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New DHS Report Announces Authority to Seize and Examine Electronics From Travelers Along the Border for Any Reason

Feb. 10, 2013 2:00pm
New DHS Report Announces Authority to Seize and Examine Electronics From Travelers Along the Border for Any Reason

ACLU’s “Constitution-Free Zone” Indicating Which U.S. Territory Is Within 100 miles of the Border Where Individuals Face Less Restrictive Protections From Government Search (http://www.aclu.org/constitution-free-zone-map) 

 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has announced three years later after what was supposed to be a “Civil Liberties Assessment” within 120 days, that they will uphold ICE and CBP’s authority to conduct “suspicionless and warrantless” searches of electronic merchandise held by travelers at the border and “its functional equivalent.” A two-page executive summary on the department’s findings reads:

The overall authority to conduct border searches without suspicion or warrant is clear and longstanding, and courts have not treated searches of electronic devices any differently than searches of other objects. We conclude that CBP’s and ICE’s current border search policies comply with the Fourth Amendment.

We also conclude that imposing a requirement that officers have reasonable suspicion in order to conduct a border search of an electronic device would be operationally harmful without concomitant civil rights/civil liberties benefits.

The report also concludes that travelers would not have their First Amendment rights violated by ICE and CBP searches of their laptops or cell phones, and the offices have the authority in searching, reviewing, retaining and sharing information contained in these electronic devices.

Wired Magazine reports that the suspicionless electronics search rules were first announced by the Bush administration in 2008. The virtually same rules were followed up by the Obama administration a year later, and between 2008 and 2010, 6,500 persons had their electronic devices searched along the U.S. border.

The ACLU is currently challenging the electronic border search policy in two federal court lawsuits, and filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act Friday, demanding the full impact assessment report on border searches of electronic devices.

“If it’s true that our rights are safe and that DHS is doing all the things it needs to do to safeguard them, then why won’t it show us the results of its assessment?” Katie Haas writes on the ACLU Blog. “And why would it be legitimate to keep a report about the impact of a policy on the public’s rights hidden from the very public being affected?”

What constitutes travelers along the border? One hundred miles inland from all U.S. land and water borders.

(H/T: Boing Boing)

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Comments (94)

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  • rickroland
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:38pm

    Sorry, but it being “the border” or “it’s functional equivalent” does not preclude nor suspend the rights of U.S. citizens (4th Amendment here). This “recommendation” is just what DHS ordered — er — hoped for.

    Idiots.

    Report this comment

    rickroland  
    • tonypro
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:55pm

      “” We conclude that CBP’s and ICE’s current border search policies comply with the Fourth Amendment. “”

      According to who’s interpretation exactly?

      How can people be so blind and not see the massive police state we’ve become, and the laying of agenda 21 foundation that is choking the last breath out of our country?

      This will continue to get much worse. The question is, how far will it be allowed to go before another civil war, or revolutionary war begins? It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when?

      Report this comment

       
    • MDECKER
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 4:43pm

      How long do you think it will take before we hear stories of DHS Agents selling Ipads on Craig’s List?

      Report this comment

      MDECKER  
    • WaterTheTree
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 5:12pm

      wouldn’t “functional equivalent” include all US airports too? And 100 mile perimeter around each, of course.

      Report this comment

      WaterTheTree  
    • turkey13
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 5:24pm

      Everyone just move on – no story here! When Holder ran his operation FAST & FURIOUS no one seemed to mind. The president split the law and made all the gun shops on the border report any purchases of more than one gun and report directely to the Feds. I thought this was what back ground checks were for. Now anyone who bought more than one gun is in another data base.I can’t understand why anyone would mind this since we have come to the point where Obama says jump, and we ask how high.

      Report this comment

      turkey13  
    • BlueStrat
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 6:02pm

      The Michigan State Police have been using cellphone “data-slurping” devices that bypass all encryption and password-protections of a phone and can copy everything in a couple minutes. They claim the right to be able to search any phone they come across during a stop or other encounter if they desire.

      Disconnect the data pin of the USB connector, and instead connect a charged photoflash capacitor across the data-out pin and ground. Their “slurping” device will get an unpleasant mouthful!

      Acquire an encryption program like TrueCrypt, create an encrypted partition on the computer’s harddrive, and then load it partially full with random-sized files of digital “white noise”. They’ll never be sure what they’ve got, and will expend resources trying to “decrypt” random digital “noise”. If enough people did this and what I described above for cellphones, it will make such searches not worth their trouble to conduct.

      Report this comment

      BlueStrat  
    • mensa141
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 7:19pm

      Isn’t it about time they knocked this crap off?

      Report this comment

      mensa141  
    • RabidPatriot
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 8:13pm

      This is why you don’t keep sensitive material on those kinds of devices. Put your info on encrypted thumb drives that can be easily concealed and easily destroyed. Your computer should just be a conduit to access your information. Some laptop thumb drives are as small as a vitamin tablets. There is a reason why terrorists have reverted back to spoken and written coded messages and away from electronic data. The present government treats we the people like terrorists. I guess we have to adopt some of their successful counter measures.

      Report this comment

      RabidPatriot  
    • Maji
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 11:57pm

      Didn’t we used to have a government not just a police force
      with 10 different acronyms???
      What happen to Congress passing laws not a “Fat woman” and lackies!!

      Report this comment

      Maji  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on February 11, 2013 at 2:33pm

      O’Berri’s DHSNAZI’S have arrived!!

      Report this comment

      G-WHIZ  
    • Obama_In_PeePee_Is_Becks_Art
      Posted on February 11, 2013 at 5:04pm

      “New DHS Report Announces Authority to Seize and Examine Electronics From Travelers Along the Border for Any Reason”

      Look at that map people! Tyranny is here NOW! America’s are now OFFICIALLY obligated to fight for their Liberty (so says America’s Founders). COME ON, Glenn. Be the watchman and sound the alarm!

      “DICTATORSHIP For America IMPLEMENTED!! :: Glenn Beck Named THE TRAITORS & Exposed THEIR CONSPIRACY!!”
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAu_-UmERuo

      “NEW WORLD ORDER National ID & Economic System To Be ENFORCED In U.S.A. January 15th 2013″
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFG2Nb2Lj2U

      Report this comment

      Obama_In_PeePee_Is_Becks_Art  
  • jackact
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:36pm

    The question is: whom is protecting whom and from what?
    ANARCHY AMERICA!
    Start practicing.

    Report this comment

    jackact  
  • SheepDogconfrontthewolf
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:36pm

    October 7, 2012
    Share
    Homeland Security graduates first Corps of Homeland Youth

    October 7, 2012. Vicksburg. The federal government calls them FEMA Corps. But they conjure up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany. Regardless of their name, the Dept of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 Homeland Youth. Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country.

    Report this comment

    SheepDogconfrontthewolf  
  • SheepDogconfrontthewolf
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:34pm

    This is funny i just passed a bill that any one on my property trying to seize any property will be met with just and harsh warrants exiting from the end of my scoped gas propelled projectile device ,and served to the cranial thought processing area.

    Report this comment

    SheepDogconfrontthewolf  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:34pm

    And who will pay for it. The tin foil hat has a hole in it time to get a new hat. They can’t afford to do anything and no army works for free. Even ready to eat meals need to be paid for so no lunch for the brown shirts to go door to door on city and whole states that fall within this line.

    If they still can not stop the daily drug shipment of Drugs and human trafficking from Mexico all the way to New York how will they go door to check your e-mail on ones cell phones. It most likely just get stolen by the front line officer and lost in bureaucracy than leading to charged of any kind.

    Report this comment

    TJexcite  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 4:18pm

      I live down here. BP is all over the roads and has stopped me in the past. The excuse was my truck looked like one they were looking for. I guess they did not want the bags of aluminum cans and sacks of cat litter I was carrying in the back.

      As you leave the border area, there are check points on all roads heading north just under the 100 mi marker. Every car is stopped and questioned for citizenship and often where you are going. Some are randomly pulled over and searched.

      They do NOT care to stop drug traffickers or human smugglers. They could stop them should they actually try.

      Report this comment

      Elena2010  
  • Saving_the_Republic.com
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:25pm

    I wonder if folks realize the tyranny we ARE under today is worse than when this nation was founded? Only difference is back then it rammed down their throats where today its subtle laws, taxes and regulations….

    When you finally wake up AmeriKa… it will be too late.

    Report this comment

    Saving_the_Republic.com  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:13pm

    .
    GFYS I will not comply…..

    Report this comment

    SpankDaMonkey  
  • nzkiwi
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:08pm

    The 100 mile suspicionless search area is a sinister development. Will there be a 100 mile area around all inland international airports?

    What is to stop them from increasing this to say 500 miles “for the safety of citizens” and then, well hell, why not just the whole country.

    There is no other way to say it. These people are the modern embodiment of last century’s Nazis.

    And they’re not missing a single trick.

    If they are allowed to continue, tyranny is the only possible outcome…

    Report this comment

    nzkiwi  
    • nzkiwi
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:41pm

      If you live in Hawaii, I should have added, you will be subject to these searches anytime, anywhere.

      Our Prime Minister owns a property in Hawaii. I wonder how he feels about that…

      Report this comment

      nzkiwi  
    • Zipit
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:50pm

      NZ! It alway’s chaps my rear end, whenever you hear liberals and progressives, in denial, and demanding to know, what rights are being taken away from Americans? Yet when a story like this comes around detailing the incremental destruction of our freedoms, they are nowhere to be found, or simply dismiss it as “conspiracy/paranoia”. Unless it is something that directlyf affects them, they will remain “willfully ignorant” of anything that goes against the ideology of the left!

      Report this comment

      Zipit  
  • BBEV
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:01pm

    they can take my phone but I will not give them the code to unlock it, never. Take me to jail and find out who my friends are. It will not be pretty.

    Report this comment

    BBEV  
  • momrules
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:59pm

    That Confederate battle flag that was *accidentally* flown in Mississippi is looking more appealing by the day.
    Yes, I am a Southerner, a Texan who lives in the Constitution free zone and I am just plain old tired now.

    Report this comment

    momrules  
  • All Pro
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:56pm

    And now you know why they bought all of those billions of rounds of ammunition. Oh and I’ll post this little gem one more time. Enjoy comradens! Heil Obama!

    October 7, 2012. Vicksburg. The federal government calls them FEMA Corps. But they conjure up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany. Regardless of their name, the Dept of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 Homeland Youth. Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country.

    Report this comment

    All Pro  
  • BlackCrow
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:55pm

    As a citizen of TEXAS what pray tell gives the federal government the authority to detain me without warrant not less to disregard my rights under the fourth amendment?

    And the libs believe its “silly” to think we need arms to stand against a tyrannical government.

    Report this comment

    BlackCrow  
  • DZ-015
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:45pm

    This map is inaccurate in some respects. The 100 mile zone should start 12 miles from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, as that is where U.S. territorial waters extend. It also should begin at the agreed upon boundary between the U.S. and Canada in the four Great Lakes which are divided. The map shown appears to start the zone at the shorelines, this making it 12 (or more in the case of the Great Lakes) miles broader than it should be. Additionally, the zone shown on the map is clearly broader than it should be in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, because it appears to follow the shore of the Chesapeake Bay which consists of state waters, not subject to the 12 mile limit.

    Report this comment

    DZ-015  
    • NoMoMrNiceGuy
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:51pm

      It should not exist at all. PERIOD ! I will NOT COMPLY !

      Report this comment

      NoMoMrNiceGuy  
    • DZ-015
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:32pm

      NoMoreMrNiceGuy: I was commenting on the map, which appears to be either a DHS product or an ACLU interpretation of what DHS announced. I think the whole idea is constitutionally suspect, although the right to inspect what people bring back from outside the country is an inherent part of the customs process. A search warrant based upon a reasonable suspicion of illegal activity should be required in all cases involving electronic devices. The whole idea of a 100 mile zone of additional security is ridiculous. Furthermore, international flights come into airports such as Denver, Kansas City, Phoenix, Atlanta, and others which are more than 100 miles from the border. The same search rules obviously should apply anywhere there is a customs station.

      Report this comment

      DZ-015  
  • NoMoMrNiceGuy
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:40pm

    How is it that DHS is even recognized as a Law Enforcement Agency? This is the same well and equally funded civil army O’bozo said he wanted. This is dangerous and needs to be challenged.

    Report this comment

    NoMoMrNiceGuy  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 4:24pm

      It’s left mostly to Border Patrol which is Federal Law Enforcement as are the Coast Guardsmen.

      We have BP officers on the outbound flights leaving the Rio Grande Valley…yes, OUT-bound. You’d expect them on inbound flights to check citizenship of folks flying in fm Mexico.

      Report this comment

      Elena2010  
  • Tontoisdrunk
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:39pm

    Anybody slightly curious that the Bakken oil field is in that 100 mile line? Not mention Minot AFB where I served my 4 yrs with the AF

    Report this comment

    Tontoisdrunk  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 9:43pm

      Nearly every Navy & Marine Corps base also falls w/in their no-Constitution zone.

      Report this comment

      Elena2010  
  • RedSox718
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:39pm

    This is why I keep my phone encrypted and use a 6×6 pattern lock. Would love to see some idiot from DHS try and figure it out!

    Report this comment

    RedSox718  
    • Mike76
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 4:27pm

      All it takes is a data cable and a simple piece of software to unlock your phone, laptop, tablet, etc. If the pimple-faced kid at the Verizon store can do it, I’m sure DHS has figured it out too. Assume that nothing is secure.

      Report this comment

      Mike76  
  • RedDirtTexas
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:37pm

    Nothing to worry about here folks. (wink wink, nudge nudge) It’s all for the good of the country as a whole. (wink wink, nudge nudge). We the people of the hundred mile strip, in order to form a more perfect union, do hereby relinquish the right to privacy. Now let’s keep moving forward!

    Report this comment

    RedDirtTexas  
  • ARealCharliesAngel
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:36pm

    And this only applies to LEGAL citizens, right?! Certainly not the ILLEGALS!!

    Report this comment

    ARealCharliesAngel  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:36pm

    Step by step they turn up the heat and steal our freedoms until before most know of it, there will be no more freedoms left and the communist states of Obama will exist.

    Report this comment

    Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • TSUNAMI_22
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:35pm

    Silence!

    Papers please!

    Report this comment

    TSUNAMI_22  
  • Lordchamp
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:34pm

    Papers Please! Now bend over!

    Report this comment

    Lordchamp  
    • SheepDogconfrontthewolf
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:56pm

      mam we are going to have to confiscate your battery powers fun device… did you notice they said electronic devices? car’s, laptops, cellphones, any thing electronic????? where do they draw the line?

      Report this comment

      SheepDogconfrontthewolf  
  • justangry
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:31pm

    We’re becoming a closed society before my eyes. I can’t believe Americans are so apathetic. Oh and those not checking the Daily Paul, the good doctor put a dire warning about the bipartisan immigration plan put forth by Schumer and McCain. It’s more police statist BS than anything else.

    Report this comment

    justangry  
    • M13
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:36pm

      You needed to check the Dailey Paul to tell you that? You need to get out more.

      Report this comment

      M13  
    • progressiveslayer
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:42pm

      I know what you mean I never thought I’d see the day our republic died,I thought I’d be in the ground first but that isn’t the case.The progs in our one party system will get that fence built faster than you can say redistribution of wealth because they’ll need it to keep us in.

      Report this comment

      progressiveslayer  
    • WarMunger_Al
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:43pm

      Yeah, looks like the entire state of Michigan is considered a no 4th amendment zone.
      “retaining and sharing information contained in these electronic devices…”
      How can they have a right to take property and share it ? Information is intellectual property.
      There is no way this is constitutionally sound.

      Report this comment

      WarMunger_Al  
    • publicas
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:29pm

      Yup, over 22% of New Mexico’s population is in the “Zone”. I have yet to come across a ‘non-latino’ type without a thick ‘latino’ accent at any of the checkpoints since 2009 in New Mexico. It’s like having France hire Germans to keep Germans outta France!

      Report this comment

      publicas  
    • justangry
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 3:39pm

      @M13, Piss off. What other ‘conservative’ site/pundit hasn’t turned a blind eye to the police state?

      Report this comment

      justangry  
    • M13
      Posted on February 10, 2013 at 4:43pm

      Piss off? Is that the best you could come up with? Go check your Paul site again you idiot.

      Report this comment

      M13  
  • publicas
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:30pm

    Go ahead and try it, see what happens!

    Report this comment

    publicas  
  • 13th Imam
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:28pm

    Since i live within 100 miles of the coast , I am a second class citizen. Why am I less a person than a “+100 miler”?

    Report this comment

    13th Imam  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on February 10, 2013 at 2:28pm

    So the unconstitutional agency grants itself more unconstitutional powers to conduct searches without a warrant? I hope the ACLU defeats the brown shirts in their quest to strip us of all our rights.

    Wired Magazine reports that the suspicionless electronics search rules were first announced by the Bush administration in 2008. The virtually same rules were followed up by the Obama administration a year later, and between 2008 and 2010, 6,500 persons had their electronic devices searched along the U.S. border. Like I’ve said before there isn’t any difference between an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ when it comes to violating our constitutional rights,they’re both equally vile. The progs in our one party system will continue to violate the constitution and grant themselves yet more power to control us because they’ve been doing it for roughly a century and they’ll never stop unless they’re forced to stop.

    Report this comment

    progressiveslayer  
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