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from the When's-the-last-time-you-crossed-the-border-with-a-half-dozen-filing-cabinets? dept.
It reverses a landmark victory for privacy advocates.
Border Agents Can Search Phones Freely Under New Circuit Court Ruling - The Verge:
A US appeals court has ruled that Customs and Border Protection agents can conduct in-depth searches of phones and laptops, overturning an earlier legal victory for civil liberties groups. First Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch declared that both basic and "advanced" searches, which include reviewing and copying data without a warrant, fall within "permissible constitutional grounds" at the American border.
Lynch ruled against a group of US citizens and residents objecting to invasive searches of their electronic devices.
[...] A district court declared that CBP searches violated the Fourth Amendment by not requiring "reasonable suspicion" that the devices contained contraband. Lynch disagreed. "Electronic device searches do not fit neatly into other categories of property searches, but the bottom line is that basic border searches of electronic devices do not involve an intrusive search of a person," she wrote. That lowers the bar for conducting them at the border, where the government's interest in security is "at its zenith."
Appeals courts have issued conflicting opinions on how electronic devices fall under the "border search exception," a rule allowing warrantless searches that might otherwise be unconstitutional. [...] The exception is primarily intended for finding contraband or unauthorized entrants, but it applies to federal agents working within 100 miles of the US border — an area that covers most metropolitan areas.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2021, @07:13PM (2 children)
or while within 100 miles of the border... https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone [aclu.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 12 2021, @07:36PM (1 child)
Sorry, the article doesn't go far enough. Every international airport comes with it's own 100 mile exclusionary zone. And, it's amazing how many little landing strips are considered to be "international".
Long story short, if the border and customs people want to search you, they can do it anywhere within the United States. Notice, I did not say "continental United States". Remember the headlines when the TSA was pulling over travelers in western Tennessee? Trucks, big and small, cars, motorcycles, business people, vacationers, anyone and everyone. It's quite a long way from Memphis or Nashville to any border!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DannyB on Friday February 12 2021, @10:34PM
A constitution-free zone.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?