[kysol]

Time to switch login prompt to "Logging in with username and password" and have a dummy account that can delete files upon login. Provide the fairly clueless customs official with the loaded login credentials and damage done before they realise.

Not that I have anything to hide... that being said they will probably just back door into my laptop next time I'm on and deactivate any form of tripwire.

Curse you NSA, always streets ahead!

(Note: If I wasn't on their radar, I am now... /sigh, it was a joke)

[yaeger]

Not necessary to do harm to your data.

What you want is truecrypt with a shadow partition. See, forensics can tell if your laptop drive has an encrypted partition. But they can't tell how many. So, set up a dummy encrypted partition with user/pass and your normally used partition with user/pass.

Depending on which user/pass you enter, truecrypt will decrypt the appropriate partition. The government can snoop all they want on your dummy partition. They will find nothing. When they ask why you encrypted it, you tell them because you always protect your things. You also lock your house when you leave etc. Of course you should have some things on your dummy partition that make it look like it is actually being used. If you just have a freshly installed OS with no sign of usage, that might get noticed.

[nwh]

Pulling that sort of stunt would probably get you in a lot of trouble.

[fractallyte]

You must stop thinking like a victim. It's your property, your responsibility, your freedom, your life. Assert yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment

[rwallace]

Okay, your heart is definitely in the right place, but if you're going to assert yourself over your electronic gear at the airport, do not for heaven's sake do it by playing cute half-clever tricks with hidden volumes or self-destructing software. Do it by politely but firmly refusing to hand over passwords; then the worst that's at all likely to happen to you is that they send you home without your gear.

[lukifer]

The fear of death is the beginning of slavery.