NOLA used to be a Port of Entry
On Thursday the White Mice posted "Secretary Napolitano announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry. This critical step is designed to bolster the Department's efforts to combat transnational crime and terrorism while protecting privacy and civil liberties."
The Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for Border Searches of Electronic Device runs to 51 pages, [link], and after reading the first few pages I fail to see how laptop searches (as well as any other form of data storage device, e.g., ipod, memory stick, ...) is going to discover, let alone interdict, "merchandise" (what on earth?) or industrial espionage or ... I'll read the whole thing eventually, but not yet. Perhaps on the page after the last one I read there's a proof that "merchants" (what on earth??) or industrial spies or ... have already been discovered and interdicted when using the internet to move data from point A to point B. Or the proposition that an American FireWall is both "a good thing" and "coming to an ISP near you" -- that is, that the pervasive wiretap the Obama administration is continuing from the Bush / Cheney regime period, is now permanent, and targeting more, much more, than previously advertised.
We (the IETF) decided that when the UK Home Secretary decided that anyone entering the UK with encrypted data had to surrender the associated encryption keys, that we'd our last meeting in the UK.
We (the IETF, and it took a lot longer) decided that when the US Heimat Sicherheit (Homeland Security) made it impractical for engineers from China to attend meetings that we'd our last meeting in the US. There's only one left, Anaheim next Spring. After that "North America" means Canada.
Michael Chertoff justifying massive searches was consistent with his and his master's ideology of public powerlessness. So where's the "change" and why isn't DHS's exec in NOLA making important "change" policy announcements on the "change" administration's first anniversary of the Katrina landfall and the drowning of thousands to the visible indifference of government?
And of course the ideology of the Executive Uber-Branch thrives unchanged, from the regime of Dick Cheney, to the "fooled you" elected government of Barak Obama.
So how long is my laptop going to be seized each time I travel to Quebec or Switzerland or to ICANN meetings?