Border Agents Can Search Laptops Without Cause, Appeals Court Rules

[Voni]

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/border-agents-c.html

Federal agents at the border do not need any reason to search through travelers' laptops, cell phones or digital cameras for evidence of crimes, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, extending the government's power to look through belongings like suitcases at the border to electronics.

The unanimous three-judge decision reverses a lower court finding that digital devices were "an extension of our own memory" and thus too personal to allow the government to search them without cause. Instead, the earlier ruling said, Customs agents would need some reasonable and articulable suspicion a crime had occurred in order to search a traveler's laptop.

On appeal, the government argued that was too high a standard, infringing upon its right to keep the country safe and enforce laws. Civil rights groups, joined by business traveler groups, weighed in, defending the lower court ruling.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government, finding that the so-called border exception to the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches applied not just to suitcases and papers, but also to electronics.

The ruling (.pdf) came in a case where customs agents searched the laptop of Michael Arnold who was returning from the Philippines. They found images they believed to be child pornography, seized the laptop and later arrested him. While the lower court ruling excluded from trial the pictures of young boys the government says it found on the hard drive, they now can be used again.

The panel chose to follow the reasoning of a similar case from the 4th Circuit, known as Ickes (.pdf), which held that the government did not need any reason to search a vehicle crossing the border.

The 9th's ruling did not, however, clarify whether a traveler has to help the government search his computer, by providing the login information, or what would happen when the government decided to search a laptop with encrypted data on the drive. The defendant in the case can appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Court is unlikely to take up an issue that two separate appeals courts have agreed upon.

In the meantime, travelers should be aware that anything on their mobile devices can be searched by government agents, who may also seize the devices and keep them for weeks or months. When in doubt, think about whether online storage or encryption might be tools you should use to prevent the feds from rummaging through your journal, your company's confidential business plans or naked pictures of you and your-of-age partner in adult fun.

The case is Arnold vs. USA.

Voni
   sMiling

[SHANEA]

and yet some are more worried about those getting a citation for knowingly violating the rules and camping in environmentally sensitive areas.  Little do they know when they pass through checkpoint Charlie that their camera, cell phone, computer, etc. can be searched and seized. 

THIS IS NOT TRUE, BUT IT COULD BE.
Imagine sneaking over into Mexico to go to Boquillas or Fern Caynon or where ever on the "illegal" side of the border, snapping some pictures, etc.  Then, when you get to Check Point Charlie the DHS/CBP/ICE "searches" your camera and sees that you crossed illegally into Mexico.  They had already asked if you had been in Mexico and you had said no.  Oops, now you are in deep doo doo.     (see, they knew that you crossed over with all the new detectors and cameras they secretly installed along river road under the cover of the National Guard doing road maintenance. 

BTW - be sure and wave at the new infrared real-time camera that is now at the Hot Springs.   

[Peach]

BTW - be sure and wave at the new infrared real-time camera that is now at the Hot Springs.   

Seriously???  Oh that is going to crack my little girl up the next time we go! 

[SHANEA]

BTW - be sure and wave at the new infrared real-time camera that is now at the Hot Springs.   

Seriously???  Oh that is going to crack my little girl up the next time we go! 

Who knows anymore...

People laughed at me when I told them there were road sensors on the road to La Linda, until I pointed one out. 

The camera is hidden inside a significant rock.   

[RichardM]

BTW - be sure and wave at the new infrared real-time camera that is now at the Hot Springs.  

Seriously???  Oh that is going to crack my little girl up the next time we go! 

Who knows anymore...

People laughed at me when I told them there were road sensors on the road to La Linda, until I pointed one out. 

The camera is hidden inside a significant rock.  

Well, maybe not a camera, but someone just might be watching...

Still, as recently as 2005 I was pulled out of Hot Springs in the middle of the night by rangers with night vision and told to get dressed before I got back in.

[SHANEA]

BTW - be sure and wave at the new infrared real-time camera that is now at the Hot Springs.   

Seriously???  Oh that is going to crack my little girl up the next time we go! 

Who knows anymore...

People laughed at me when I told them there were road sensors on the road to La Linda, until I pointed one out. 

The camera is hidden inside a significant rock.   

Well, maybe not a camera, but someone just might be watching...

Still, as recently as 2005 I was pulled out of Hot Springs in the middle of the night by rangers with night vision and told to get dressed before I got back in.

Can They Do That?   

[LandCruisers4Life]

How ridiculous can it get..... and I get my *%$#*@ busted for once carrying a rifle into BB in my truck. I'm not the one people need to be worried about, it's your government you should be worried about.

[RichardM]

How ridiculous can it get..... and I get my *%$#*@ busted for once carrying a rifle into BB in my truck. I'm not the one people need to be worried about, it's your government you should be worried about.

Now that you mention it, that AK-47 didn't have an infrared scope on it, did it?   

[Peach]

How ridiculous can it get..... and I get my *%$#*@ busted for once carrying a rifle into BB in my truck. I'm not the one people need to be worried about, it's your government you should be worried about.

Just curious, but can't you bring one in as long as it is not loaded?  I know, kind of a dumb question...sometimes I forget to take my 22 out of my truck after I've been out shooting...

[uh_clem]

How ridiculous can it get..... and I get my *%$#*@ busted for once carrying a rifle into BB in my truck. I'm not the one people need to be worried about, it's your government you should be worried about.

Yea, it's not like you were doing anything illegal.

[RichardM]

How ridiculous can it get..... and I get my *%$#*@ busted for once carrying a rifle into BB in my truck. I'm not the one people need to be worried about, it's your government you should be worried about.

Just curious, but can't you bring one in as long as it is not loaded?  I know, kind of a dumb question...sometimes I forget to take my 22 out of my truck after I've been out shooting...

If you are transporting firearms, you must notify the ranger or gate attendant on your arrival, and your firearm must be rendered inoperable before you enter the park. Individuals in possession of an operable firearm in a national park are subject to arrest.

Firearms are NOT permitted anywhere in the park’s backcountry. Firearms brought through Big Bend National Park must be unloaded, broken down (temporarily inoperable), cased, and stored out of sight and reach, with ammunition separated from weapons while in the park (36 C.F.R. 2.4(a)(3)).

[Peach]

How ridiculous can it get..... and I get my *%$#*@ busted for once carrying a rifle into BB in my truck. I'm not the one people need to be worried about, it's your government you should be worried about.

Just curious, but can't you bring one in as long as it is not loaded?  I know, kind of a dumb question...sometimes I forget to take my 22 out of my truck after I've been out shooting...

If you are transporting firearms, you must notify the ranger or gate attendant on your arrival, and your firearm must be rendered inoperable before you enter the park. Individuals in possession of an operable firearm in a national park are subject to arrest.

Firearms are NOT permitted anywhere in the park’s backcountry. Firearms brought through Big Bend National Park must be unloaded, broken down (temporarily inoperable), cased, and stored out of sight and reach, with ammunition separated from weapons while in the park (36 C.F.R. 2.4(a)(3)).

Weeelllll....that clears that up for me...I think I'll have to remember to empty the backseat of the truck before I take off to BIBE...thanks!

[leee]

Before a government wants to have a right to search my computer or other devices, it has to give me the right to search theirs.

[Peach]

Before a government wants to have a right to search my computer or other devices, it has to give me the right to search theirs.

I agree!

[RichardM]

Before a government wants to have a right to search my computer or other devices, it has to give me the right to search theirs.

Try that line on the border agents and let us know how it goes.