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4th Amendment? never heard of it.

Started by Disco Pickle, April 11, 2011, 07:50:52 PM

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Disco Pickle

April 11, 2011, 07:50:52 PM
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/04/border-search/

QuoteThe authorities may seize laptops, cameras and other digital devices at the U.S. border without a warrant, and scour through them for days hundreds of miles away, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 2-1 decision (.pdf) Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes as the government is increasingly invoking its broad, warrantless search-and-seizure powers at the U.S. border to probe the digital lives of travelers.

Under the "border search exception" of United States law, international travelers, including U.S. citizens, can be searched without a warrant as they enter the country. Under the Obama administration, law enforcement agents have aggressively used this power to search travelers' laptops, sometimes copying the hard drive before returning the computer to its owner.

Courts have ruled that such laptop searches can take place even in the absence of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, and more than 6,500 persons have had their electronic devices searched in this manner since October 2008.

The issue has gained renewed attention in recent months as American computer geeks connected to WikiLeaks, or who know people connected with WikiLeaks, have found themselves repeatedly singled out for the searches.

At issue in the case decided Wednesday was the prosecution of a California man on child pornography charges. In 2007, ICE agents seized three laptops and a camera from convicted child molester Howard Cotterman, and transported them 170 miles away for a two-day search that uncovered hundreds of child porn images.

A lower court judge threw out the evidence, finding that the border exception did not apply when the search went beyond the border area.

The government appealed. Cotterman's lawyers argued that law enforcement should only be allowed to search digital devices at points of entry where they have the necessary equipment and personnel on hand.

"We find this position simply untenable," 9th Circuit Judge Richard Tallman wrote for the majority, reinstating the evidence. Limiting searches "would only reward those individuals who, either because of the nature of their contraband or the sophistication of their criminal enterprise, hide their contraband more cleverly or would be inclined to seek entry at more vulnerable points less equipped to discover them."

The court also affirmed that "particularized suspicion" was not required for a border search.

In dissent, Judge Betty Fletcher wrote that the government should have had a better reason to search Cotterman other than him being a convicted in 1992 of child molestation.

"I add my voice to the chorus lamenting the apparent demise of the Fourth Amendment," Fletcher wrote.

I'm not even going to bother traveling out of the country with a computer anymore.  This shit's just fucking ridiculous.
"Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter." --William Ralph Inge

"sometimes someone confesses a sin in order to take credit for it." -- John Von Neumann

The Good Reverend Roger

#1
April 11, 2011, 07:52:36 PM
Just send a flash drive ahead, and travel with an empty laptop.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Disco Pickle

#2
April 11, 2011, 07:54:07 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 11, 2011, 07:52:36 PM
Just send a flash drive ahead, and travel with an empty laptop.

that's a pretty damn good idea.  But it could still take them weeks to return it to you after they search it and find it blank.
"Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter." --William Ralph Inge

"sometimes someone confesses a sin in order to take credit for it." -- John Von Neumann

Thurnez Isa

#3
April 11, 2011, 07:55:08 PM
America doesn't need tourism
Economy is doing fine by itself.
Through me the way to the city of woe, Through me the way to everlasting pain, Through me the way among the lost.
Justice moved my maker on high.
Divine power made me, Wisdom supreme, and Primal love.
Before me nothing was but things eternal, and eternal I endure.
Abandon all hope, you who enter here.
Dante

The Good Reverend Roger

#4
April 11, 2011, 07:56:17 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on April 11, 2011, 07:54:07 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 11, 2011, 07:52:36 PM
Just send a flash drive ahead, and travel with an empty laptop.

that's a pretty damn good idea.  But it could still take them weeks to return it to you after they search it and find it blank.

Thought the article said they copied the hard drive?
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Disco Pickle

#5
April 11, 2011, 07:59:31 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 11, 2011, 07:56:17 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on April 11, 2011, 07:54:07 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 11, 2011, 07:52:36 PM
Just send a flash drive ahead, and travel with an empty laptop.

that's a pretty damn good idea.  But it could still take them weeks to return it to you after they search it and find it blank.

Thought the article said they copied the hard drive?

yeah, which should be illegal itself.  And it's still no guarantee they'll return it.  If for any reason something incriminating is found, I'm sure they'll want to original hard drive as evidence in a trial.
"Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter." --William Ralph Inge

"sometimes someone confesses a sin in order to take credit for it." -- John Von Neumann

BabylonHoruv

#6
April 11, 2011, 08:08:04 PM
The other solution is to use cloud storage.  However, once again, if they take your actual computer it doesn't help much.
You're a special case, Babylon.  You are offensive even when you don't post.

Merely by being alive, you make everyone just a little more miserable

-Dok Howl

The Good Reverend Roger

#7
April 11, 2011, 08:16:15 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on April 11, 2011, 07:59:31 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 11, 2011, 07:56:17 PM
Quote from: Pickled Starfish on April 11, 2011, 07:54:07 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 11, 2011, 07:52:36 PM
Just send a flash drive ahead, and travel with an empty laptop.

that's a pretty damn good idea.  But it could still take them weeks to return it to you after they search it and find it blank.

Thought the article said they copied the hard drive?

yeah, which should be illegal itself.  And it's still no guarantee they'll return it.  If for any reason something incriminating is found, I'm sure they'll want to original hard drive as evidence in a trial.

You, sir, do not fucking understand America™.

"Illegal" = poor and weak.  "Legal" = rich and powerful.

Welcome to the last 220 years.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Remington

#8
April 11, 2011, 09:32:28 PM
http://www.truecrypt.org/

Allows for ludicrous amounts of encryption on entire volumes of HDDs. More interesting, TrueCrypt also allows for the creation of "hidden" operating systems that cannot be detected without the secret password. I did a report on this software for my network security class, it's pretty damn good. It's one of the few pieces of software that offer features designed to protect against lead pipe cryptography.
Is it plugged in?

Jenne

#9
April 11, 2011, 09:32:36 PM
Come on, you're guilty when suspicioned.  Anyplace, anywhere, in the good ol' USA.  You just don't find OUT this little tr00f until it's you they're suspicioning.

Requia ☣

#10
April 11, 2011, 09:40:56 PM
Quote from: Remington on April 11, 2011, 09:32:28 PM
http://www.truecrypt.org/

Allows for ludicrous amounts of encryption on entire volumes of HDDs. More interesting, TrueCrypt also allows for the creation of "hidden" operating systems that cannot be detected without the secret password. I did a report on this software for my network security class, it's pretty damn good. It's one of the few pieces of software that offer features designed to protect against lead pipe cryptography.

Still doesn't protect against them walking off with your laptop for a few weeks.

The real issue here isn't the searches (those are a problem, but its not a new ruling) but the unwarranted seizures.

I love that they somehow think searches laptops combats 'criminal enterprise', as if it isn't 10,000 times easier to smuggle something across the border over the internet, or avoid having your data searched by hiding a microSD on your person.
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.

Jasper

#11
April 11, 2011, 09:43:53 PM
Happily, as Roger pointed out, this is a case where the abasement of rights can be subverted with a modicum of care.

Adios

#12
April 14, 2011, 05:22:08 PM
Load the hard drive with viruses and worms.

Act suspicious.

Jasper

#13
April 14, 2011, 05:29:45 PM
lol

Mail the hard drive ahead, and install a broken one when you take it through.  If they confiscate, demand that they replace the hard drive they broke. 

The Good Reverend Roger

#14
April 14, 2011, 05:31:04 PM
Nugget porn.  EOS.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.
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