“Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. Customs and Border Patrol has not published any rules regarding this practice, and I and others have written a letter to Congress urging it to investigate and regulate this practice.” The Guardian

Does this bother you? Does this sound like an invasion of your privacy? It does to me.

Suppose you have personal and/or business information (account numbers, business data, passwords, etc) in an encrypted folder (and if you have to have snesitive information on your laptop, it should be encrypted in case of theft). They can ask you to type in the password to unlock the folder. And if you refuse, you can be detained and they can keep your laptop for a while.

Whether or not you provide passwords, how do you feel about your data being downloaded and ending up heaven only knows where?

There are some things you can do to protect your data. Read the the article in the The Guardian.