Group sues Department of Homeland Security to stop laptop searches
Law currently allows U.S. customs and border agents to search any laptop, smartphone, or storage device without suspicion
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What's the difference between the contents of a briefcase and a laptop? To U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, absolutely nothing.
The lack of differentiation is a major sticking point for a variety of groups that may carry sensitive or confidential business files internationally, such as business travelers, lawyers, journalists, and researchers. A case filed on Tuesday hopes to limit searches in the future: The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has sued the Department of Homeland Security, asking for the searches to stop unless the agents have suspicions that a crime is occurring.
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"It is not a lot to require reasonable suspicion," says Michael Price, the NACDL's national security coordinator and an attorney on the case. "It is showing that there is some connection between the person that you want to search and your stated goal."
As it currently stands, case law has supported the power of border agents to search, without suspicion, any laptop, smartphone, or storage device. Most cases that made it to court involved either pornography or copyright violations, resulting in little sympathy from the courts for the plaintiffs.
The NACDL lawsuit, however, involves professionals: a postgraduate student in Islamic studies, press photographers, and the NACDL itself. The aim is to convince the courts to recognize the difference between briefcases and laptops or other electronic devices, which "hold vast amounts of personal and sensitive information that reveal a vivid picture of travelers personal and professional lives, including their intimate thoughts, private communications, expressive choices and privileged or confidential work product."
Giving agents the power to search through those records and, in most cases, copy the files and store them indefinitely violates the constitution, says Price. In the past two years, more than 6,500 people -- among them about 3,000 U.S. citizens -- had their electronic devices searched at the border.
