Posted on 09/07/2010 2:13:33 PM PDT by Bill ORightsly
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) practice of searching laptops and other electronic devices at U.S. borders.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Layers (NACDL), challenges a 2008 CBP policy that allows border agents to search electronic devices of any traveler, without suspicion of wrongdoing. In some cases, border agents have copied the contents of the devices or confiscated them. The lawsuit asks the court for an order prohibiting searches of electronic devices at borders without a warrant and probable cause or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
The groups filed the lawsuit to "protect the rights of all Americans to cross the border free from intrusive government searches,"
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
Read excerpt only, and am down with that.
i agree. they shouldnt be allowed to search any electronic device they want
Its not like people smuggle in copies of movies or child porn or stolen secret documents/data, so lets let people walk in with 500 GB of whatver they want.
Since this is ACLU it’s probably the porn/sex tourism issue prompting them to protect the people. Doubt it’s wikileaks or intellectual property.
Personal property, like luggage or brief cases, can be searched without a warrant or probable cause on re-entry to the U.S. Everyone who has traveled abroad knows that. The government and courts are saying laptops are property searches and they can look for contraband, like child porn, or terrorist communications. Even the Ninth Circus says it's OK.
Still, I don't like the idea of some customs guy looking through my files.
It’s probably at the call of Big Media who don’t like you having 20gig of mp3s on your system.
When Bubba Clinton was in the White House, customs would only let you bring 2 Beanie Babies into the country at a time.
‘so lets let people walk in with 500 GB of whatver they want.’
Why not just mail it. Is the USPS gonna go thru your hard drive?
When you cross the international border you are subjecting yourself to inspection and search. The legal term used at the border to conduct a search is “mere suspicion” as apposed “reasonable” or “probable cause” which is the standard in the rest of the country.
The problem with a lap top or other electronic media is that you can’t just open it and look inside like a suitcase. Everything from child pornography to jihadi terrorist plans can be carried through the borders and the government has an interest and an obligation to keep these materials out of the country.
The ACLU is just trying to further weaken our defenses and national security by erasing long standing and established laws regarding border inspections.
Seems a bit too much.
Why not just mail it. Is the USPS gonna go thru your hard drive?
My question also. It seems to me to be a non-issue. Those with nothing to hide are inconvenienced at worst. Those who have something to hide won’t carry it but will UPS, FEDEX or mail it. While many will tolerate these searches they seem silly and a waste of time.
All of these “items” they are searching for can easily be transferred into this country without using a laptop to transport it so these searches are worthless.
Do you really want some customs guys going into your laptop and poking around? I don’t and no I don’t have any of those banned items. I do have personal and business records that are none of their damn business.
Many corporations are now issuing travel laptops because it is not only the US doing this and having data available to foreign competetiors and the fools running this country just is too risky.
I will keep my data encrypted on my drive and make sure I backup before I leave the country. If you think I am important enough to go to all of the trouble of decrypting then have at it and then we will see about legal action.
And trust me, I AM NOT, REPEAT NOT, an ACLU fan....just making my own personal freedom call for what it’s worth.
So, it becomes just another worthless exercise of government bullying because they can. It only serves to catch truly, stupid criminals and inconvenience the rest of us.
They are not worthless and have resulted in arrests and prosecutions which is why the ACLU wants to stop them. Additionally all those other venues are subject to tracking and intercept as well.
Do you really want some customs guys going into your laptop and poking around?
No, not anymore that I want a TSA guy groping me at the airport. As with you a search of my laptop would be a big waste of their time so I doubt they would bother. More likely they would focus on people they suspect could be engaged in criminal activity. They simply don’t have time in the border environment to conduct random laptop searches of normal travelers.
They don’t have time to search ordinary travelers? The ACLU cleverly picked some normal travelers as plaintiffs (read the complaint). And they don’t search your laptop while you wait — they take it from you and you have to hire a lawyer to get it back.
I’m all for national security, but these guys need some guidance and discipline. This is another government “we do it because we can” kind of situation any of us could find ourselves in.
I don’t think USPS can. Customs though can search what they want, with no probable cause other than the fact that you are standing there.
USPS might come to think of it, if you mail your HD or stick from a notorious sex tour location, they used to intercept print material they thought was suspicious.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.