Laptop, cellphone, iPod data - all fair game for copying at borders

The Washington Post reported yesterday that US border agents are routinely searching laptop, cell phone, and other electronic-media data and making copies. At least one person who is part of a class-action lawsuit against this has had laptops taken and never returned. And no, US citizens are not in any way exempt.

The US government is trying to claim that this is the same as searching briefcases, except, of course, that the point of that traditionally was to look for contraband items such as firearms, bombs, and smuggled goods; reading and making photocopies of your business documents have not, for example, been part of that deal. But now, apparently, it is.

In response, several companies have now set up "blank laptop" travel programmes, so that people are carrying dataless laptops around, accessing the data they need later via the internet, preferring the risk of hacking to the risk of the border crossing. Some companies have created policies that cell phones, similarly, must be blanked before entering or leaving the United States.

The damage this does to the ability of companies operating in the US to do business should, of course, be taken as read.

No theme today, really

If you haven't checked the CMBX lately, you can see that credit risk perception continues to skyrocket; that's bad. Also, yesterday, the 30-year treasury auction was a bit of a disaster, the kind of disaster which indicates problems for the Fed in borrowing money to finance deficits. On a more individual level, consumer credit conditions have entered into a downward spiral, as defaults cause banks to ratchet down credit limits and up restrictions.

In energy news, keep the soaring cost and supply problems in coal in mind when noticing that OPEC is talking about cutting production. At US$90/barrel, that's kinda neat, particularly given that the major oil companies are failing to replace reserves consumed. (Chevron reported last week that they only managed to replace 10-15% of reserves consumed last year. That's very bad.) Reportedly, the OPEC nations want to defend $80/barrel oil. The oil bulls loved that, too, spiking crude oil prices up, sharply.

And just for general scariness, first, outgoing President Putin of Russia engages in a little sabre-rattling, warning the West to act on Russian security concerts, lest conditions lead to a new arms race. I agree that would be bad for essentially everyone, so let's try to avoid that. And secondly, Nouriel Roubini is getting more, not less worried about a general meltdown in the financial system, though does point at a couple of reasons to be hopeful it can still be avoided. Dr. Roubini has a very good track record these last couple of years; hopefully he's wrong this time. I wouldn't bet on that, but one can hope.

Anyone interested in the Northwest Flower and Garden Show?

I ask every year, but: is anyone else interested in going to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show? Dates are February 20-24. Anyone?