Do you consider your laptop files to be private? - Most people would considerate files on their laptop to be personal and private. The problem is that the authorities do not have that perspective:

“If the police raided your home and demanded access to your hard drive they’d need a warrant, but beyond your four walls it’s open season on your data. A recent US case in which Customs officials rifled through a teacher’s laptop has highlighted that authorities have a different view of laptop data privacy than their citizens.”

link: Laptop searches “unconstitutionally invasive”

There is no expectation of privacy once that laptop leaves your home. At airport security, for example, the screening people can ask you to power up your laptop and inspect the files. It might be understandable to see if the laptop genuine and to ask the owner to power up the machine. However, in what way is it a security measure to look through the files? Surely, security does not expect to find ‘how to make a bomb’ files.

What is frightening is that basic security measures might be seen as subversive. For example, in Part Three of the Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), “it assumes anyone with encrypted data on their PC is guilty of something unless they reveal the information…”. Encryption is a basic practice to safeguard mobile data. It seems that encryption can portend guilt of some villainous activity.

Most people assume that their laptop is private property and have the expectation of privacy for the information on the laptop. Such is not the case. That laptop can be inspected and you may be asked to prove your innocence.

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]laptop, privacy, regulations of investigatory powers act, security, encryption, innocence, guilt[/tags]