I’ve written about the fact that US Customs And Border Protection has a habit of searching laptops of travellers. That might be changing thanks to a court decision that came down on Friday:
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Homeland Security’s border agents must have “reasonable suspicion” before they can legally conduct a forensics examination of laptops, mobile phones, camera memory cards, and so on.
Today’s opinion (PDF) is a limited — but hardly complete — rejection of the Obama administration’s claim that any American entering the country may have his or her electronic files minutely examined for evidence of criminal activity. Homeland Security has said the electronic border searches could detect terrorists, drug smugglers, and people violating “copyright or trademark laws.”
It’s only a limited rejection because certain warrantless searches at the border remain permissible: The judges said that “a quick look” or “unintrusive search” of a laptop, such as asking its owner to turn it on and peruse open windows, is perfectly OK. In addition, the court indicated that previous criminal history qualifies as “reasonable suspicion” that justifies a complete forensics analysis.
This will not stop warrantless searches. But perhaps it may reduce them because you have to wonder about the need to just search anyone they come across in an airport or at a border crossing. Personally, I’m not a fan of this and I am not convinced that any country that does this is making that country any safer.
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This entry was posted on March 10, 2013 at 10:31 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Homeland Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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US Court Limit Laptop Searches
I’ve written about the fact that US Customs And Border Protection has a habit of searching laptops of travellers. That might be changing thanks to a court decision that came down on Friday:
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Homeland Security’s border agents must have “reasonable suspicion” before they can legally conduct a forensics examination of laptops, mobile phones, camera memory cards, and so on.
Today’s opinion (PDF) is a limited — but hardly complete — rejection of the Obama administration’s claim that any American entering the country may have his or her electronic files minutely examined for evidence of criminal activity. Homeland Security has said the electronic border searches could detect terrorists, drug smugglers, and people violating “copyright or trademark laws.”
It’s only a limited rejection because certain warrantless searches at the border remain permissible: The judges said that “a quick look” or “unintrusive search” of a laptop, such as asking its owner to turn it on and peruse open windows, is perfectly OK. In addition, the court indicated that previous criminal history qualifies as “reasonable suspicion” that justifies a complete forensics analysis.
This will not stop warrantless searches. But perhaps it may reduce them because you have to wonder about the need to just search anyone they come across in an airport or at a border crossing. Personally, I’m not a fan of this and I am not convinced that any country that does this is making that country any safer.
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This entry was posted on March 10, 2013 at 10:31 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Homeland Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.