Warrantless phone/laptop searches at US border at all-time high

Starman

New Member
http://www.zdnet.com/article/warrantless-phone-laptop-searches-at-the-us-border-hit-record-levels/

Officials have searched a record number of phones and laptops of travelers entering the US in the past year.

New figures released Friday reveal that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers searched 30,200 devices -- an increase of about 60 percent year-over-year -- between October 2016 and September 2017.

That averages out to about 2,500 searches each month out of more than 397 million who crossed the border -- or less than 0.01 percent of all international travelers, according to the agency charged with enforcing immigration and customs rules at the nation's ports of entry.

CBP said that device searchers are necessary to combat terrorism, child pornography, and visa fraud.

Any American citizen needs to tell these goons to #### off. Remember, you can never be denied re-entry to your home country simply for refusing one of these warrantless searches. You'll be given the, "If you have nothing to hide..." speech and you can be himmed up for a couple of hours but that's a small price to pay for maintaining your liberty and dignity.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
It would behoove us to worry more about American citizens who bring drugs, illegal immigrants, and child porn back into the country than searches.

I'm curious why you don't put the blame where it belongs? You call border patrol "goons", yet have no comment on drug runners, child sex slave purveyors, or Coyotes. That's interesting.
 

Starman

New Member
It would behoove us to worry more about American citizens who bring drugs, illegal immigrants, and child porn back into the country than searches.

I'm curious why you don't put the blame where it belongs? You call border patrol "goons", yet have no comment on drug runners, child sex slave purveyors, or Coyotes. That's interesting.

Drug runners, child sex slaves purveyors, and Coyotes will know to delete evidence of those sorts of things off of their personal devices, or bring a decoy phone or use a decoy PIN app which will feign an unlock but still keep anything else hidden/locked/encrypted. Sure, it might catch the truly dumb criminals once or twice.

This is nothing more than security theatre to placate the masses and give the illusion of security without any actual security.

Either way, you're welcome to voluntarily give away your freedom and liberties all you wish. Some of us care about those things.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Either way, you're welcome to voluntarily give away your freedom and liberties all you wish. Some of us care about those things.

You know, of course, that your private communication over cell or the internet isn't really private, right? It never has been.
 

PsyOps

Pixelated
Isn't every vehicle crossing the boarder subject to search on the spot? Is this any different? Not that I'm condoning it.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Isn't every vehicle crossing the boarder subject to search on the spot? Is this any different? Not that I'm condoning it.

Subject to search for drugs and other contraband. Pretty sure that downloding the data on my phone or laptop will not make drugs pop out the SD card slot.
 

Starman

New Member
Isn't every vehicle crossing the boarder subject to search on the spot? Is this any different? Not that I'm condoning it.

There is a general "border exception" to searches and seizures derived from the sovereign right to inspect persons and property crossing into U.S. borders. Courts have recognized that such searches fall into two categories: routine and non-routine. The differentiating factor between the two has to do with how "intrusive" these searches are. I don't have time to run down the court cases, but in situations where you are in your automobile come back into the country, for example, courts have held that these are "routine" as they are limited in scope. A search of your personal data is "non-routine" because these aren't limited in scope and as such these require probable cause and a warrant to define the scope of what they are looking for.

So, yes, these two things are different.
 

Starman

New Member
Another important concept is that with respect to mobile devices, like phones, which may be locked or encrypted you cannot be compelled to give up your password/passphrase/PIN by the government. As I mentioned earlier, they can make you uncomfortable for a few hours while they put you in one of those rooms, but ultimately as you cannot be denied re-entry into your own country, they will let you go.
 

PsyOps

Pixelated
Another important concept is that with respect to mobile devices, like phones, which may be locked or encrypted you cannot be compelled to give up your password/passphrase/PIN by the government. As I mentioned earlier, they can make you uncomfortable for a few hours while they put you in one of those rooms, but ultimately as you cannot be denied re-entry into your own country, they will let you go.

Here's the thing about this... Both are a violation of my rights. So, which do I decide is a worse impact on me. Given that they aren't going to find anything on my phone, I'm inclined to hand it over and let them be bored reading my text messages between my wife and I. I'm going to stop the agents from doing what they believe is their job by not cooperating.

The only way this changes is through elections; and even there, I have no confidence it will ever change.
 

Starman

New Member
Here's the thing about this... Both are a violation of my rights. So, which do I decide is a worse impact on me. Given that they aren't going to find anything on my phone, I'm inclined to hand it over and let them be bored reading my text messages between my wife and I. I'm going to stop the agents from doing what they believe is their job by not cooperating.

The only way this changes is through elections; and even there, I have no confidence it will ever change.

If you believe both are violations of your rights then you must not believe in the right of a sovereign to control its national borders, yes? Is asking for your passport for re-entry a violation? Because it's certainly a 4th amendment seizure.
 

MiddleGround

Well-Known Member
If you believe both are violations of your rights then you must not believe in the right of a sovereign to control its national borders, yes? Is asking for your passport for re-entry a violation? Because it's certainly a 4th amendment seizure.

Asking to view your passport prior to re-entry into the US is UNREASONABLE?

How?
 

Starman

New Member
Asking to view your passport prior to re-entry into the US is UNREASONABLE?

How?

Didn't say it was unreasonable at all. Did you read the whole thread and my previous comments?

It IS a 4th amendment seizure -- one that falls into the routine category I described in post #11. PsyOps described both as "violations" of his rights. I'm trying to understand what he means by that.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
I can't imagine how long it takes to look through someones laptop to see if they are involved in criminal activity unless they do something painfully obvious like put a folder on their desktop named "Drug Deals" or something of the such.

i imagine there are other factors making these people suspicious in some way.
 

Starman

New Member
But, the 4th protects against UNREASONABLE search and seizures. How is it unreasonable? You still have not answered that.

You say "It is a 4th amendment seizure" so, how is it unreasonable? It cannot fall under a 4th amendment violation unless it is deemed unreasonable.

Using the word "seizure" doesn't imply that it's unreasonable.
 
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