An Appeals Court panel has ruled that federal agents can legally search through travelers’ cell phones without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or a warrant when they cross an international border.
Hasn’t this been going on since at least 9/11?
They’ve been doing that already for ages. It wasn’t legal? What changes now?
“The ‘longstanding recognition that searches at our borders without probable cause and without a warrant are nonetheless ‘reasonable’ has a history as old as the Fourth Amendment itself.’ United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606, 619 (1977).”
The reasoning seems to be that these searches should be considered reasonable simply because they’re as old as the Fourth Amendment, but wasn’t the Fourth Amendment adopted to end searches of this kind? It seems like a fallacious argument.
Apparently the US also has this policy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_search_exception
That allows warrantless searches within 100 miles of a border, which I think entirely covers many population centres.Does anyone else find this absurd?
has a history as old as the Fourth Amendment itself
I hate to break it to them but 1787 isn’t remotely close to 1977.
That also allows them to board any train, bus, or plane that is within 100 miles of the border and detain people without reasonable cause.
At this point why do we even have the 4th? Seems like there’s always a loophole available to be exploited.
FedEx your phone into the country when traveling into the US… Meet it here.
I was considering this with a laptop scenario. Mail an encrypted drive to the destination or just access a cloud account there, and install a “safe” drive that’s been wiped except for some games, unimportant documents, and maybe browser history to safe boring social media alias with the occasional “why is my poop green” search.
You know, because if you’re already in this scenario, they’ll probably already want to throw you in prison because having an empty laptop or phone they can’t feed to their intelligence-beast is “suspicious.” Being anything but the most braindead consoomer-normie would be “suspicious.”
If I’m leaving the country (and plan on coming back) I’m bringing a burner phone. I’m nobody special but having a bunch of jamook stormtroopers dump all my personal data for kicks sounds pretty un-Americanly disgusting to me on principle.
What a freaking world…
You want to let you phone out of your control for that long?
I wonder if you don’t take your phone if they consider that suspicious.
“Phone? What? I’m rich. I don’t carry a Slave Square.”
Burner phones it is then.
Blank phone could also be suspicious.
Burner phone, but take a few tasteful nudes on it first.
Better yet, don’t go.
They probably do
I’m Australian and last night the wife and I was watching something on YouTube and a flashy tourism add pops up encouraging us to visit the US. Without prompting we both started giggling simultaneously. Right, as if…
It is truly a shithole country.
For certain definitions of “legal”, given that the fourth amendment makes no such allowance.
Oh boy, do I have bad news for you…this is nothing new
There are so many exceptions to the 4th amendment that it’s basically meaningless.
“The Constitution says we can’t search you buuuuuut… We wanna and we’re better at violence than you are.”
What’s to stop you from factory re-setting your phone when you approach the border? You can sync it back up once you’ve cleared security.
Best you do it waaaay before.
Nothing. That’s standard procedure for anyone carrying anything remotely sensitive.
Careful, that’s destruction of evidence even if the CBP does it for you.
It’s different if you’ve done it before you got to customs. The person who is being sued now did it after his phone was already in possession of customs.
Technically, customs did it themselves through their own stupidity.
The amount of smug must’ve felt so good in the moment. “Bro what’d you do to my phone?! :( :( :(”
I imagine that you’re fine if you do it before ever approaching the border. You could just say “my phone was giving me major problems so I had to factory reset it, and I just haven’t had time to set everything back up.”
The lie would likely be what gets you in trouble. The basic truth would probably be safer.
a: “Why is this phone empty?”
b: “Because I performed a reset on it.”
a: “Why did you perform a reset on it?”
b: “Because I wanted to. I’m not aware of any law I broke in how I deal with my own property.”Your phone will likely still be seized and you may still get questioned, but you’ve broken no laws. However, don’t take my advice. IANAL
Honestly, the best response is probably just repeating “Lawyer” until you have one with you
I’m not aware of any law I broke in how I deal with my own property.
“Ignorance of the [fuzzily-defined conveniently enforcement-friendly constitution-dodging illegal law that violates your rights] doesn’t exclude you from its consequences!”
The law they charged that activist with requires an intentional act, i.e. giving a pig the panic code. Possession of a wiped phone can’t show destruction of evidence by itself.
Anyone selling cheap burner phones to use exclusively for border issues like this? I’d rather not use my actual phone but I don’t think I can travel without one.
Ebay, or whatever equivalent in your country.
You could also back it up, wipe it, then restore it afterwards. Or if your phone supports multiple profiles, set up a secondary one with minimal apps and social media. Just don’t like them take it, because they can still Cellebrite you in that state.
This is disappointing, but not surprising in the slightest. However, this could be far more concerning than “mere” privacy violations. This lays groundwork for the ability of the US government to restrict flow of information physically stored on electronic devices into the territory they occupy. Though logistically complicated, I would certainly not put it past a fascist regime to implement such a policy and it would be disconcertingly easy to hide such a policy.
I’m sure any minute now we’re gonna get a “Great American Firewall of Freedom (called the GAFF Act)” and he’s gonna claim to get Xi to pay for it. 🙄
This is more relevant thane ever: https://youtu.be/7lGrKW4A_xc
