Feds Can Search Your Laptop On Re-Entry Into US...

[S P A N N O W]

January 7, 2008
Sidebar

If Your Hard Drive Could Testify
By ADAM LIPTAK

A couple of years ago, Michael T. Arnold landed at the Los Angeles International Airport after a 20-hour flight from the Philippines. He had his laptop with him, and a customs officer took a look at what was on his hard drive. Clicking on folders called “Kodak pictures” and “Kodak memories,” the officer found child pornography.

The search was not unusual: the government contends that it is perfectly free to inspect every laptop that enters the country, whether or not there is anything suspicious about the computer or its owner. Rummaging through a computer’s hard drive, the government says, is no different than looking through a suitcase.

One federal appeals court has agreed, and a second seems ready to follow suit.

There is one lonely voice on the other side. In 2006, Judge Dean D. Pregerson of Federal District Court in Los Angeles suppressed the evidence against Mr. Arnold.

“Electronic storage devices function as an extension of our own memory,” Judge Pregerson wrote, in explaining why the government should not be allowed to inspect them without cause. “They are capable of storing our thoughts, ranging from the most whimsical to the most profound.”

Computer hard drives can include, Judge Pregerson continued, diaries, letters, medical information, financial records, trade secrets, attorney-client materials and — the clincher, of course — information about reporters’ “confidential sources and story leads.”

But Judge Pregerson’s decision seems to be headed for reversal. The three judges who heard the arguments in October in the appeal of his decision seemed persuaded that a computer is just a container and deserves no special protection from searches at the border. The same information in hard-copy form, their questions suggested, would doubtless be subject to search.

Read The Whole story Here...

[Cyndalie]

Woah. I figured it was bad enough risking search of materials going to another country, but returning home too.. well if it's illegal and on your machine than you should get busted (like cp) but if they are just copying data to see what they can find that is not illegal (like trade secrets) and personal information is comopromised, well that does step over rights.

[Platinum Chris]

Wow. I thought they needed a warrant to actually delve into the information stored on the laptop.

I can understand turning it on making sure it is an actual laptop and not a shell hiding dangerous components, but that's pretty f'd up for them to be able to snoop w/o a warrent or reason.

[TheLegacy]

That law is silly - considering that is correct, then going into government computers is NOT private because its just a collection of data bits and numbers that dont mean anything - unless putting them together somehow ends up being a launch code.

Computers are diaries and private information. No different than if we wrote it down on paper. Just shows how limited the law is in its understanding of anything electronic.

[Rochard]

The goverment can search anything when you enter the country. Get over it. It's been a fact of life since the cold war.

And if your stupid enough to have anything on your computer when you enter the country, well, you deserve to get ass raped in prison for a few years.

[Jimmidean]

We have gone through this several times upon re entering Canada.
As we shoot much of our own content abroad we tend to come back with thousands of legal softcore and hardcore pics.
At our last fiasco I mentioned to a airport authority that if they wished to view so much of our content they should buy a membership......
Never do that !
Anyways we now keep everything on the media cards or tape it was shot on, no one seems to care less.

[Relentless]

Searches are fine, but with no probable cause and zero reason to believe the item would leave custody while a warrant is pursued?!

It's patently unconstitutional. Any first year law student could get that one right. Civil liberties in the US are dying faster than chain-smokers