At 02:45 PM 7/18/00 -0400, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
In message <4(_dot_)3(_dot_)1(_dot_)2(_dot_)20000718105915(_dot_)00bd2de0(_at_)pop3(_dot_)ipverse(_dot_)com>, 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.