Gone too far?

[JJIII]

Your thoughts on this...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/bu...rder.html?_r=0


Seems not quite right to me.

[finnbow]

I believe the ruling went too far. I think that border agents should be able to turn on your electronic devices and look through them just as they can look in your suitcase or even inside your gas tank or car doors if they want. Handcuffing you, sticking you in jail for a couple of hours and keeping your laptop for 11 days goes too far.

[donquixote99]

Border searches are justified to look for contraband. It is not an occasion where all your privacy is negated. Your personal data is not contraband.

And this bit just stinks:

In his opinion, Judge Edward R. Korman of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York found that the plaintiffs did not have standing for their lawsuit because such searches occur so rarely that “there is not a substantial risk that their electronic devices will be subject to a search or seizure without reasonable suspicion.”

What da fuk! The government can violate any right at all by this logic, as long as they do it 'rarely.'

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Border searches are justified to look for contraband. It is not an occasion where all your privacy is negated. Your personal data is not contraband.

And this bit just stinks:

What da fuk! The government can violate any right at all by this logic, as long as they do it 'rarely.'

I didn't follow that logic either. I guess I can go out and rape and plunder, as long as I don't do it too often.

[d-ray657]

They mentioned doing forensic searches of the electronics. That means that even items that have been deleted are subject to discovery. Having deleted something from a device seems to me to create a reasonable expectation of privacy in matters that are no longer intended to be available.

Regards,

D-Ray

[barbara]

Do they have to have some sort of suspicion or evidence that there is a reason to do these searches or can they just do it randomly?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by barbara

Do they have to have some sort of suspicion or evidence that there is a reason to do these searches or can they just do it randomly?

They can do it randomly at the border.

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by finnbow

They can do it randomly at the border.

I read somewhere (and can't seem to find it now) the the word "border" was taken so loosely as to include areas 100 miles inside the actual border. That means a huge portion of the U.S. population is subject to their computers being searched.

Here it is...

http://rt.com/usa/court-upholds-lapt...-searches-041/

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by JJIII

I read somewhere (and can't seem to find it now) the the word "border" was taken so loosely as to include areas 100 miles inside the actual border. That means a huge portion of the U.S. population is subject to their computers being searched.

Here it is...

http://rt.com/usa/court-upholds-lapt...-searches-041/

Hopefully, this'll be taken to the SCOTUS and overturned. However, Scalia and his ilk will likely support such police state activities.

[icenine]

Much ado about nothing.