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from the Quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodes? dept.
Homeland Security details new tools for extracting device data at US borders:
Travelers heading to the US have many reasons to be cautious about their devices when it comes to privacy. A report released Thursday from the Department of Homeland Security provides even more cause for concern about how much data border patrol agents can pull from your phones and computers.
In a Privacy Impact Assessment dated July 30, the DHS detailed its US Border Patrol Digital Forensics program, specifically for its development of tools to collect data from electronic devices. For years, DHS and border agents were allowed to search devices without a warrant, until a court found the practice unconstitutional in November 2019.
In 2018, the agency searched more than 33,000 devices, compared to 30,200 searches in 2017 and just 4,764 searches in 2015. Civil rights advocates have argued against this kind of surveillance, saying it violates people's privacy rights.
[...] The DHS said the privacy risks of using the tools are low because only trained forensics technicians will have access to the tools, and only data relevant to investigations will be extracted.
That assurance is in stark contrast from what lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation found, after a lawsuit revealed that agents had searched through travelers' devices without any restrictions, and often for unrelated reasons like enforcing bankruptcy laws and helping outside investigations.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Thursday August 13 2020, @02:58PM (10 children)
Witch hunts and burnings at the stake, right around the corner.
It is a lot like idiocracy, "no one will abuse this" lol.
They have abused every measure like this every time, since forever.
Bulk collection, shared with foreign states, used to harass reporters and for rapist hollywood producers to better rape.
This is what totalitarianism looks like.
Thesesystemsarefailing.net
(posting comments like this is the real reason the trolls like calling me names so much)
(Score: 3, Informative) by ikanreed on Thursday August 13 2020, @03:16PM (4 children)
Pretty much, but there's no need to do witch hunts.
They can come up with "legitimate" charges for virtually any person in the country in a much more organized fashion.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @04:26PM (3 children)
Ahh...The Cardinal Richelieu argument [brainyquote.com]. Well done.
So. What are we going to do about it?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by ikanreed on Thursday August 13 2020, @05:03PM (2 children)
At this point the fascist death spiral of the US seems inevitable to me, and I struggle all the time to find and reason to hope.
But changes that would fix it:
1. Strike the military down to about 0.5% of GDP
2. Disarm police on patrol
3. Reassert universal warrant requirements for any and all survelience, hang judges who sign blank warrants
4. Require public defenders' offices be as well funded as prosecutors' offices
Definitely in my "not gonna happen" pile though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @07:50PM (1 child)
You won't get much disagreement from me. That said, I'd say that at least WRT the 4th Amendment issues, numbers 3 and 4 are the way to go.
I'm not as cynical as you are about that happening, but it will take a while to make it happen.
More than anything else, we need to spur folks to speak out about these issues. Most folks don't even think about it, let alone bug their representatives about it. That needs to change.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Thursday August 13 2020, @07:58PM
The importance of #1 and #2 isn't as obvious, but I think it's super important.
But as long as we're off on unnecessary military ventures across the entire planet, an overfunded panopticon surveillance state is always going to be part of the equation.
And as long as the normal day-to-day interaction with police is "do as I say in this moment or risk death" asserting your basic rights is always under threat.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @03:22PM
It's even stupider when you realize that anybody with actual incriminating information they want to sneak across the border has much better options using the internet. The whole point is to keep people scared so that they agree to this stupidity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2020, @03:55PM (1 child)
Not at the borders. The rules are different. For a reason. And clearly not the one you think it is.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday August 13 2020, @10:09PM
So, tell us, oh keeper of the secret: what is this "reason"?
Does this reason make the behaviours acceptable?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Aegis on Friday August 14 2020, @02:14PM (1 child)
Notice how this post is not a wall of text and only covers one topic. Also notice how much better it is being received. That's not a coincidence.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:20PM
Fair assessment. I try.
Thank you for saying something constructive, in a sea of the opposite.
I have a lot of information to share that is being suppressed, if it seems like a firehose, that is how bad the situation really is.
I made a new meme it is not archived yet and i dont feel like it now, but imagine cnn and fox are wicker men, and they are destroying the united states by making them light each other on fire. As we speak. So it is the time to speak up or forever hold your peace.
People trying to hold the middle together like me are their worst enemy, and must be perceived as the radical by the masses. If I err in sharing too much information, it is because the situation is dire, and if it is the only tool I have to overburden t he enemy, that is what i will do.