Tue, Sep 01, 2009
Laptops, Digital Cameras, Phones Targeted By Customs, DHS
When traveling abroad, your laptop, digital camera, or
smartphone may be subject to search and seizure without any
suspicion of wrongdoing on returning to the U.S., according to new
guidelines published Thursday by Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
both divisions of the Department of Homeland Security.
The new rules come as the ACLU had filed a lawsuit in an effort
to get more information about the search and seizure rules. The new
guidelines from the Obama administration are very similar to those
put in place by the outgoing Bush administration last year.
According to Inforworld, the guidelines require CBP to complete
a search in 5 days, but allows ICE up to 30 days to conduct a
search of your electronic devices. Matt Chandler, DHS spokesman,
said the new guidelines provide more "transparency and
accountability" for the searches, and provide a good balance
between U.S. security and civil liberties and privacy.
Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment
Working Group, said the new rules are too vague. "DHS' latest
policy announcement on border searches is a disappointment and
should not be mistaken for one that restores the constitutional
rights of travelers at the border," she said. "Members of the
public deserve fundamental privacy rights when traveling and the
safety of knowing that federal agents cannot rifle through their
laptops without some reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing."
CBP says it has the right to search all files on a laptop,
including financial records, and web browsing history on laptops
and other electronic devices and may seize said devices with no
probable cause.
ACLU argues that the guidelines violate a citizen's 4th
Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.
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