DHS: Laptops, Phones Can Be Searched or Seized Based on Hunches

[rambone]

According to an internal study by the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. border agents should continue to be allowed to search a traveler’s laptop, cellphone or other electronic device and keep copies of any data on them based on no more than a hunch.

The study was recently obtained through a FOIA request by the ACLU and the Associated Press.

It contends limiting such searches would prevent the U.S. from detecting child pornographers or terrorists and expose the government to lawsuits.

In some cases, computers, cell phones, and other digital devices are seized and held for months so the government can take its time searching your hard drive.

Dept. of Homeland Security: Laptops, Phones Can Be Searched Based on Hunches

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And recall that federal courts have already established that they can compel you to give up your passwords or face jail time. "Just lock it" is not enough to protect your privacy.

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops

Related ingo thread: https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo..._we_can_force_you_to_decrypt_that_laptop.html

 

[IndyDave1776]

You have to love their logic. Just scrap the Constitution and it will make law enforcement much more effective. It makes a person wonder if the federal recalcitrance regarding marijuana is more geared toward denying us five-stranded hemp rope than denying us weed.

 

[rambone]

"As an American, I've always been taught that the Constitution protects me against unreasonable searches and seizures. But having my laptop searched and then confiscated for no reason at all made me question how much privacy we actually have. This has had an extreme chilling effect on my work, studies and private life – now I will have to go to untenable lengths to assure that my academic sources remain confidential and my personal dignity is maintained when I travel." -- Pascal Abidor, U.S. citizen

Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear | Glenn Greenwald

 

[rambone]

Border Agents’ Power to Search Devices Is Facing Increasing Challenges in Court

Several court cases seek to limit the ability of border agents to search, copy and even seize travelers’ laptops, cameras and phones without suspicion of illegal activity.

“What we are asking is for a court to rule that the government must have a good reason to believe that someone has engaged in wrongdoing before it is allowed to go through their electronic devices,” said Catherine Crump, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing plaintiffs in two lawsuits challenging digital border searches.

A decision in one of those suits, Abidor v. Napolitano, is expected soon, according to the case manager for Judge Edward R. Korman, who is writing the opinion for the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

In that case, Pascal Abidor, who is studying for his doctorate in Islamic studies, sued the government after he was handcuffed and detained at the border during an Amtrak trip from Montreal to New York. He was questioned and placed in a cell for several hours. His laptop was searched and kept for 11 days.

 

[MikeDVB]

My solution is simply to back it all up to my own server, travel, and then restore it over a secured encrypted connection. The only way they'll get it is if they intercept and decrypt my connection [in which case, they could have just decrypted my drive to begin with] or if they physically seize my server in which case - they'll still have to decrypt it.

I really don't have enough data that is sensitive to make that a lot of trouble [just some business records, etc].