NCAAbbs

I can see how the law would be useful, but it just seems way to broad, at least that's what I got from that article. Plus ways to transport data are so vast that it's seems pretty useless.

That's stupid.

It doesn't matter how "useful" it is, it's completely contrary to the 4th amendment.

not saying I agree with the practice, but the nut of the story is this:

"...unless Congress changes the law, DHS may be able to get away with its new rules. A U.S. Federal Appeals court has ruled that an in-depth analysis of a laptop's hard drive using the EnCase forensics software "was permissible without probable cause or a warrant under the border search doctrine."

I'm not a lawyer..what is the border search doctrine? On its face it sounds like it's something that allows the government to inspect items coming into the country. I'm also sure it was meant for inspecting things such as goods in terms of customs and illegal items such as drugs, not your papers and intellectual property.

There are exceptions to needing a warrant to do a search. One of the exceptions is a border search. (Others would be a search incident to a lawful arrest, consent, plain view, etc). That is why if you drive a vehicle across our northern or southern border, agents at the crossing can completely search your vehicle without a warrant. This is first week of criminal procedure type stuff. So, technically this is something that the government can do. And this is not a new authority, but an extension of an existing authority into a new arena- contents of computers. That being said, I don't like this at all. I just don't see the point in it. If johnny jihad is coming into our country, I doubt he has the master plan of al qaeda on his laptop. And every man hour spent looking at somebody's hard drive is one hour we could be out gaining intelligence on real threats. It's too "big brother," and we should be above this. Besides, border searches are more about stopping smuggling and illegal immigration. So, I find myself in a strange situation- agreeing with GN.

BatesUAB Wrote:There are exceptions to needing a warrant to do a search. One of the exceptions is a border search. (Others would be a search incident to a lawful arrest, consent, plain view, etc). That is why if you drive a vehicle across our northern or southern border, agents at the crossing can completely search your vehicle without a warrant. This is first week of criminal procedure type stuff. So, technically this is something that the government can do. And this is not a new authority, but an extension of an existing authority into a new arena- contents of computers. That being said, I don't like this at all. I just don't see the point in it. If johnny jihad is coming into our country, I doubt he has the master plan of al qaeda on his laptop. And every man hour spent looking at somebody's hard drive is one hour we could be out gaining intelligence on real threats. It's too "big brother," and we should be above this. Besides, border searches are more about stopping smuggling and illegal immigration. So, I find myself in a strange situation- agreeing with GN.

Ha, Johnny Jihad. That's classic.

I cross the border frequently. I have never been searched driving across the border even though my car has been loaded (and I mean loaded) down. I fly in and out of the US many times each year and I have never been extensively searched. Once I was pulled aside and asked a few questions about why I travel so much in and out of the US. Anyone who has flown through th international terminal in Houston lately will attest to the fact that they are so busy in customs and immigration that I can't see them using this option very often.