(I labeled all this delicious gear in flickr)
How do I get all this gear through US Customs? I mean seriously this stuff is my life. I actually don’t own anything beyond what is on this table (and at that, only in monthly payments of $55.50 for several years), so I want to prevent customs officials dirty mitts from violating my sweet gear or confiscating stuff!
Earlier, I tweeted, “do US customs srsly check laptops and ipods for pirated shizz?” I received mixed answers from “naaaaah. it’s all cool” to “be very scared” to “delete all your ripped DVDs, CDs from your laptop and computer.” Yikes!
I am really curious this proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is currently being put into practice. If anyone has traveled to the US or from the US to Canada, in recent months, with a laptop, iPod, camera, video cam, phone, I’d love to hear what your experience was good or bad.
& thanks for your help. It will seriously decrease my mid-boiling point stress level to know I won’t get strip searched at the airport.
PS. rrrrrrrrrr.
Pasquale said on June 10th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Stuff it all in your underwear and do something to distract from the bulge of the slr. I recommend a giraffe party nice and high in the air, and away from the gadget rich crotch area.
Here is the plan in action:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkmotion/2570178360/
Guaranteed success.
crispynoodles said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:03 am
I don’t have any experience of traveling in/out of US, so not of any help. But I too wonder about equipment checks and screening across borders. I am looking to go on Working Holiday in Canada and interested on what they like to inspect on port entry.
Michael Yurechko said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:07 am
It’ll be fine going through customs if you pack it all carry on, but expect to wait in line for awhile.. When we flew to LA I had my iPod, PSP, Old Dell Laptop, phone, and more with me and it all got swabbed and drug/bomb tested.
The border guards aren’t checking for pirated music/movies (ACTA is still being discussed). Plus, US guards wouldn’t check, ACTA is starting in Canada so you’d have to worry about the return. But you’ll be fine.
If you’re flying though, get there like an extra hour early so they have time to check all your stuff.
Ori said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:08 am
I travel all the time, with more stuff than that. (2 laptops, 2-3 cameras, 2 phone, flash, 7 lenses etc….)
As long as everything is used, and doesn’t look new in the box as if you are trying to smuggle it for someone, then its all cool.
Regarding pirated stuff - imagine the queues if everyone had to be checked…. it would take 2-4 hours to process 1 passenger. I guess that if they really want to inspect you gear then you have to cooperate or else…. just leave the DVD stack at home, I don’t think they can touch your iPhone - how the hell can they tell which song is legit and which one isn’t ??
Hules said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:12 am
You just need to register your gear with Canadian Customs at the airport. I did the same thing when driving across the border with all my photography gear last month. That way, the gear is already registered when you cross back into Canada. That is where the concern is. When you re-enter Canada, especially if your gear looks new, they “may” try to charge/tax you. There is a site that helped me out, and then I called Customs myself and they were very kewl about it and confirmed the steps I had to take. And there was no problem with either side of the border. Hope this helps!! Wait - I will see if I have the site faved, as I am a nerd like that!
Link
inaequitas said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:20 am
As I’ve mentioned on Twitter… the US have been long permitting themselves to inspect everything to their heart’s content, up to and including seizing property they deem to require further inspection (such as laptops, for forensic examination). Currently, Canada does have provisions that permit border agents to conduct laptop searches for child pornography and the likes.
Now, ACTA is but a bad dream that could materialize pretty soon, so right now questionable content is not the goal of these searches. Even with ACTA, I am curious how it will be possible to prove ownership of a music collection (DVDs, unfortunately, are still ‘illegal’ to rip), but that’s beyond the point.
They *may* ask why all that gear is necessary to wherever you are going, and from what I know from thereon it depends on business vs. personal travel. It comes down to the border agent, unfortunately, and it must be ‘comforting’ to know everything pretty much lies in the mood of one person.
A close relative of mine goes through customs every week and never have I heard of anything being searched (usually just an iPhone, sometimes a laptop). My personal experiences, although not too recent, are similar — I wasn’t even asked to power on my laptop.
There are cryptographic techniques that will make your data perfectly hidden to forensic analysis, while still not making you look suspicious. Alas, I would not want to divert the discussion to that.
Bottom line is, I wouldn’t be *too* afraid, as long as you have a reason to carry that gear (being a geek flies with some officers) and especially the duct tape.
Hules said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Btw - I know that is a U.S. link, but it still sends you down the right path. I called the US side, and they gave me the number for the Canadian side, as I seriously could not find it on google (lame).
When I went to the US in 2007, I had a lot of gear as well, even more - and registered nadda. The border chaps were fine, as I told them I was heading into the US for a photography shoot and to see my boyfriend. No problems. They were more interested in hockey chat. Ok - time for me to stop rambling. Good luck!! You will be fine!! =)
range said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Hey Lisa.
Take a photography bag as a purse and a backpack. That should lug all your stuff around. As per checking your stuff, they don’t make you turn on your laptops anymore at customs, so you should be fine.
I flew internationally with a backpack, a carry-on luggage and a camera bag with no real problems.
They will all get checked for drugs and bombs though. Even if you keep a removable HD in your checked baggage, it will get checked. It happened to me when I was leaving Canada.
Never check anything that is worth stealing. Take your heaviest gear with you in your carry-on luggage.
Those are my tips.
Be advised, Air Canada changed their rules for checked luggage. Since June or July 08, you will have to pay an extra 25$ to check two bags.
Dan said on June 11th, 2008 at 12:42 am
To be perfectly honest, I doubt very much they’d search *your* stuff… Middle aged guy with the same gear… he’s the one they’d search.
I think rumours of customs searching laptops for pirate software are kinda ridiculous. If they plan on doing that it would slow down an already laboured customs department.
Ben said on June 11th, 2008 at 3:20 am
Dan’s first point was the one I was going to make, I imagine there is a near perfect negative correlation between how attractive you are and the time you spend at customs.
Christopher Blunck said on June 11th, 2008 at 5:05 am
I own a ThinkTank Airport carrying case and I keep all of my photographic and miscellaneous equipment inside of it when traveling. It’s lockable and has a lasso I can rope around a flag pole or some other permanently mounted object, making me feel pretty secure in an airport when I want to walk to the food court to get a bite to eat.
The TSA will want to search your bag but I don’t think they’ll give you much of a hard time. If you’re flying out of SFO or OAK the TSA agents are accustomed to lots of computer and camera equipment due to the proxmimity to Silicon Valley.
Jason Wertenberger said on June 11th, 2008 at 5:21 am
I think it’s one of those things where it comes down to luck. There is a chance you could be practically stripped searched, but more than likely you will skate-by.
My wife is flying from Michigan to Edmonton on Friday. She will be traveling with an iPod, laptop, and Blackberry. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Jason Wertenberger said on June 11th, 2008 at 5:22 am
Haha, I just noticed you are taking your “Canadian iPhone”! Awesome…
Tyler Ingram said on June 11th, 2008 at 5:35 am
When I traveled down to the US with all my gizmos and gadgets all I did was what the sign said. Put all the gizmos into the bins at the security check point. I kept the laptop separate from the digicam, dSLR, blackberry, cellphone etc and I have not had one issue.
Never had them swab or turn on the laptop or inspect anything. The only question i have ever been asked is why Firefox was the browser of choice. I was wearing my getfirefox.com t-shirt going through
If you’re really paranoid then stop pirating
lol
Chris said on June 11th, 2008 at 6:46 am
A friend of mine made the trek back to the motherland last week with a hard drive full of movies, and an ipod full of music, plus her laptop and camera and what not, and they didn’t give her any trouble at all. They didn’t even turn any of it on.
John Chow said on June 11th, 2008 at 7:00 am
I travel with my “Mobile Office” all the time and never once had any problems. The only thing they might do is ask you to turn on your laptop and give it the swab test.
A bigger problem might be why you’re going to the US. If you say work, oh man….
Don’t say work!
Sarah Austin said on June 11th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I love you! Hahaha!
@John Chow she will work the whole time!
Ryoh A said on June 11th, 2008 at 7:04 am
In April, I flew from Victoria to Sea-tac to Chicago. No problems. I had my iPod (2 of them actually) in my jacket pockets while my girlfriend had her iPod and Powerbook in her laptop bag. We didn’t have any video cameras or SLRs, just a couple of point and shoots, so I don’t know if that will make a difference.
Next week I’m taking off to San Francisco with the same set-up as chicago + 1 SLR and maybe a cheap video camera. But, this time I’ll be driving across the boarder to Sea-tac.
I don’t think they’ll hassle you too much.
Mel said on June 11th, 2008 at 8:20 am
When I went to Vancouver for Canadians in January, I flew to Seattle and had a fantastic friend pick me up and drive me to Vancouver. On the way back, I took a bus from downtown Vancouver to the Seattle airport (left at 5am after 45 mins of sleep…awesome!) and we all had to get out and walk through the customs building individually, much like in an airport.
It’s funny - the biggest hassle I had was on the way to Seattle, since I left from the teeny airport in Lansing, MI. They couldn’t imagine what I was doing with all of my stuff - I had my laptop & accessories in one carry-on bag and my camera with 3 lenses in another. Every single thing was taken out, inspected, and swabbed for explosives, and the security agent asked me several times why I needed so many things - and I wasn’t even leaving the country, as far as they knew, since my ticket said Seattle.
On the way back into the States, they rifled through my bags and asked if I was a photographer, to which I answered that I was, but that was it. But then at the Seattle airport, I don’t think they looked through my bags at all, besides on the machine.
Within the U.S. at security checkpoints, I think it just depends on the airport. I always get stopped at Minneapolis/St.Paul, but never at Chicago-Midway. I had a fair amount of equipment when I went to San Francisco last fall, and I didn’t have any hassle there, either.
Tawcan said on June 11th, 2008 at 8:43 am
You shouldn’t have any problem if it’s used. To be safe you can register everything at the Canadian customs. They’ll give you a little card you can keep in your wallet/purse. I have one from ages ago.
AceyTech said on June 11th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I used to travel with a bunch of equipment., very frequently. I highly recommend putting together a Carnet for everything electronic that you are(or will be) traveling with.
http://is.gd/vdl
It’s easy to do, and immediately shows the customs officer that you have your *shizz* together. Best o’ luck!
Mitchell said on June 11th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Erm… last time I crossed the border to the U.S. from the great white North, we drove. Actually, EVERY time we crossed the border, we drove. So they didn’t check my computer. Mostly because it was nestled WAY in the U-Haul when we moved.
Sorry to not be of any help.
Brooks Van Norman said on June 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Lisa - you’ll be fine. I was down in LA back in February and had lots of hardware too - cameras, cell phone, laptop, etc. While I was actually working while I was down there, you’re better off NOT telling U.S. Customs that you’re working. I mean what is “work” anyway? John is right. Besides, isn’t what we do so much fun that it’s tough to classify it as “work”. Second, if you’re really paranoid about losing your stuff - then register it, go to to the Canada Customs office on the main floor of the International Departures building at Vancouver International. You’ll have to walk past the food court and then down a very long hall with green carpets (they might grey by now as they were renovating when I was there). Just tell them that you’ve got lots of electronics you’re taking the US and you’d like to register their serial #’s so that there’s no confusion when you come home. They are very nice folks and the process is quick. More importantly it will help you sleep better while you’re on “vacation” taking pictures and video ;).
Regarding the new legislation, it is PROPOSED and not yet in effect. So don’t worry about it one bit. It’s a crazy concept to put into practical application, no matter how important it might be.
Brian Yerkes said on June 11th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Lisa,
I don’t think you should worry at all….that’s from my own experience. I have travelled between Ireland and the US, going thru both customs as I have both an Irish and an American password….and have never had anythin more than my laptop swiped for drugs or whatever…
Salvador Orozco said on June 11th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Recently went to NYC without any problem, they just ask you to take off your laptop from its case, but it was off and closed, they never turned on my computer or made me show what was inside my back pack.
Never checked cameras, iPods, nothing at all. But I didn’t have any cd or dvd with me.
Good luck!
kristarella said on June 11th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I went through SFO in Feb. I had my phone, MacBook, dSLR, iPod. Put laptop and phone on a tray and sent rest of the backpack through the scanner. No probs at all.
Also, wear easy to remove shoes - you have to put those through as well!
steve ballmer said on June 11th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Soon you will be able to replace it all with the ZuneCam!
Will OHare said on June 12th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I’ve been traveling between the US and Canada for years now (NYC/Toronto) with my Powerbook, camera, hard drives…etc. without any problems. I’ve had the hardware searched, but I’ve never been checked for ripped/pirated movies or music.
I just recommend that everything is packed in an orderly way, so that the contents can be packed back up again quickly after a search (use twist ties or baggies for all of your cables).
Hope this helps!
RBeezy said on June 12th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
put the mac in a condom and swallow it.
or just go through Trudeau in Montreal…they never check anything!
C.V - Motion Groove said on June 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I wouldn’t trust the U.S customs officers. I would put all your pirated movies onto DVD, as for the IPod hmmmm. Where are you going anyways, lol.
Steven Snell said on June 13th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I traveled from the US to Canada and back in late 2007 and had no issues. Things may have changed since then though.
erik said on June 13th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
just fedex the crap you need to your destination and lie about the contents on the customs forms. easy.
i prefer to use “documents and interoffice memos” for every single thing i fedex
Tricia said on June 13th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I went to Vegas for Blogworld last November with two digital cameras, an HD video camera, laptop, portable hard drive, chargers, batteries - including extra laptop battery, cellphone and an assortment of wires and attachments and didn’t have any problems. In Vegas they made me turn everything on and off and looked each item over so it was time consuming, but not bad. If any of your items are newish you might want to bring receipts to prove you bought them in Canada.
ZM said on June 14th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I guess I am paranoid too. I usually travel about 2x a month to the US and I use trueCrypt on all my video/mp3 files just to be sure. Oh God! Traveling has become such a pain with all the security checks, customs, etc…
to think I work for the airlines…
-:)
Stacey said on June 15th, 2008 at 12:28 am
I just flew SFO to YVR last week with my gear and they didn’t even look at my macbook on the SFO end. I didn’t notice them checking anyone’s actually. The only place I’ve ever had mine opened was in Victoria and that was only for a swab and the friendly fellow told me (when I offered to turn it on for him) that it wasn’t part of their procedure for security. So there you go. Straight from the mouth from the friendliest security guard ever.
James - DigitalKeyToInfo said on June 16th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I wouldn’t worry. As far as ripped DVD’s and mp3’s, just because it is on your computer or ipod does not mean it is not a legal download or rip.
That said, customs of many countries can pretty much “confiscate” anything anyways, but my bet is you are much more likely to have the stuff stolen somewhere than confiscated.
M. Vardjan said on June 17th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Traveling regularly to countries that make your name pop up on some FBI agents computer… I have never had a problem getting gear in, and more importantly, out of any place, foreign or domestic.
Best advice I’ve ever been given about making it through airport security; look up at people, but never make eye contact. If your looking down at the ground or make eye contact with an airport security agent your chance of, “excuse me, could you please come with me,” drop dramatically.
Be-all-end-all, it’s photo gear, not WMDs.
Derek said on June 20th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I’ve never had a problem getting in [except once—unrelated], I have had problems getting out. My carry on always gets rooted through (computer turned on, ipod looked at, mobile poked and prodded] and my stuff that went into cargo was torn through without being told upfront, but there was a lovely note from US Customs telling me that I was selected at random and if anything was missing (ie – stolen) it wasn’t their fault.
I suggest any work related gear that can’t go in as carry on gets packaged up in some sweet locked up Pelican Cases and couriered to where you will be staying in the states. Some of my friends are photographers and that’s the only way to do it.
jonson roth said on June 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
(1) Register all your gear on the Canadian side before leaving.
(2) Don’t act nervous.
(3) It’s often the luck of the draw.
Oh wait a minute. Scratch all that. Aren’t you a cute young white female who dresses very skimpily? Nah, none of the above applies to you.
Dustin said on July 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
Ship it to yourself. Use UPS or FedEx.
Oleg said on August 31st, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Hi there,
I have something like as well and this is what I did.
Go to customs agency, I did it in airport, take all your gear there with you. Ask them for item registration card. They fill it out for you. All they do is write your gear ID tags on pies of card and then stamp it. This card is good for as long as you have same stuff all the time. If you get something new you have to update it.
Then if you asked question on the border where did you got all this stuff you simply show them the card and you of the hook.
I have Nikon D40,D300 + grip, Nikon 12-24,Nikon 18-200,Nikon 80-400 and small stuff like tripod and so on. Since registration I have never had any problems.