9th Circuit: Laptops May Be Subject to Customs Inspections

[kpete]

BORDER INSECURITY
9th Circuit: Laptops May Be Subject to Customs Inspections After Overseas Trips

BY STEVE SEIDENBERG

With a conviction for online child exploitation, Stuart Romm is hardly a sympathetic advocate for computer privacy.

Still, what happened to Romm when he crossed the border into the United States worries some legal experts. The laptop computer that he carried with him was intensively searched by customs officials. On July 24, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the search was legal.

In U.S. v. Romm, No. 04-10648, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit ruled that customs officials can seize and search the contents of anyone’s laptop computer, even in the absence of a search warrant or probable cause.

Some attorneys say the ruling goes too far, invading the privacy of anyone who crosses into the United States. And the ruling may pose special problems for attorneys who need to keep client information confidential when they go on business trips overseas.

http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/s15border.html

[formernaderite]

1. THIS from the 9th circuit???

very strange, indeed....

[Gman]

2. The 9th Circuit ruled on this??

That's wierd from them.

[Swamp Rat]

3. Wtf???

:wtf:

[acmejack]

4. Liberal Courts for you!

[Geoff R. Casavant]

5. Just the logical extension of an established principle.

Border searches don't require warrants or probable cause because until you cross the border you're not in the United States from a legal perspective and so the 4th Amendment doesn't apply.