Laptops, Digital Cameras, Phones Targeted By Customs, DHS

When traveling abroad, your laptop, digital camera, or smartphone may be subject to search and seizure without any suspicion of wrongdoing on returning to the U.S., according to new guidelines published Thursday by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), both divisions of the Department of Homeland Security.

The new rules come as the ACLU had filed a lawsuit in an effort to get more information about the search and seizure rules. The new guidelines from the Obama administration are very similar to those put in place by the outgoing Bush administration last year.

According to Inforworld, the guidelines require CBP to complete a search in 5 days, but allows ICE up to 30 days to conduct a search of your electronic devices. Matt Chandler, DHS spokesman, said the new guidelines provide more "transparency and accountability" for the searches, and  provide a good balance between U.S. security and civil liberties and privacy.

Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group, said the new rules are too vague. "DHS' latest policy announcement on border searches is a disappointment and should not be mistaken for one that restores the constitutional rights of travelers at the border," she said. "Members of the public deserve fundamental privacy rights when traveling and the safety of knowing that federal agents cannot rifle through their laptops without some reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing."

CBP says it has the right to search all files on a laptop, including financial records, and web browsing history on laptops and other electronic devices and may seize said devices with no probable cause.

ACLU argues that the guidelines violate a citizen's 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.

FMI: www.dhs.gov, www.aclu.org