Does anyone have any information regarding the Customs inspection upon returning to the US from a DCL cruise? I'm specifically interested in whether electronic devices are inspected.

The current law of the land (http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9892897-38.html?tag=nefd.lede#fascism), however ultimately unconstitutional it may be, allows Customs inspectors wide latitude to go through files on laptops, text messages on phones, photos on digital cameras and the like.

On our previous, non-DCL cruises, customs was more of a formality--we trooped through a shipboard conference room or lined up in the theater to present our passports and that was that. These were two and five years ago, though, and I'm wondering if ICE might have newer procedures for cruise travelers.

In case you're wondering, I don't have any illegal digital contraband--but I do have highly personal and confidential files on my laptop which I do not want some Customs officer rifling through.

In all of our cruises, immigration and customs has been a very straightforward process. You get off the ship and immediately present yourself to immigration where they check your passport. You then go to claim your baggage. From there you walk past a customs inspector and present your customs form. If you didn't go crazy shopping, they wave you through and you are done. Otherwise, they direct you over to the payment window. They do supplemental checks, but those seem to be pretty rare.

I am familiar with the appeals court ruling you are concerned about. The good news is that, if you are really concerned, you can encrypt the contents of you hard drive (or selected files). There is case law (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071216/163110.shtml) the prevents customs from requiring that you decrypt the files for them, as it would be a violation of the 5th amendment.

At San Pedro we just filled out a form and handed it to them on our way out. Passport control is first.

I think you'll be fine -- they didn't go through anything (and we walked off our bags ourselves).

I am familiar with the appeals court ruling you are concerned about. The good news is that, if you are really concerned, you can encrypt the contents of you hard drive (or selected files). There is case law (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071216/163110.shtml) the prevents customs from requiring that you decrypt the files for them, as it would be a violation of the 5th amendment.

That may be current case law, but it may be changing:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/15/AR2008011503663_pf.html
In Child Porn Case, a Digital Dilemma
U.S. Seeks to Force Suspect to Reveal Password to Computer Files
...
Orin S. Kerr, an expert in computer crime law at George Washington University, said that Boucher lost his Fifth Amendment privilege when he admitted that it was his computer and that he stored images in the encrypted part of the hard drive. "If you admit something to the government, you give up the right against self-incrimination later on," said Kerr, a former federal prosecutor.


I think the best course of action is discretion is the better part of valor. I wouldn't be advertising any extra information.

Having said that, I'll advertise here...
www.ironkey.com
...is your friend. And
www.truecrypt.org
...and other software based solutions are only as secure as your password. Also be careful about various compromises such as:
http://www.securethoughts.net/2008/02/compromising-disk-encryption-through-cold-boot-key-recovery.html

But at this point, we just having fun with technology and have really wandered off the original point of the thread. If anyone wants to continue this, we can/should continue it in the Tech Lounge or you can PM me.

For most cruises customs inspections are a formality. You will queue in line with your Passport and customs declaration form and you will just go through security. Be advised however, that your luggage will be sniffed by dogs as it is taken off the ship and this is just for contraband. Coming off the ship is not like going on, they do not subject you to full searches.

This is what I was talking about (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080501-groups-want-congressional-hearings-on-border-laptop-searches.html). Glad to know it's not the case for cruise ships.

Customs has always been just a formality on all three of our previous Disney cruises as well.