Thoughts 04 Aug 2008 10:28 am
Feds don’t need suspicion to confiscate your Laptop
From the Washinton Post:
Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.
Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco upheld the government’s power to conduct searches of an international traveler’s laptop without suspicion of wrongdoing. The Customs policy can be viewed at: http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/admissability/search_authority.ctt/search_authority.pdf.
For the basis of the court’s ruling consider the Supreme Court decision in US v Flores-Montana, 541 US 149, which held that complete disassembly and reassembly of a car’s gas tank didn’t require reasonable suspicion.
Having traveled in and out of this country for years I had always assumed that everything you brought across the border was subject to search. I see no difference between a laptop and your suitcase.
What bothers me is the jack-boot mentality that exists and is encouraged by those people at the top.
The TSA once tried to confiscate a MacBook Air because they didn’t know what it was.
Are these people any better trained? And how much legitimate data will be lost and how many laptops will they lose or ruin?
I see nothing wrong with a reasonable search, but giving some technologically impaired knuckle dragger that kind of power is wrong.
Pretty soon business travelers will be taking lessons from the smugglers just to find ways to get their data home safe.