Court: 4th Amendment Applies At Border, Password Protected Files Not Suspicious 194
An anonymous reader sends this Techdirt report on a welcome ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals:
""Here's a surprise ruling. For many years we've written about how troubling it is that Homeland Security agents are able to search the contents of electronic devices, such as computers and phones at the border, without any reason. The 4th Amendment only allows reasonable searches, usually with a warrant. But the general argument has long been that, when you're at the border, you're not in the country and the 4th Amendment doesn't apply. This rule has been stretched at times, including the ability to take your computer and devices into the country and search it there, while still considering it a "border search," for which the lower standards apply. Just about a month ago, we noted that Homeland Security saw no reason to change this policy. Well, now they might have to. In a somewhat surprising 9th Circuit ruling (en banc, or in front of the entire set of judges), the court ruled that the 4th Amendment does apply at the border, that agents do need to recognize there's an expectation of privacy, and cannot do a search without reason. Furthermore, they noted that merely encrypting a file with a password is not enough to trigger suspicion."
Re:It's still smart to look clean... (Score:5, Funny)
If you cant host it securely online, then mail several MicroSD cards to your destination first to avoid the harassment by the TSA.
Note: you can easily get a Micro SD through airport security without them questioning you, I forgot about one in my pocket and they did not even see it with the Naked scanners.
I always swallow my MicroSD card before I begin travel and retrieve it after I arrive at my destination.
Works great as long as my travel time is less than around 8 - 16 hours. I hate when my travel time is longer and I have to swallow it again.
Re:Hazzah! (Score:5, Funny)
Do not worry, Scalia will save us from the Tyranny of the 9th Circuit!
4th Amendment Applies At Border (Score:5, Funny)
Great! Now we need to apply it in the interior of the country.
Re:It's still smart to look clean... (Score:4, Funny)
Never thought Immodium [wikipedia.org] was a part of a well rounded security system.
Re:Update, 10 May 2013 (Score:4, Funny)
Mommy! Grandpa dumped all of his medications in the goldfish bowl again!
Re:It's still smart to look clean... (Score:5, Funny)
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a dude with a belly full of micro sd cards?
Re:I think it's great, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Well, there's a first time for everything, I suppose.
Re:It's still smart to look clean... (Score:5, Funny)
That sounds much better than putting it up your endian.
Re:It's still smart to look clean... (Score:5, Funny)
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a dude with a belly full of micro sd cards?
How about "that's a shitload of storage?"
Re:It's still smart to look clean... (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, but if the data on the SD card you mail consists of every even numbered byte, while the one you carry has every odd numbered byte..
I go one step better. I break it down to bits and store all the 1s are on one card, and all the 0s are on the other.
Re:4th amendment no longer exists (Score:4, Funny)
Why are you holding your breath? Do you have something to hide?
"Yes, Weapons grade halitosis".