Privacy Complaints Mount Over Phone Searches at U.S. Border Since 2011
- 6 years ago
Privacy Complaints Mount Over Phone Searches at U.S. Border Since 2011
The Department of Homeland Security, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, has released several hundred complaints filed since 2011 by
people whose phones, laptops or other electronic devices were searched without a warrant at the United States border as they entered the country.
While the officers were cordial, she said, "the line between security screening
and blatant search and seizure without cause or explaining is not." American courts have long permitted government agents who protect the borders to search, without a warrant or any specific basis for suspicion, the possessions carried by people as they cross.
In 2013, the appeals court in San Francisco ruled that border agents in the states it oversees — including California, Washington
and Arizona — must have "reasonable suspicion" to conduct forensic searches of devices.
phone, my university owned laptop, and all electronic devices," he wrote, adding, "My family
and I feel belittled, ashamed, humiliated and disgraced." On Twitter, follow Charlie Savage @charlie_savage and Ron Nixon @nixonron. that my
Midway through fiscal year 2017, Customs and Border Protection was on pace to search 30,000 travelers’ electronics — more than tripling the annual number by
that agency since 2015, when it searched 8,503 people’s devices.
Grievances over lost privacy run through a trove of roughly 250 complaints by people whose laptops
and phones were searched without a warrant as they crossed the United States border.
The Department of Homeland Security, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, has released several hundred complaints filed since 2011 by
people whose phones, laptops or other electronic devices were searched without a warrant at the United States border as they entered the country.
While the officers were cordial, she said, "the line between security screening
and blatant search and seizure without cause or explaining is not." American courts have long permitted government agents who protect the borders to search, without a warrant or any specific basis for suspicion, the possessions carried by people as they cross.
In 2013, the appeals court in San Francisco ruled that border agents in the states it oversees — including California, Washington
and Arizona — must have "reasonable suspicion" to conduct forensic searches of devices.
phone, my university owned laptop, and all electronic devices," he wrote, adding, "My family
and I feel belittled, ashamed, humiliated and disgraced." On Twitter, follow Charlie Savage @charlie_savage and Ron Nixon @nixonron. that my
Midway through fiscal year 2017, Customs and Border Protection was on pace to search 30,000 travelers’ electronics — more than tripling the annual number by
that agency since 2015, when it searched 8,503 people’s devices.
Grievances over lost privacy run through a trove of roughly 250 complaints by people whose laptops
and phones were searched without a warrant as they crossed the United States border.