NY Times vs laptop search on entry to US
Recently, there have been numerous reports that many citizens entering the US are inspected by laptops, handheld computers and iPhones, and often even withdrawn after verification. The authoritative newspaper NY Times devoted a whole editorial column to this topic. The journalists found out that these facts do exist, moreover, American citizens who went abroad and come back are being searched.
Since each person has a lot of private information on a laptop, so researching a laptop can be compared to searching your home, which includes studying personal letters, digging in papers on the desktop, reading a personal diary, etc.
The Department of Homeland Security deals with this outrage, and everything is done without much publicity. No one announced the start of such checks and how many citizens and by what criteria they choose for this humiliating procedure.
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A month ago, the Senate held hearings on this issue. Not only human rights defenders, but also representatives of business circles (they fear for their business secrets), lawyers and journalists (they have the right to hide the names of their clients and sources of information), as well as representatives of the Muslim community (they believe that the checks were made against laptop checks) against them).
It would seem quite obvious that the procedure violates the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution (prohibition of arbitrary searches and arrests). However, a number of court decisions recently show that lawyers cannot unambiguously interpret such cases.
In this regard, the NY Times urges the US Congress to immediately take decisive actions and prohibit the adoption of a law at the legislative level, which would restrict the search of laptops and other electronic devices only when there are at least clear suspicions against a particular person and these rationales. need to present.
Congress should also force the government to clarify the rules for these checks and to report on how many have already been carried out.
Since each person has a lot of private information on a laptop, so researching a laptop can be compared to searching your home, which includes studying personal letters, digging in papers on the desktop, reading a personal diary, etc.
The Department of Homeland Security deals with this outrage, and everything is done without much publicity. No one announced the start of such checks and how many citizens and by what criteria they choose for this humiliating procedure.
')
A month ago, the Senate held hearings on this issue. Not only human rights defenders, but also representatives of business circles (they fear for their business secrets), lawyers and journalists (they have the right to hide the names of their clients and sources of information), as well as representatives of the Muslim community (they believe that the checks were made against laptop checks) against them).
It would seem quite obvious that the procedure violates the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution (prohibition of arbitrary searches and arrests). However, a number of court decisions recently show that lawyers cannot unambiguously interpret such cases.
In this regard, the NY Times urges the US Congress to immediately take decisive actions and prohibit the adoption of a law at the legislative level, which would restrict the search of laptops and other electronic devices only when there are at least clear suspicions against a particular person and these rationales. need to present.
Congress should also force the government to clarify the rules for these checks and to report on how many have already been carried out.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/28909/
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