Posted on 09/15/2022 10:59:40 AM PDT by thegagline
Thousands of US government officials have unlimited access to as many as 10,000 devices which are seized from travelers moving across the country.
Electronic devices such as cellphones, iPads and laptops taken from those going through airports, seaports and border crossings are being mined for data.
The leader of the Customs and Border Protection told congressional staff that the massive database can be accessed by 2,700 CBP officers without a warrant.
During a briefing, which took place in the summer, officials also said that the data is maintained for 15 years.
It has raised alarms in Congress about what the government is using the information or, with many of the devices taken from people not suspected of any criminal activity.
Details of the database were revealed on Thursday in a letter from Senator Ron Wyden to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus.
He criticised the agency for ‘allowing indiscriminate rifling through Americans’ private records’ and called for stronger privacy protections.
CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus recieved a letter blasting the department after it was revealed that thosuands of officers have access to the database
During a briefing, which took place in the summer, officials said the massive database can be accessed by 2,700 CBP officers without a warrant
Electronic devices such as cellphones, iPads and laptops taken from those going through airports, seaports and border crossings are being mined for data by the CBP
Senator Paul and Wyden introduced a bill last year which required border officials to get a warrant before searching a device.
Currently the CBP have the authority to conduct a ‘basic search’, which includes looking and scrolling through the device.
Anyone who refuses to unlock their phone for the process can have it confiscated for up to five days. ***
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
You will do what you are told. 4th Amendment be damned.
“Currently the CBP have the authority to conduct a ‘basic search’, which includes looking and scrolling through the device. “
Not according to the Constitution they don’t.
“The Patriot Act and its progeny are counter to the Constitution and unpatriotic.
Foreigners attempting to enter the U.S. don’t have Constitutional rights.
If only applied to foreigners it’s not unconstitutional. But if applied to citizens it is unconstitutional.
We’re not talking about foreigners here, we’re talking about US citizens returning to the USA.
Couple of years back I sat through a technical presentation on the MIT campus where someone described the methods used by border agents to scan laptops and devices. Basically, in most situations there’s not enough time to look at everything (can only put so much data through a port per hour) so they get a representative sample of sectors on the disk and then look for a match with known footprints.
Say for instance there are child porn videos that are several gigabytes. The entire files don’t have to be downloaded and compared. The match of one sector (or portions of it) that is known to be within the file will cause the traveler to be flagged for further examination.
It won’t catch everything, but there is no such thing as infinite time to check every byte crossing the border.
“If only applied to foreigners it’s not unconstitutional.”
Still kind of debatable. Courts have granted foreigners most Constitutional protections that citizens enjoy, as soon as they set foot on US soil.
So is that giant data storage warehouse in Utah!
Most likely, there is another one near the airport in grand rapids, mi. Prolly many more nationwide.
Our constitutional protections aren’t limited to citizens.
I am not a lawyer, so if I’m mistaken, I apologize. You do not really have 4th Amendment rights when crossing the border, American citizen or not. Think about it, border agents can thoroughly search you and all your belongings without either probable cause or a warrant. They can strip you and your car down really just based on a ‘hunch’ or because they need practice.
I believe this is much older than the Patriot Act or the Constitution itself, which is one reason it is allowed.
You should be on your best behavior when dealing with border officers. I knew of a young woman who was buying leather purses in Mexico and selling them at her shop in Texas. Customs agents told her she’d have to pay import tax on the purses or let them be seized. She let the agents seize her purses and as she left, she flipped them off. Two days later they came and took her car, since it was involved in the attempted smuggling.
You are at the governments tender mercies when crossing any border.
When Bush created the Department of HOMELAND Security freedom was officially under attack.
It is BEFORE you are accepted in the US. Unless you’re one of those open borders people ;-)
No, surrendering your phone may be a condition of entry but if you choose to return home we can’t confiscate anything you legally own.
Once you enter and are under our jurisdiction you have full protection regardless of immigration status.
Revealed? It’s been going on for years and has been known for years. Not exactly a revelation.
For instance, if an illegal comes over the wall and crosses the border, they cannot be searched without a warrant unless they are in an arrest/detainment type scenario. However, People can also voluntarily submit to a warrantless search. But coming through a checkpoint facility, they are already in a detainment scenario - no warrant needed to search.
Like I said, as you come THROUGH US Customs to enter the US.
They aren’t doing this on exit, are they?
Why were they seized? Without knowing that this story makes no sense.
It's the difference between voluntary surrender and confiscation.
They can't confiscate legally owned devices from anyone, citizen or not.
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