
ACLU and EFF Sue Over Warrantless Phone and Laptop Searches at U.S. Border - tonyztan
https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-eff-sue-over-warrantless-phone-and-laptop-searches-us-border
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basseq
I hope this one goes to the Supreme Court, as that's the only place this will
be resolved. Otherwise, U.S. Criminal Law is clear: searches and seizures at
the border are exempt from requirements for warrants or probable cause.

Multiple circuit courts have upheld the Government's right to do this, and
that this right extends to electronic files and information. Only the Ninth
has disagreed ( _United States v. Cotterman_ ).

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paxy
Problem is "at the border" isn't always interpreted as "crossing the border".
200 million people live in border-zones (within 100 miles of a border), and a
lot of courts have given border patrol even wider jurisdiction.

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basseq
True, but a secondary issue, unrelated to the matter at hand, and frankly much
less egregious. While Federal law allows certain agencies to conduct search
and seizure operations within 100 miles of the border, the Supreme Court has
been clear on multiple occasions that _warrantless_ actions only apply at the
border itself (including points of entry like airports).

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tareqak
Totally tangential: It'd be nice if the _[dupe]_ tag took you to the HN
original discussion.

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tonyztan
The other discussion (id=15240781) is actually a dupe of this one
(id=15240700). HN marked the wrong dupe!

I tried to warn people before the other article got any comments, but they
just downvoted me.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15240973](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15240973)

