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Comment by e_proxus | Hacker News Reader

You could create a hidden partition in your TrueCrypt volume, put some plausible data in the public partition and give them the password for that.

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Why bother when you can just download anything you want after you cross customs.

Because I should not have to go out of my way to make a legal activity, LOOK like a legal activity, when it's not even remotely illegal. It's privacy, that's all it is. Lock is to box as encryption is to computer.

We live in a very sad state of affairs that will continue to deteriorate.

> Lock is to box as encryption is to computer.

Um, you realize that you can't carry locked boxes through customs and then refuse to open them, right? That comparison actually hurts the case for taking encrypted data through customs.

Fill it with whatever analogy works for you then, you know what I mean.

The issue is that refusing to let customs inspect your electronics is illegal. This is the broken thing. Encrypting is just a half-assed way to try to get past this (I say half-assed, because it doesn't work). I don't especially care that encrypting doesn't "look legal". I care that customs has the right to inspect the digital contents of my devices. That is a completely pointless invasion of my privacy. It doesn't reduce crime. It doesn't protect the country I'm entering. It's just an exercise of power.

So do I have to create a hidden volume on my computer then?

It's important to remember the destructive nature of Truecrypt's hidden volume function. Unless you use both keys to unlock the volume, opening the outer volume and allowing the OS to load will destroy the hidden volume that has your real files. It's meant to be a last-resort against a "Use this wrench and beat the password out of him" scenario.

I've only used it with a TrueCrypt volume as a file, where it works flawlessly (unless you continue to add files to the public volume). See http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/hidden-volume

Are we trusting cloud storage now? I would've thought that could be susceptible to official or unofficial attack.

You could. You're carrying encrypted data across borders. That shouldn't be anything that raises flags, and we need to campaign to make it normal. (After all, US businesses need to protect the US by stopping US technology and trade secrets and etc from getting into the hands of foreign spies).

But sadly we live in a world where carrying encrypted data is a flag, and will get you more scrutiny, and get your name put on lists.

It also doesn't help if you carry the passphrase on you with your encrypted data.

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