Most of us travel with our phones and laptops, but an increasing number of individuals returning to the United States are finding that border patrol agents want access to those devices, without a search warrant.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.
EFF staff attorney Adam Schwartz says in the last two years authorities have tripled the number of devices searched. They are on track to search 30,000 this year. "Each of these searches invaded someone's privacy and free speech rights," he states. "Our phones and laptops contain our emails, expose our love life, health conditions, and religious and political beliefs. "
Customs and Border Patrol officials maintain that they are authorized to search laptops and cellphones as part of their mandate to inspect goods entering the country. Schwartz says that authorization violates both the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, and that is the core of their legal challenge. Akram Shibly is a U.S. citizen and independent filmmaker, who travels regularly between the U.S. and Canada.
The last two times he returned to the U.S., he says, border agents demanded his cellphone and password. Shibly says he complied the first time, but when it happened again, he declined. "When I refused, three agents used force against me," he relates. "One agent grabbed me by the throat and began to choke me. Agents once more took my phone out of my sight, only to return it later, without any explanation for what they did with my cellphone."
ACLU staff attorney Esha Bhandari says the current practice leaves the door wide open to racial and ethnic profiling.
