more on Police Blotter: Laptop border searches OK'd

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Glenn Tenney CISSM CISM <gt_IP060701 () think org>
Date: July 27, 2006 3:21:17 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Police Blotter: Laptop border searches OK'd

( for IP if you wish )

On Thu, Jul 27, 2006 at 02:29:36PM -0400, David Farber wrote:
> Outcome: Three-judge panel unanimously says that border police may
> conduct random searches of laptops without search warrants or probable
> cause.  These searches can include seizing the laptop and subjecting
> it to extensive forensic analysis.

Interestingly, this case came up earlier today on a security mailing
list... and, I believe also gets into some Intellectual Property areas
as well since it goes into questions about how/whether a browser cache
counts as "knowingly received", "knowingly downloaded", and the
decision notes "that caching is analogous to downloading".

I encourge people to go to the source and read the actual ruling (and
the actual facts of the case... in which the US ICE did not randomly
search this laptop, but did so because the Canadian customs people had
already searched it and advised the US ICE about it).

See:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/ 
D4958BAAF34B2292882571B500580F96/$file/0410648.pdf?openelement


btw, I find what I believe to be an error in the decision (or
interpreation of the testimony):

The decision includes a reliance on the defendant having control of
the images in the cache by having "enlarged" at least one of the
images in the cache -- they note that the defendant clicked on some
thumbnail images that were in the cache to enlarge them. Except,
that's not the way the web works.  When one clicks on a small image on
a web page it is just a link to a different image that just happens to
be a larger version of the same image.  i.e. clicking on image X is a
link to image Y -- and it is up to the web page implementation that Y
happens to be an enlargement of X, but Y is still a completely
different jpeg, it is NOT enlarging the image X that was in the cache
and does not indicate any manipulation or control of the image in the
cache.


--
Glenn Tenney CISSP CISM


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