At 02:45 PM 7/18/00 -0400, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
>In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Matt
>Holdrege wr
>ites:
> >At 11:50 AM 7/18/00 +0100, Jon Crowcroft wrote:
> >>next summer's IETF meeting is tentatively scheduled for London, England
> >>http://www.ietf.org/meetings/0mtg-sites.txt
> >>
> >>if you turn up at customs with a laptop, you may be asked to show any
> >>and all files on it to the nice chaps there. if someone has sent you
> >>crypted email (say using your public key) you may be obliged to
> >>connect the lapto pto the public net and access your other key to
> >>decrypt the mail for the nice chaps in customs to priove that it is
> >>not to do with pornography or terrorism - whereeve yo uare from, you
> >>will have no recourse to say "no" or "this is commercial in
> >>confidence" or "my company will fire me if i let this go to anyone or
> >>send it over the net to decrypt at my home site etc etc"
> >
> >As one who travels to London quite often and has red hair and is of Irish
> >descent, this sounds a bit overmuch to me. I've never had anything other
> >than a kind welcome by British customs officials. There are loads of crazy
> >laws in the U.S. and other countries. We citizens are grateful that the
> >enforcement branch of the government chooses to ignore them unless provoked.
> >
> >
>I'm not sure what "sounds a bit overmuch" to you. Have a look at
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F150000/150465.stm
How is this different than looking in your bags for porn magazines or
videotapes? How is looking at your stored email different than looking at
your paper correspondence?
As I stated in my previous post "unless provoked". Customs in many
countries can be provoked to look at those things. What makes a computer
special? Why single out the U.K. government when many others do essentially
the same thing.
