US judge upholds govt. right to search electronic devices
US border crossings are intimidating and invasive, experts say.
A US federal judge in New York upheld the governmentâ„¢s right to search travelersâ„¢ electronic devices at US borders without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.
US District Judge Edward R. Korman on Tuesday dismissed a 2010 lawsuit challenging the governmentâ„¢s policy of searching travelersâ„¢ electronic devices at the border.
Judge Korman ruled that the government does not need reasonable suspicion to examine or confiscate a travelerâ„¢s laptop, cellphone or other devices at the border.
The Department of Homeland Security has adopted regulations that allow searches of passengersâ„¢ electronic equipment at the nationâ„¢s borders, including at airports and on trains.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit in 2010 on behalf of a university student and a group of criminal defense lawyers and journalists.
Such searches are a particular concern for defense lawyers and journalists because they rely on the confidentiality of information to represent clients and to protect sources, the suit said.
Å“Thereâ„¢s no silver lining to this decision,” said Catherine Crump, a lawyer for the ACLU. Å“Itâ„¢s not just that we lost the case. Itâ„¢s that the judge decided against us on multiple alternative grounds.”
One of the plaintiffs was Pascal Abidor, a graduate student in Islamic studies, who sued the government after American border agents removed him from an Amtrak train crossing from Canada to New York.
Abidor was handcuffed, placed in a cell and questioned for several hours, then his laptop was seized and kept for 11 days. Abidor said he was disappointed but not entirely surprised by the ruling.
Å“I canâ„¢t say it wasnâ„¢t foreseeable based on the line of questioning by the judge during the initial hearing,” Abidor said. Å“He just seemed so skeptical of the basic premise that people need to travel with devices.”
AHT/ARA
Source: Press TV