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New Bill Would Outlaw Warrantless Phone Searches At The Border

posted by martyb on Wednesday April 05 2017, @01:06PM   
from the (privacy++) dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Four privacy-minded lawmakers have introduced legislation requiring law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before searching phones belonging to US citizens, and prohibiting them from barring entry to Americans who decline to share their passwords at the border.

"Americans' Constitutional rights shouldn't disappear at the border," Senator Ron Wyden said in statement to BuzzFeed News. "By requiring a warrant to search Americans' devices and prohibiting unreasonable delay, this bill makes sure that border agents are focused on criminals and terrorists instead of wasting their time thumbing through innocent Americans' personal photos and other data."

[...] The bill would require law enforcement to establish probable cause before searching or seizing a phone belonging to an American. "Manual searches," in which a border agent flips through a person's stored pictures would be covered under the proposed law as well. But the bill does allow for broad emergency exceptions.

"The government should not have the right to access your personal electronic devices without probable cause," Rep. Polis told BuzzFeed news in a statement. "Whether you are at home, walking down the street, or at the border, we must make it perfectly clear that our Fourth Amendment protections extend regardless of location. This bill is overdue, and I am glad we can come together in a bicameral, bipartisan manner to ensure that Customs and Border Patrol agents don't continue to violate essential privacy safeguards."

Source: Buzzfeed

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Original Submission

• Re:Foreigners are still SOL Re:Foreigners are still SOL (Score: 4, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Wednesday April 05 2017, @07:53PM (1 child)

  by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Wednesday April 05 2017, @07:53PM (#489311) Homepage Journal

  I've been making that point for years, it's absolutely true. The Constitution just speaks of the rights of the people.

  It's not the law that says foreigners have no rights, but the law has to be applied by people, and we've become an ugly culture that no longer believes in rights or even understands them.

  According to this analysis [findlaw.com]:

  Another matter of scope recently addressed by the Court is the category of persons protected by the Fourth Amendment--who constitutes ''the people.'' This phrase, the Court determined, ''refers to a class of persons who are part of a national community or who have otherwise developed sufficient connection with [the United States] to be considered part of that community.'' 28 The Fourth Amendment therefore does not apply to the search and seizure by United States agents of property that is owned by a nonresident alien and located in a foreign country. The community of protected people includes U.S. citizens who go abroad, and aliens who have voluntarily entered U.S. territory and developed substantial connections with this country. There is no resulting broad principle, however, that the Fourth Amendment constrains federal officials wherever and against whomever they act.

  Given the above, I guess that those who are not residents of the U.S. shouldn't come here if they value their privacy.

  That's sad.

  --
  No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr

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  Starting Score:	1		point
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• Re:Foreigners are still SOL (Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday April 06 2017, @01:15AM

  by Arik (4543) on Thursday April 06 2017, @01:15AM (#489442) Journal

  "Given the above, I guess that those who are not residents of the U.S. shouldn't come here if they value their privacy."
  
  Or anything else. The decision may be specific to privacy rights but the rationale implicates ALL human rights.

  --
  If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

  Parent