From: Asma Chandani <asc2106@columbia.edu>
  To  : <cpc@emoglen.law.columbia.edu>
  Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 16:45:14 -0400

4 steps to protect your computer and a mob story.

In a recent post on the Politech list about a reader who feared his
computer may have been "invaded" by a federal agent during a security
screening, CNET's Declan McCullagh outlined simple steps you can take:

"I have taken my computer through customs many times and I have never 
had it seized. But I'll be damned if G.I. Jackboot didn't walk into 
another room with my computer. I couldn't see what he was doing. I 
suppose it is possible that US Customs now has a copy of my hard drive. 
All of my stuff is password protected so perhaps that kept him from 
accessing anything other than the logon screen. Or perhaps there is now 
a bug in it that sends them a copy of everything I do."

So be sure to:
1. Encrypt your files, and preferably entire hard drive volumes, using 
PGPdisk or OS X's FileVault. Might as well switch to a Mac or some 
non-Windows operating system while you're at it.
2. Seriously, about the Mac thing. Police organizations are far more 
proficient with Windows.
3. Password-protect your computer, including a boot password.
4. Ideally find some way to verify that your computer hasn't been 
tampered with. You could boot off a known-safe CD when you get home, for

instance, and compare current file hashes with previous hashes saved to 
a CD.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/04/22/cure_for_stolen_lapt.html

_____

For your "paranoia" enjoyment, here's the tale of the son of a Philly
mob boss from a book called "Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the
Government Breaks its Own Laws" by Judge Andrew Napolitano. 

The FBI secretly copied the contents of Nicodemo Scarfo's entire hard
drive but they were not able to read a single file, due to Scarfo's use
of PGP encryption. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Haneke authorized the
FBI to break into Scarfo's office as many times as necessary to deploy,
maintain, and remove "recovery methods which will capture the necessary
key-related information and encrypted files." 

On May 10, 1999, the FBI installed a "key logger" on his computer to
capture Scarfo's every keystroke, thereby obtaining his
encryption-unlocking password, accessing all the data on his hard drive,
and arresting him for gambling and loan sharking. A subsequent plea deal
prevented the privacy issues from ever being ruled on by a federal
judge. 

This story, titled "Home Invasion" can be found in Chapter One: Breaking
the Law to Enforce It, p. 10-14.

~Asma



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cpc@emoglen.law.columbia.edu
[mailto:owner-cpc@emoglen.law.columbia.edu] On Behalf Of
jt2184@columbia.edu
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 12:35 AM
To: cpc@emoglen.law.columbia.edu
Subject: protect public advocacy


Hi all,
Thinking about practical stuff. I've realized that one of the
biggest problems for human rights advocates like me and other kind
of activists is that your advocacy targets are always ahead of you,
and that is in part because of the surveillance technology they
have.
I am trying to compile a little and simple guide (remember, we are
lawyers) of basic security measures any activist should take into
account to secure a little bit the exchange of information. You
know, how use your mobile, how to protect your email, so on and so
forth. I think that "personal" among active "civil society" will
push those issues up in the agenda.
I would really appreciate your suggestions and comments about what
to include in this guide (and about the idea itself). Thanks,
Javier

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