The Border Is a Back Door for U.S. Device Searches

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/business/the-border-is-a-back-door-for-us-device-searches.html

By SUSAN STELLIN
The New York Times
September 9, 2013

Newly released documents reveal how the government uses border crossings 
to seize and examine travelers’ electronic devices instead of obtaining a 
search warrant to gain access to the data.

The documents detail what until now has been a largely secretive process 
that enables the government to create a travel alert for a person, who may 
not be a suspect in an investigation, then detain that individual at a 
border crossing and confiscate or copy any electronic devices that person 
is carrying.

To critics, the documents show how the government can avert Americans’ 
constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, but 
the confiscations have largely been allowed by courts as a tool to battle 
illegal activities like drug smuggling, child pornography and terrorism.

The documents were turned over to David House, a fund-raiser for the legal 
defense of Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Pfc. Bradley Manning, as 
part of a legal settlement with the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. 
House had sued the agency after his laptop, camera, thumb drive and 
cellphone were seized when he returned from a trip to Mexico in November 
2010. The data from the devices was then examined over seven months.

[...]

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