Court upholds laptop searches at border

A federal court case has been thrown out that would prevent the government from searching electronic devices at checkpoint. This may not seem like much but it falls into another law which they ARE allowed to search up to 100 miles from the US border. That is every coastal town there is. Think about it.

The circuit judge’s decision to uphold the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy on Tuesday was a blow to civil liberties groups that argued the practice violated the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

According to government documents, officials at the border search and copy the contents of thousands of people’s devices each year. Border agents are allowed to look into the devices and detain them for a short period of time without a reasonable suspicion that the traveler has committed a crime.

To search AND detain for no reason you electronics.

Link

DHS is a part of the IRS which is part of Obamacare which they are about to appoint a CEO?

A bill raised earlier this year was shot down in voting that would have limited it to 25 miles. Why not? Why not make the concession? Is there a reason it has to be so big?

reply to post by matafuchs


If they would only APPLY this treatment to the "illegals" on our southern boarder it might be somewhat overlooked?

However, their so called "laws" that are to protect us from foreign terrorist seem to only be used against those of us whom are actually tax paying citizens!

Our judges are bought and paid for.............what else is there to say..... "No Justice, NO Peace?"??????

Another hammer to the head of our liberty.

There is no reason to support any level of search without well established reasons.

But in this age, any excuse will do.

reply to post by matafuchs


This is pretty bad and people should take steps to thwart this immediately.

DHS can try and search my laptop if they think it will help them. Of course 1st they have to get it logged on, then they need to locate whatever they're looking for, then they'll need to break the encryption. Good luck with that.

Sorry, what password? What pass-phrase key? Not gonna happen.

reply to post by seeker1963


I do find it pretty odd that the US media and it's government go bananas and scream "Terrorist" when someone gets their head cut off in the middle east. Yet heads are being piled up by the dozens just south of their own boarders and it gets quick mention on the ticker at the bottom of the screen... Boggles the mind.

reply to post by matafuchs


Use the password protect on your bios.

use a strong password for windows.

and encrypt your hard drive

www.truecrypt.org...

or

windows.microsoft.com...

be safe and have a happy new year.

reply to post by grey580



thats all well and good ...what happens when they charge you for with-holding information?....

matafuchs
A federal court case has been thrown out that would prevent the government from searching electronic devices at checkpoint. This may not seem like much but it falls into another law which they ARE allowed to search up to 100 miles from the US border. That is every coastal town there is. Think about it.

Just a thought, I realize that a border like Mexico and Canada would be a problem, even if it appears to be more than a constitutional problem under the 4th Amendment. What I am thinking is that on the east and west coast, the "border" is actually 200 miles from the coastline, not at the coastline proper. If that is the case, then there should be no problem with coastal towns, unless they are within 100 miles of the Mexican or Canadian borders.

Cheers - Dave

Here is a map of what 100 miles from the borders looks like.



The caption says that 2 out of 3 Americans live within that area. What is equally impressive is how anyone can allow a judge to rule any "zone" within the USA..."constitution free". The reason I say impressive, is simply because that person is a traitor to the nation and Constitution itself. There are no "Constitution Free" zones. We are all under the rule of law within the boundaries of our nation. Period. If anyone wants to fight the issue, then the matter will be settled by violence. 

I do not understand where these people get off saying such nonsense. If this doesn't prove that there is an underlying agenda for this country...then I don't know what does. Everytime I hear or read about these types of rulings, I feel our forefathers cringe and scream the battle cries that once liberated them from a tyrannic rule once before. 


Where art thou, o brothers of arms? 

havok
Here is a map of what 100 miles from the borders looks like.

The caption says that 2 out of 3 Americans live within that area. What is equally impressive is how anyone can allow a judge to rule any "zone" within the USA..."constitution free". The reason I say impressive, is simply because that person is a traitor to the nation and Constitution itself.

Absolutely agreed.

Somehow, the constant stream of propaganda from the mainstream media has turned our citizen's brains to mush.

This is no longer a legitimate government ..... and it has not been one for a very long time. We are being ruled by psychopaths who are looting our country, murdering our citizens/foreign nationals and committing acts of terror at every turn.

When, where, how are we going to stop this?

juspassinthru


This is no longer a legitimate government ..... and it has not been one for a very long time. We are being ruled by psychopaths who are looting our country, murdering our citizens/foreign nationals and committing acts of terror at every turn.

When, where, how are we going to stop this?

You're not. Voting obviously hasn't worked and neither has sitting on ATS complaining about it over and over again. The populous won't lift a finger to do anything else about it, so it's done. You now live in an ever constricting police state.

The people get the government that they deserve.

I think this is a great plan! Just how many illegals are sneaking across our borders carrying laptops?

It is more bull#. I for one have had enough of this damn Country and all her fine laws and people. Were I to end up with enough cash to retire I am out of here.

which allows the government to conduct intrusive searches of Americans' laptops and other electronics at the border without any suspicion that those devices contain evidence of wrongdoing,

There is no way they could know whats on your laptop in order to search it. I have a laptop, what makes you think whats in it is "suspicious?" and how would you know whats in it if you hadnt already violated the 4rth amendment?

Step number 1) Find out who this judge is and get him removed from the bench...
You start removing these guys from the bench for making unconstitutional decisions, and you'll see that trend stop as their fear of loosing their “meal ticket” outweighs their willingness to submit to pressure from DHS.

reply to post by defcon5


If you are interested in securing your data at the border either on your laptop or on a thumb drive you can install (and learn how to correctly use) TruCrypt. It is a good open source encryption software but more importantly it is almost impossible to detect an encrypted TrueCrypt file on a drive.

www.truecrypt.org...

Did anyone catch this:

But in his opinion on Tuesday, Judge Edward Korman wrote that the groups did not have standing to dispute the DHS searches because “there is not a substantial risk that their electronic devices will be subject to a search or seizure without reasonable suspicion.”

He's saying that civil liberties groups cannot take this to court because it does not directly effect them. Its a BS cop-out to prevent groups that actually have the money to fight this from being able to, this is MUCH more significant then what the case is actually about. In other words the DHS knew it was going to lose, so they attacked this by saying the groups going after it didn't have a valid personal case.

This is going on with many other things as well, such as the Real ID. When they know that they are violating the constitution and will lose in a valid court case, they find a BS way to get around having to actually bring that case to court for a true decision. They can monetarily bully the “little guys”, and win any real cases by racking up exorbitant court costs.

reply to post by defcon5


If corporations can call themselves "people" with rights then civil liberty unions can incorporate and say that they are a person with rights that are being infringed.

I have a problem with the ACLU map that shows all of Michigan, and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois in this constitution free zone. Technically, Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake completely within the U.S. borders and it's much farther from our international border with Canada than 100 miles. Maybe they consider Lake Michigan international waters? I bet they would have a problem with the Chinese and Russian navy doing exercises in any of the Great Lakes, much less Lake Michigan.

Just go to Google maps and check the distance from the Canadian border. Basically, in the southern lower peninsula, if you are west of 127, and north bound 69, then your rights should still be safe. Then starting with Midland and going north to I-75, west of there should be safe. Now cut across from Roscommon to Kalkaska and most of that northern tip of the lower is inside the 100 mile constitution free zone. Most of the eastern U.P. west to about 41, and all of the Kewinaw peninsula is also in the constitution free zone.

I wonder about 100 miles from Indian reservations, if that is included considering they are more or less foreign countries within our borders. That would cover most of the western states.

Does anyone know why Lake Michigan is considered inside this 100 mile border zone? The ACLU wasn't too helpful in this respect.

I'll be posting this in every thread with this topic. Thanks for any replies in advance.

a reply to: matafuchs

I wonder if there is a way to boobie-trap a laptop so that it explodes in a cop's face when the right password is typed?

originally posted by: defcon5
Step number 1) Find out who this judge is and get him removed from the bench...

Please explain how exactly we do this....

Vote?

Let me laugh.....