TrueCrypt Volumes: Will it cause any trouble?

5/31/2012 5:11:48 PM

I’ve entered the US many times (as a citizen), nobody has ever looked at my laptop, let alone my flash drives.

Admittedly I have never been coming from a sex-tourist country and as an adult I’ve never come without my wife next to me.

5/31/2012 10:27:11 AM

I think it’s highely unlikely for you to have a problem if you are just a Joe Soap. Lots of people travel through US airports all the time with laptops.

If you are known by their intelligence agencies to be engaged in terrorist or espionage activities, and you go through their airports, then yes, you can expect them to search you more.

It seems to be a bit of an internet meme that the USA is now some sort of fascist dictatorship, although civil liberties have decreased in recent years, there are actual dictatorships which are much worse than the USA now.

11/9/2011 2:10:08 PM

In the United States, you can’t get into trouble just for possessing encrypted files. There is nothing illegal about encryption, and in fact most security experts recommend it for border crossings. You could, however, get “into trouble” if you refuse to decrypt it for them on request. It has happened that they have taken it to the courts and got the judge to force them to enter their password.

Considering that news sources and
civil rights organisations alike recommend encrypting your data, it doesn’t seem likely to me that you will get in trouble for encrypting it, or even that the border agents would be that surprised by it (it’s such common advice now that at least a significant percentage of tech-savvy people are probably doing it)

The US Customs and Border Patrol has a document explaining their policies regarding the search of information and it mentions that they will take steps to ask other agencies to help decrypt files, that is, if you don’t help them first. It’s still an open question on whether they can force you to or not, for example in this recent case a woman was compelled to do it, but as they state in the article, it’s by no means a settled question yet. So it’s still worth it to encrypt your files.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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