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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: 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.