Their power just keeps growing…….will it ever stop?
This is what happens when we don’t stand up and put an end to things.
I’m willing to bet this will go through. They have lots of push from industry who stand to benefit and other than complaining amongst themselves, the “people” do nothing.
We need to change our government. Too bad we can’t impeach. Too bad Harper is too smart and helped place the liberals in a defenseless state.
It is bad enough border guards typically cop an attitude for no reason and do things “because they can” but I am willing to bet that they are given financial incentives to “find evidence”. They may even have quotas in place.
I was watching the Running Man last night, the police state in 2017 that exists, you know, it is highly likely we’ll wind up in a similar situation, and right around that time too!
Are we too late to peacefully and democratically put an end to this B.S.? Will our next battle be fought with blood?
[quote comment=”53945″]Everyone start saving receipts from any cds you purchase in the future![/quote]
When you buy from CD’s from shows you don’t get receipts 😛
All of this just pisses me off, if they are searching iPods they should only check the photos and videos for any creep that keeps child porn on there? But like, How the fuck from looking at an iPod do you gather that its pirated or not.
[quote comment=”54026″]Actually, you’re obligated to give over our personal encryption keys for even encrypted volumes. If you don’t comply, they’ll confiscate your computer and deny you entry.[/quote]
You put the hidden volume within the encrypted volume. You give over the password to the encrypted volume, but have plausible deniability that there is further encrypted data.
True Crypt Hidden Volume
[quote comment=”54043″]Wow,
That seems very unfair, I wonder under what circumstances can a guard demand passwords? Their power just keeps growing…….will it ever stop?[/quote]
I imagine it will stop when the wrong person is searched and creates the type of uproar that policy-makers most likely to listen to. For example, a hypothetical case in which the security of highly sensitive trade secrets from some large company is compromised when some guy in an airport has his laptop searched.
[quote comment=”54043″]Wow,
That seems very unfair, I wonder under what circumstances can a guard demand passwords? Their power just keeps growing…….will it ever stop?[/quote]
I imagine it will stop when the wrong person is searched and creates the type of uproar that policy-makers most likely to listen to. For example, a hypothetical case in which the security of highly sensitive trade secrets from some large company is compromised when some guy in an airport has his laptop searched.[/quote]
Wow, very good point.
Fuse, I’m not saying there are not ways around it, but I think most of them just aren’t worth it. If a guy finds that you have hidden files or volumes and you don’t provide the passwords, they’ll confiscate your machine, end of story. Far better to just wipe your laptop and keep your personal stuff at home. But truth is, we really shouldn’t have to.
[quote comment=”54059″]Fuse, I’m not saying there are not ways around it, but I think most of them just aren’t worth it. If a guy finds that you have hidden files or volumes and you don’t provide the passwords, they’ll confiscate your machine, end of story.
Far better to just wipe your laptop and keep your personal stuff at home. But truth is, we really shouldn’t have to.[/quote]
They can find hidden volumes. There’s a slashdot article about it:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/15/1551246&from=rss
Hopefully the link works.
They will figure it out, at least one guard out of a thousand will understand Linux and hidden volumes, even geeks can be bulley’s!
[quote comment=”54063″][quote comment=”54059″]Fuse, I’m not saying there are not ways around it, but I think most of them just aren’t worth it. If a guy finds that you have hidden files or volumes and you don’t provide the passwords, they’ll confiscate your machine, end of story.
Far better to just wipe your laptop and keep your personal stuff at home. But truth is, we really shouldn’t have to.[/quote]
They can find hidden volumes. There’s a slashdot article about it:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/15/1551246&from=rss
Hopefully the link works.
They will figure it out, at least one guard out of a thousand will understand Linux and hidden volumes, even geeks can be bulley’s![/quote]
I too read this /. post a couple weeks ago. I even read TFA. What I’d suggested above was one of the suggestions mentioned in TFA as well as in the comments. The encryption algorithms used by a program like TrueCrypt are the same as, or on par with, the algorithms used by the US to encrypt data classified up to Top Secret. You can even cascade encryption algorithms. In addition, you can create what is, for all intents and purposes, an invisible volume within an already existing encrypted volume which requires a different password than the encrypted volume. So you still have the ability to hand over the encryption password while keeping your data secure.
Will having encryption software on your laptop draw suspicion? Perhaps. But if you’re already in the room, having someone rummaging around in your financial records, private (and potentially confidential) correspondence, and the erotic pictures of your girlfriend, then having to give up a password in addition to your login password isn’t much of a difference.
I have an encrypted volume on my laptop because I allow other people to use it on occasion and want to keep some of my data private. It’s also a precaution against the unlikely event that my computer is the victim of a successful attack. If you want my data, you’re going to have to work damn hard to get it.
To go back to Duane’s comment, I agree that we shouldn’t have to take steps to hide or wipe data before hopping on a plane. But I am not an American citizen and have no say in electing those who put policies such as the one we’re discussing into place. So, until such time as such policies are done away with, we must take steps to ensure our right to privacy. And while some may argue that the fourth amendment does not apply since one is not officially in the US until they have cleared customs, I would argue that the right to privacy is guaranteed under Article 12 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Wait, since the searches(when you Canadians travel to the US) are performed in the States, wouldn’t some of this stuff be unconstitutional?
Actually, the search of my friend happened while coming into Canada, but I’ve been told they happen the other way as well.