] re Good Read FBI avoids warrant by having TSA search computer at airport

[Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>]

> From: "Stanley, Jay" <JStanley () dcaclu org>
> To: <dave () farber net>
> Date: April 21, 2010 01:43:38 PM EDT
> Subject: RE: [IP] re Good Read FBI avoids warrant by having TSA search computer at airport
>
> One reason laptops should be "special" is that people rarely cross
> international borders with a lifetime of personal paper correspondence,
> photographs, reading matter, purchase records, etc., in their posession.
> Yet people routinely do so with laptops.  The current law did not evolve
> based on that reality and as a result does not adequately balance
> different values.  
>
> While it is true that one can be strip-searched at an international
> border, it requires a higher standard than rifling through a bag.  That
> can only be done in the U.S. with reasonable suspicion.  That is the
> same higher standard that should be applied to laptop searches. 
>
> The powers of customs officers evolved to keep contraband goods out of
> the country -- and DHS officials have tried to frame the laptop issue in
> that light.  But it seems silly to apply that to data, unless Customs
> claims the right to examine all digital "goods" that cross our nation's
> borders via the Internet.  Otherwise, checking laptops of international
> travelers is like trying to monitor the trickle of water in a gutter
> while the Mississippi river flows nearby, unattended.
>
> In reality, this issue isn't about Custom's right to search and seize
> for contraband goods. It's actually about giving border agents sweeping
> new powers to peer into the lives of individuals crossing the border --
> to an extent agents have never had in the past. That's what makes files
> on disks "so special." 
>
> Jay Stanley
> Speech, Privacy and Technology program, ACLU
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 12:44 PM
> To: ip
> Subject: [IP] re Good Read FBI avoids warrant by having TSA search
> computer at airport
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Gene Spafford <spaf () cerias purdue edu>
> Date: April 19, 2010 4:53:37 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Good Read FBI avoids warrant by having TSA search
> computer at airport
>
> Every country asserts that its agents have the right to inspect items
> coming across their borders.   The US is not different.   Furthermore,
> they may perform a "deep" inspection of your papers and luggage.
>
> So why do people think that laptops should somehow be "special"?   If
> they can look at your papers, take apart your suitcase, and even perform
> a body cavity search before you enter the country, what makes those
> files on disk so special?   And they may do the same in France, China,
> Brazil, Australia, Uganda, Israel,  and.... so why single out the US?
>
>
>
>
>
>
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