Laptops Can Be Searched At the Border

In a story flagged by Slashdot, the closely watched search-and-seizure case involving the laptop snagged from Michael Timothy Arnold by two U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers is being permitted as evidence against Arnold for transporting child pornography across a national border.

U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson had ruled that the evidence on the laptop was inadmissable since electronic storage devices are an extension of our memories and thoughts and thus cannot be legally searched without reasonable suspicion. However, federal prosecutors appealed that ruling by arguing successfully that the law allows searches at the nation's border without reasonable suspicion.

"I think it will surprise people that their laptops are subject to search without any level of suspicion when they get to a border checkpoint," said. Jennifer Chacon, a law professor at the University of California, Davis.

Chacon warns that those carrying laptops with proprietary business information on them should be aware that a government agent has the right to search computers at the border. See dailybreeze.com for full article.