|
DHS Clarifies Policy for Searching Laptops |
|
|
|
|
by Mickey McCarter
|
|
Friday, 28 August 2009 |
Directives make searches of electronics consistent with other items
Border security agents conducting searches of electronic media held by travelers entering the United States now have to follow new directives that clarify the procedures for searching laptops, smartphones and other devices.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the directives Thursday to standardize procedures for the searches, which agents at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carry out as part of their standard screening practices.
Essentially, the new directives instruct agents to carry out searches of electronic media in the presence of their owners whenever possible. Those searches should be conducted in a private secondary screening location if requested. CBP and ICE officers should keep records on their searches of electronic devices and they should address any reasonable requests made of those being searched.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted that the changes make the searches of electronic media consistent with the searches of other possessions carried by travelers.
"Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States," Napolitano said in a statement. "The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders."
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) hailed the directives as smart clarifications in DHS policy.
"With the change in administrations, there was an opportunity to bring greater accountability and transparency to the practices surrounding searches of electronic devices at the border," Thompson said in a statement. "This policy announcement represents a major step forward and I am pleased to see that it seems to reflect many of the key provisions in legislation that Rep. [Loretta] Sanchez [D-Calif.] and I have been working for some time."
In unveiling the new directives, DHS also asserted its authority to continue conducting the searches of electronic devices, which has been upheld by the US Supreme Court in cases such as US v. Flores-Montano in 2004 and US v. Ramsey in 1977.
Immigration agents conduct the searches to uncover any information that may break the laws of the United States. They are looking for things such as terrorist plans, child pornography, and copyright violations.
During the period from Oct. 1, 2008, through August 11, 2009, CPB agents screened more than 221 million travelers entering the United States and conducted about 1,000 laptop searches, DHS reported. Only 46 of those laptop searches were "in-depth" searches.
A privacy impact assessment released by DHS Thursday noted that CBP and ICE agents would take particular care to ensure that the electronic information carried by travelers would not be lost, deleted or altered. The agents also would continue to do their best to search devices in the presence of their owners, although it is not always practical or tactically sound to do so in some cases.
"At the same time that individuals seek to lawfully transport electronic information with no link to criminal activity across the border, criminals attempt to bring merchandise contrary to law into the United States using the same technology," the assessment read.
"The use of electronic devices capable of storing information relating to criminal activities has been established as the latest method for smuggling these materials. As the world of information technology evolves, the techniques used by CBP and ICE and other law enforcement agencies must also evolve to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals using new technologies in the perpetration of crimes. Failure to do so would create a dangerous loophole for criminals seeking to import or export merchandise contrary to law," it added.
|
Mickey McCarter |
| About the author: |
| eNewsletter Editor/Senior Washington Correspondent,
is a journalist with more than a decade of experience in reporting
on
military affairs and information technology.
|
| Read More >> | |
Columns 
