Federal Agents Cleared to Seize Notebooks

U.S. border search policies permit agents to take travelers' notebooks and other devices away for as long as they want...no suspicion required.

U.S. federal agents have been grated the power to seize travelers notebook computers and other personal electronics, move them to an offsite location for an unspecified period of time, and hang on to them for as long as they like—and no suspicion of wrongdoing is required. As reported by The Washington Post, the border search policies enacted by the Department of Homeland Security also permit officials to share the contents of travelers computers or other devices with other government agencies and even private organizations for purposes such as translation, decryption, or other reasons.

The paper cites two policies issued July 16 by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service (PDF) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to DHS, the policies have been in place for some time but have only been disclosed due to public interest in the matter. Civil liberties groups and business organizations have raised concerns that a growing number of business travelers have had laptop computers, PDAs, cell phones, and other items taken and their contents examined. In one reported case, the items were held for a month.

The policies applies to any “device” that can store analog or digital information, including cameras, media players, computers, pagers, flash drives, CDs and DVDs…and even more prosaic media like papers, books, and pamphlets.

The policy stipulates that reasonable care must be taken to protect business information and material subject to attorney-client privilege, but makes no provision for individual privacy, medical records, personal financial information, or other potentially sensitive data. So far, federal courts have backed up policies permitting searches of travelers’ notebook computers, with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in April overturning a lower court decision, finding that customs officials did not need reasonable suspicion to search a laptop or other electronic device.