Skip to main content

Laptop seizures at customs cause thorny legal dispute

posted onJanuary 9, 2012
by l33tdawg

David House took his laptop to Mexico a little over a year ago, hoping to squeeze in some work between sightseeing, fishing, and laying on the beach. All went well, vacation- and work-wise, until the former MIT researcher landed in Chicago, where federal agents seized his laptop, kept it for nearly two months, and may have shared information on his hard drive with several government agencies.

They didn’t have a search warrant. They didn’t charge him with a crime. And there was nothing House could do about it.

House, 24, ran into what civil liberties advocates call the “Constitution-free zone’’ at US ports of entry, where courts have carved out broad exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. As long as they don’t use invasive techniques such as strip searches, government agents don’t need reasonable suspicion or probable cause to seize what they want - including laptops, a 2008 appeals court ruling held.

Source

Tags

Hardware Law and Order Security

You May Also Like

Recent News

Friday, November 29th

Tuesday, November 19th

Friday, November 8th

Friday, November 1st

Tuesday, July 9th

Wednesday, July 3rd

Friday, June 28th

Thursday, June 27th

Thursday, June 13th

Wednesday, June 12th

Tuesday, June 11th

Simplenews subscription

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.
Keeping Knowledge Free for Over a Decade

Copyright © 2018 Hack In The Box. All rights reserved.

36th Floor, Menara Maxis, Kuala Lumpur City Centre 50088 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Tel: +603-2615-7299 Fax: +603-2615-0088