[IP] more on search experience on "border"

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501@bobf.frankston.com>
Date: August 3, 2006 12:40:40 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net, ip@v2.listbox.com
Subject: RE: [IP] more on search experience on "border"

One consequence of knowing that the thought police are watching is  
the fear of appearing on political donation lists since there is the  
perception, if not the reality, that science appointees are vetted  
for their political affiliations. While requiring public disclosure  
of the lists is supposed to assure “fair” funding it has the side- 
effect of exposing the participants to other pressures. In a way it  
defeats the purpose of keeping ballots secret.

Along these lines, it’s hard enough to do disruptive research if one  
is committed to delivering a result rather than surprises – if one  
presumes science is about discovering the one truth then why tolerate  
surprises? It reminds me of the Greeks’ reaction to the heretic who  
showed that the square root of two was irrational.

Preventing the import of bad ideas seems to be a “reasonable”  
extension of such attitudes. No need to understand them if you can  
isolate yourself from reality.

Focusing on “pornography” just adds a touch of absurdity to the whole  
thing but remember that it’s not about this world – it’s about the  
next one.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 08:45
To: ip@v2.listbox.com
Subject: [IP] more on search experience on “border”







Begin forwarded message:

From:   Tom Fairlie <tfairlie@frontiernet.net>

Date:    August 3, 2006 8:24:14 AM EDT

To:       dave@farber.net

Cc:       lauren@vortex.com, travis@redswoosh.net

Subject:            Re: [IP] more on search experience on “border”



And to what end?



We know that the Bush administration has long tried to earn points  
with religious fundamentalists. We also know that this same  
administration operates incompetently the majority of the time (both  
objective facts). Thus, creating a speed bump at our borders to keep  
out evil porn would be a good example of a policy that fits both MOs— 
it’s appealing to prudes and ineffective/costly at the same time.

We also know that the Bush administration has accelerated our descent  
into fascism. This isn’t hyperbole; anyone who studies such things  
would at least admit that this is a debatable assertion. The stopping  
of good travelers at our borders for a little personal interrogation,  
while not effective at stopping anything, is a marvelous form of  
thought control (e.g., “Let’s remember to not bring anything with us  
that might be considered offensive to our government.” begets “Let’s  
not say anything offensive to our government.” begets “My government  
knows best.”)

I think the real answer is somewhere in the middle. As we’ve all  
discussed, the TSA has been largely ineffective and they aren’t free.  
However, they have also now done a long list of things that, for  
better or worse, have forced millions of Americans to think twice  
before performing many different innocuous actions before traveling.  
Given that this list is growing and not shrinking based upon public  
outcry, I gather that my second option above is either part of the  
plan or just a happy coincidence.

Tom Fairlie



----- Original Message -----

From:   “David Farber” <dave@farber.net>

To:       <ip@v2.listbox.com>

Sent:    Monday, July 31, 2006 11:25 AM

Subject:            [IP] more on search experience on “border”









Begin forwarded message:

From:   Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>

Date:    July 31, 2006 12:21:00 PM EDT

To:       travis@redswoosh.net

Cc:       dave@farber.net, lauren@vortex.com

Subject:            Re: [IP] search experience on “border”





From:         Travis Kalanick <travis@redswoosh.net>

...

While operating my laptop he said that we was tasked with preventing

illegal pornographic material from entering the United States

...

He returned my laptop after this warrantless search saying I was free



Dave,

And to what end—other than going through the motions—is such a search?

Given a quick check, the border agent would be unlikely to find a  
cache of porn photos that was compressed and archived in a single  
encrypted file named C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB911567 or some other  
obscure name—not a single JPG porn file to be found in a file scan.

Perhaps what’s really going on in such border cases is some sort of  
“amateur test”—since any pro who wanted to bring porn (or any other  
data) into the U.S. on a laptop would never leave the data in an  
easily discovered form.  But then again, why bother using the  
laptop?  How about putting an innocuous looking file on that cute  
keychain memory dongle?  Or on an iPod?  Porn could be easily rigged  
to look like an mp3 file, that could even play properly.  Or why not  
use some spare cell phone memory area?  Or how about that 2 Gig  
memory stick in the camera, or a miniSD memory card inserted into an  
electric razor or the binding of a book?

To quote the wonderful episode “OBIT” from the original ‘60s  
television series “The Outer Limits”: “The machines are everywhere!”  
Anyone with half a brain who wants to bring data into the U.S. can do  
so without meaningful detection, short of a full body cavity strip  
search and prolonged forensic analysis—and even then the true nature  
of any data might well be undiscovered.

All of the rest is for show, and perhaps to cull the low hanging fruit.

·         Lauren—

Lauren Weinstein

lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org

Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800

http://www.pfir.org/lauren

Co-Founder, PFIR

·         People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org

Co-Founder, IOIC

·         International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net

Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com

Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

Lauren’s Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com

DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com










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