Well, it’s a start...

From Ars Technica:

Customs and Border Patrol agents can grab your laptop, BlackBerry, or external hard drive without needing so much as a reason, but a new bill introduced last week to Congress would at least put some limits on how border searches could be done.

The bill wouldn’t eliminate arbitrary searches, but it

...requires the government to draft additional rules regarding information security, the number of days a device can be retained, receipts that must be issued when devices are taken, ways to report abuses, and it requires the completion of both a privacy impact study and a civil liberties impact study. Travelers would also have the explicit right to watch as the search is conducted.

The sponsor is a Democrat, Loretta Sanchez of California.

The bill doesn’t stop (or even limit) Customs’ “no reason” searches (so the national security paranoids shouldn’t object).  What it does is give the search-ees some assurance that their data won’t be disseminated to the four winds, and that they’ll eventually get their stuff back.  It also requires some reporting, so we can find out how much of a problem this actually is.

It’s a no-brainer.  Hey Republicans, where are you?


Elsewhere:

Previously:  Why worry?

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:04:48 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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