Sen. Rand Paul told Trump’s Homeland Security Chief that checking cell phones at airports is ‘obscene’ |
The Protecting Data at the Border Act, which would require the government to obtain a warrant to search the data of U.S. persons, was introduced this week. The bipartisan, bicameral bill would prevent law enforcement agencies to search Americans’ phones and laptops – including pictures, email, and anything on the device and possibly the cloud – when they cross the border without suspicion or a warrant.
The Center for Democracy & Technology offered support for the bill due to the fact that, as the bill’s sponsors say, “Constitutional rights shouldn’t disappear at the border.”
“A search of your cell phone or social media account is a direct look behind the curtain that covers the most intimate aspects of your life. A border stop shouldn’t be an excuse for extreme surveillance such as downloading the entire contents of your phone. This bill would ensure that the government demonstrates a good reason for searches at the border, and that a judge agrees,” said Greg Nojeim, Center for Democracy & Technology Director, Freedom, Security, and Technology Project.
The bill is sponsoed by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas.
The government has asserted broad authority to search or seize digital devices at the border without any level of suspicion due to legal precedent referred to as the “border search exception” to the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for probable cause or a warrant. Until 2014, the government claimed it did not need a warrant to search a device if a person had been arrested. In a landmark unanimous decision, the Supreme Court (in Riley v. California) ruled that digital data is different and that law enforcement needed a warrant to search an electronic device when a person has been arrested.
This bill requires that U.S. persons know their rights before they consent to giving up online account information (like social media account names or passwords) or before they consent to give law enforcement access to their devices.