Border search and seizure of laptops are permissible
In the US, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that border police may conduct random searches of laptops without search warrants or probable cause. These searches can include seizing the laptop and subjecting it to extensive forensic analysis.
WHA?!
This is not an isolated incident:
It was report last year from a U.S.-based marijuana activist says U.S. border guards looked through her digital camera snapshots and likely browsed through her laptop’s contents. A London-based correspondent for The Economist magazine once reported similar firsthand experiences, and a 1998 article in The New York Times described how British customs scan laptops for sexual material. [via]
It is understood that when traveling internationally you should expect a customs agent to search your bags to ensure that you are not carrying something into the nation that can harm the safety of its citizens, or the operation of its government. However, I feel that granting customs the right to forensically search a persons laptop without probable cause it a blatant invasion of privacy. What’s the next step in the future, attaching a person to a brain scanner so agents could figure out the exact intent and desires of the individual when visiting?
What do you think?
