Is Your Laptop at Risk of Search and/or Seizure?

In a decision quietly made during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, a federal judge has reaffirmed an Obama policy that let's police search and/or seize your laptop without probable cause if you are within 100 miles of a US border.  More details are available here.

Approximately 197 million people, or almost two-thirds of the US population, lives within 100 miles of a US border, including residents of such cities as New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and dozens of other metropolitan areas.

Attorneys for the plaintiff argued that it is a violation of people's 4th amendment rights against searches and seizures without probable cause.  Judge Korman disagreed and threw the case out stating the following:

“Laptops have only come into widespread use in the twenty-first century. Prior to that time, lawyers, photographers, and scholars managed to travel overseas and consult with clients, take photographs, and conduct scholarly research,” wrote Korman.

“No one ever suggested the possibility of a border search had a chilling effect on his or her First Amendment rights. While it is true that laptops make overseas work more convenient, the precaution plaintiffs may choose to take to 'mitigate' the alleged harm associated with the remote possibility of a border search are simply among the many inconveniences associated with international travel.” 

The ACLU is considering an appeal.  The main concern is that since the Department of Homeland Security was created, there have been a number of interior checkpoints set up where people are regularly stopped and searched.  The contention is that the information on their laptops should be protected under the 4th amendment since they are inside the United States and not at a border crossing.

If you do find yourself being asked for your password to your laptop by a government authority, the decision is yours as to whether or not you want to comply.  You don't need to provide anything to law enforcement or even say anything without a court order (with the exception of an ID or name/date of birth in some places, and in all places if you are driving a motor vehicle).  Personally, I would provide as little as possible to the police or any other authority without a court order and an attorney.  Let them seize the laptop until you have appropriate legal representation to ensure that your rights are preserved.

Privacy Action Plan (PAP) - How to Secure Data on your Laptop While Travelling

PRS Level 3 - Keep a backup copy of your laptop in the cloud while travelling.  If your laptop is seized, you can redownload your information on a new laptop.  If you have very sensitive information on your computer, you should consider using something like Truecrypt to protect your information which reportedly takes more than a lifetime to decrypt.  Encryption options will be the subject of a future post.

Has anyone ever asked to search your laptop?  Do you have any comments or questions about the information presented above?  Please email me at uncommonprivacy@gmail.com or comment below!