www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Has anyone had this happen? I know they can check your laptop but I am wondering how often they actually do....

Not being a lawyer these statements may be wrong:

I'm not sure TSA can do anything except check your lap top for explosive residue. The contents of the hard drive are considered private and I believe it would be viewed as an invasion of privacy if they "searched" it with out just cause or some sort of evidence or warrant to show they needed to.

If they asked me to boot it up I would do so, but as far as anything else is concerned no.

Same thing with a digital camera.

I have been asked to turn on my laptop and or my camera but that is as far as it went. The few times it happened as soon as they saw it starting to boot they said OK. I look at it that they are doing their "Due Diligence" by asking for this.

Pidd
Masters Degree in Mongering!


Joined: 30 Aug 2003
Posts: 576
Location: San Jose / MKE
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

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They don't need Passwords anymore.... bad shit !!

This message was sent to you as a service of The Seattle Times (http://www.seattletimes.com).
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Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
Full story: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/m ... law29.html

By Benjamin J. Romano
Seattle Times technology reporter



Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can
use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been
used in crimes.

The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence
Extractor, is a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of
law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith
described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a
company conference Monday.

The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it
takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in
real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and
analyze a computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the
computer.

It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically
involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and
potentially losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on
site.

More than 2,000 officers in 15 countries, including Poland, the
Philippines, Germany, New Zealand and the United States, are using the device,
which Microsoft provides free.

"These are things that we invest substantial resources in, but not from
the perspective of selling to make money," Smith said in an interview.
"We're doing this to help ensure that the Internet stays safe."

Law-enforcement officials from agencies in 35 countries are in Redmond
this week to talk about how technology can help fight crime. Microsoft
held a similar event in 2006. Discussions there led to the creation of
COFEE.

Smith compared the Internet of today to London and other Industrial
Revolution cities in the early 1800s. As people flocked from small
communities where everyone knew each other, an anonymity emerged in the cities
and a rise in crime followed.

The social aspects of Web 2.0 are like "new digital cities," Smith
said. Publishers, interested in creating huge audiences to sell
advertising, let people participate anonymously.

That's allowing "criminals to infiltrate the community, become part of
the conversation and persuade people to part with personal
information," Smith said.

Ch*ldren are particularly at risk to anonymous predators or those with
false identities. "Criminals seek to win a Ch*ld's confidence in
cyberspace and meet in real space," Smith cautioned.

Expertise and technology like COFEE are needed to investigate
cybercrime, and, increasingly, real-world crimes.

"So many of our crimes today, just as our lives, involve the Internet
and other digital evidence," said Lisa Johnson, who heads the Special
Assault Unit in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

A suspect's online activities can corroborate a crime or dispel an
alibi, she said.

The 35 individual law-enforcement agencies in King County, for example,
don't have the resources to investigate the explosion of digital
evidence they seize, said Johnson, who attended the conference.

"They might even choose not to seize it because they don't know what to
do with it," she said. "... We've kind of equated it to asking
specific law-enforcement agencies to do their own DNA analysis. You can't
possibly do that."

Johnson said the prosecutor's office, the Washington Attorney General's
Office and Microsoft are working on a proposal to the Legislature to
fund computer forensic crime labs.

Microsoft also got credit for other public-private partnerships around
law enforcement.

Jean-Michel Louboutin, Interpol's executive director of police
services, said only 10 of 50 African countries have dedicated cybercrime
investigative units.

"The digital divide is no exaggeration," he told the conference. "Even
in countries with dedicated cybercrime units, expertise is often too
scarce."

He credited Microsoft for helping Interpol develop training materials
and international databases used to prevent Ch*ld abuse.

Smith acknowledged Microsoft's efforts are not purely altruistic. It
benefits from selling collaboration software and other technology to
law-enforcement agencies, just like everybody else, he said.

Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano@seattletimes.com

Can you spell Oliver North? Even Microsoft themselves have been beaten by the exchange cloud. Once the information hit the internet waves is everywhere. Also, you are paying a penalty for speed, and mongers are not known to be very patience. Even those in the security business realize that privacy is just a selling point and not an achievable goal.

My whole point is that not be too concern about what the government or other agencies can do. You and I do not have the tools to prevent them from peaking under the hood. Even those paranoid souls that take the time to change their encryption keys on a regular base are losing that battle. I always tell my customers that Security is a balancing act, either way that you move the needle to increase or decrease security, there is a cost associated with it. Which way you pay the bill is up to you.