Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
IcerocketBorder Security to Become Copyright Police?
A proposed trade agreement could authorize border agents to search the contents of laptops and iPods for copyrighted material
Posted 05.30.2008 at 11:49 am
19 Comments
Airport Security:
Photo by Andrew Dinh (CC Licensed)
As if the security in airports and controls at border crossings weren't slow and intrusive enough, governments around the world are quietly passing laws to allow them to search the contents of your laptop and other electronic devices, like iPods and cellphones. A United States court last month gave border agents carte blanche to hold a laptop for days and even copy its entire contents. The UK government has given its agents authority to search computers at its borders for pornography. But in what may be the most baffling and cumbersome move of all, the US, Canada, UK, and other EU nations are working behind closed doors on a new trade agreement which could turn border agents into the copyright police.
A four-page draft document [PDF] proposing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was leaked to the press this week which show plans for the creation of an international copyright regulator with its enforcement arm as each nation's border patrols. Guards and security personnel would be authorized to search electronic devices for any content that "infringes" on copyright laws, whether the copies are from legally purchased CDs or DVDs or not, and decide on the spot which content is infringing. The officials would be given authority to take action without any formalized complaint from the rights holders and without a lawyer present on behalf of the accused. The draft allows for the confiscation or destruction of any device the agents deem suspect.
The ACTA specifically calls for the coalition to operate outside the WTO and UN by forming its own governing body overseen by member nations. While the document is still in draft form, there is little reason to believe the actual agreement won't follow the draft's recommendations. Without public scrutiny or comment, the member states will have no impetus for transparency.
19 Comments
To comment, please login.
Popular Tags
Regular Features
Featured
Gear & Gadgets
The MegaGoods Roundup
Our biggest collection yet: over 200 of the year's best gadgets, goods and gizmos
Battle of the Ultra-Mobile Linux Laptops: Cloudbook vs. EeePC vs. My Old Thinkpad
How much portable Linux goodness can you get for $400?
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Most Commented
Subscribe for 2 free issues!
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2008 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Comments
What body should these concerns be brought to in order to institute change? Some civil liberties organization?
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulthats so lame, this basically gives the security people full acsess to any thing on your computer, which now adays is part of a persons life and has sooo much info, and it would take forever.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulfrom Boston, Massachusetts
So lets say I copy a Game CD (I bought) onto my $2000 laptop because I did not want to bring the disc with me on vacation, and cross into Canada. The nice boarder people look on my computer decide I illegally downloaded that disc and what? I no longer own a laptop? What happened to due process? And don't go telling me an illegally downloaded CD is a threat to National security.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulThat's quite upsetting to say the least, but not necessarily a completely unforeseen measure.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulWhat's this?! Can you say COMMUNISM?! Just one more stupid government program wasting our hard earned money. What's the world coming too? Just wait, next year, it'll be the right to probe our minds for information, all in the name of anti-terrorism and copyright protection over stuff that doesn't even matter... sad.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulfrom Oxenford, QLD
Who's pushing this? The RIAA? Is it another dying grasp for the control of the pre-internet days?
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulWhy do we continue to let governments take away our rights? I'll tell you why because we don't care about our freedom anymore. We just sit there and let the government walk all over us. You people disgust me for not really caring about what the government has been doing to our privacy since 9/11.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulWhere are the privacy rights? Will people's work be searched through and stolen. I don't think that the world will benefit from this. Only the governments will get extra cash by placing fees and violations. Big Brother is becoming bigger every second. We must end these unnecessary acts before it gets out of hand. Britain already has a tight security with all the cameras posted throughout the country and each of its cities.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulWhere are the privacy rights? Will people's work be searched through and stolen. I don't think that the world will benefit from this. Only the governments will get extra cash by placing fees and violations. Big Brother is becoming bigger every second. We must end these unnecessary acts before it gets out of hand. Britain already has a tight security with all the cameras posted throughout the country and each of its cities.
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpfulWhere are the privacy rights? Will people's work be searched through and stolen.
I don't think that the world will benefit from this. Only the governments will get extra cash by placing fees and violations. Big Brother is becoming bigger every second. We must end these unnecessary acts before it gets out of hand.
Britain already has a tight security with all the cameras posted throughout the country and each of its cities.
0 out of 1 people found this comment helpful