In 2014, the Supreme Court made it clear: phone searches require warrants. While it did note the case involved a search “incident to an arrest,” the precedent was undeniable. If a phone…
Talk about burying the lede, the plantiff in this case was a fucking immigration lawyer and used to work for the DHS who got his attorney client privilege denied and got forensically searched (meaning they copied his data). This is insane gestapo shit. They knew who he was. https://www.themalikfirm.com/about/adam-a-malik2/
Unfortunately, "the border", as defined in US customs law, extends 100 miles inland from the coast. That covers the entire urbanized eastern and western seaboards, or 2/3 of the US population.
They've also been trying to claim that international airports are "external boundaries", and that their power extends 100 out from there. So even "safe" places like, say, Denver or Indianapolis or St. Louis wouldn't be safe if they have their way.
My company will give you a blank laptop if you have confidential information on it when traveling to the US. The policy is always to comply and hand over everything if asked so they want to minimize any risks of information falling into the wrong hands.
That policy also applies for traveling to China. So it’s pretty telling that my company thinks the US and Chinese governments are both risks to its intellectual property.
That's all within 100 miles of any airport that lands international flights and any coastal boundaries, regardless of distance from another country's border.
Things like this make me wish the traditionally anti government party wasn't a bunch of loonies, because they'd be the ones pushing this to public conscious in a way that might move the needle.
I don't doubt the intentions of (some) progressive members of government, but they're outgunned and have a long list of priorities. Getting legislation to reverse this isn't coming from corporatists, the infinite retention is going to seem like a feature to business.
Not world news? But people in the US: These things can be fought back. Vote in every election local to national. Put pressure on your representatives. Donate to reps who do right by your values. Apathy is how they win. Sign up for EFF's e-mail alerts https://act.eff.org/
I would argue that this is worldnews in that (if I understand it correctly) this impacts foreign travelers too, even those simply making connecting flights.