Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray was flying home after testifying about US/Brit complicity in torture when, lo and behold, his laptop vanished.
On arrival at London City, when my bag did not arrive, I went to the luggage desk to report it. The gentleman there affected surprise, waited for a while for the conveyor to clear, and then was taking down the details, including my name and the baggage check number. I spotted a handwritten piece of paper tucked under the keyboard of his computer – on which was already written my name and baggage check number. I challenged him on this, and he said that he had already received an email telling him my luggage was not on the plane.
Murray, while ambassador, protested loudly about the British/US policy of sending prisoners to Uzbekistan to be tortured for information. He was slimed for his efforts, resigned, and defied the government by publishing his telegrams to superiors in deliberate violation of the Official Secrets Act.
Methinks someone wanted to take a peek at his computer.
Thoughts: 1) The commercial version of PGP will encrypt a hard disk. 2) , backups, backups. 3) My laptop is always carry-on and always goes under my seat.