Categories
Archives
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
We have written in the past about the freedom of border agents to search laptops at the border crossing points.
A new opinion (PDF) in United States v. Arnold by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dated April 21, 2008, confirms this trend by holding that customs officers may examine electronic contents of a passenger’s laptop without reasonable suspicion.
The Facts. Arnold, a 43-year old arrived at Los Angeles International airport from the Philippines. At Customs, he was asked for secondary inspection, where the officer asked him to turn on his laptop to determine whether it was functioning. Once the computer booted up, the desktop showed folders named "Kodak Pictures" and "Kodak Memories." The agents opened the folders and noticed pictures of nude women. The agents then questioned Arnold about his computer, his trip, and upon review of the images, determined that there are several images which the agents believed were child pornography.
The Opinion. After a district court granted Arnold’s motion to suppress evidence, the Ninth Circuit reversed. The Ninth Circuit based its opinion on Supreme Court precedent which held that the right of the United States to protect its border is paramount; however, such authority is not unlimited. The two major exceptions for border searches without reasonable suspicion are searches which cause "exceptional damage to property" or if the search was conducted in a "particularly offensive manner." The Ninth Circuit held that the record did not support finding on either of the two exceptions and therefore the search was proper.
No Responses to “Border Agents Can Search Laptops”
No comments yet
Leave a Reply
Recent Posts
- Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Anti-Spam Law
- Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border
- File Sharing Data Breach
- No download? Maybe no infringement in another Federal District Court
- CAN-SPAM Rules Modified
- CFAA Damages Calculation Includes Cost of Tracking Hacker
- Courts split on whether making a copyrighted song available for download violates copyright law.
- How to Respond to Data Breach
- Border Agents Can Search Laptops
- What is your return address?
- Proposed FRE 502 is good for electronic discovery, but it is not going to drastically reduce the cost of litigation as the authors are hoping.
- British Authorities: Insult to Injury
- Introduction to James Paulick
- TXJ Costs Continue Increasing
- Proposed Amendments to Section 1030