From: Peter Swire [peter@peterswire.net] Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 11:57 AM To: David Farber Subject: DHS responds on laptop searches; direct action campaigns Dave: Public concern about laptop searches seems to be getting the attention of senior officials at DHS. Yesterday, they posted “Answering Questions about Laptop Searches” by Jayson Ahern, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection: http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/ It links to his June 30 post on “CBP Laptop Searches”: http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/2008/06/cbp-laptop-searches.html. Readers may wish to add their comments to the blog post. Their basic point remains the same – customs has checked people’s items at the border for 200 years, so they can check your laptop. Meanwhile, this issue has hit the front page of DailyKos, http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/4/141837/1015, and Dave Farber’s list gets mentioned in the Salon article, http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/08/04/encryption/index.html. Two direct action campaigns are underway: (1) “Hands Off My Laptop,” from Center for American Progress Action Fund: http://www2.americanprogress.org/t/288/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6239 (2) Electronic Frontier Foundation action site: https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=373&pg=makeACall. Peter Prof. Peter P. Swire C. William O'Neil Professor of Law Moritz College of Law The Ohio State University Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (240) 994-4142, www.peterswire.net |