Porn

It's a lesson we first learned a dozen years ago when John Robin Sharpe was arrested returning to Canada from abroad: Customs officers aren't just looking for spiced rum when they search our bags, they're also looking for porn.

While kiddie porn and BDSM porn fall squarely onto the forbidden side of the law, lots of vanilla gay porn can also get you in trouble. And as the Supreme Court of Canada has pointed out in the Little Sister's bookstore case, porn that would be perfectly legal to make, sell and possess in Canada is often stopped at the border.

And that means say goodbye to your laptop, digital camera or cellphone for at least 30 days.

Janine Fuller is the manager of Little Sister's Bookstore in Vancouver. Fighting a 20-year battle against porn import seizures, employees at the city's most famous gay and lesbian bookstore have become lightning rods for anecdotal evidence about the CBSA, formerly Canada Customs.

"I've had many people coming in who have had their laptops seized," she says.

LEAVE IT AT HOME:
"I wouldn't take my laptop," says Fuller. "But that's easy for me to say. I don't have one."

The only surefire way to keep your computer from getting confiscated is to leave it at home. But if you're travelling for work, that might be unavoidable.

If so, don't do home functions on your work laptop. If it's your primary computer, it might we worth purchasing a second-hand computer for your personal — especially porn-surfing — activities, and leaving that computer at home.

As with anything, you have to weigh the risks and benefits. For instance, it might make more sense to get a cheap digital camera for travelling, and leave the camera with pictures of your girlfriend in the harness at home.