{"id":11882,"date":"2014-06-06T01:44:27","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T06:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=11882"},"modified":"2014-06-05T07:45:47","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T12:45:47","slug":"new-law-review-article-abidor-v-napolitano-suspicionless-cell-phone-and-laptop-strip-searches-at-the-border-compromise-the-fourth-and-fifth-amendments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=11882","title":{"rendered":"New Law Review Article: Abidor v. Napolitano: Suspicionless Cell Phone and Laptop \u201cStrip\u201d Searches at the Border Compromise the Fourth and Fifth Amendments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abidor v. Napolitano: Suspicionless Cell Phone and Laptop \u201cStrip\u201d Searches at the Border Compromise the Fourth and Fifth Amendments<\/a>, Adam Lamparello & Charles E. MacLean, 108 Nw. U. L. Rev. Colloquy 280 (2014). Abstract: <\/p>\n

Technology has outpaced the law, and the United States Supreme Court needs to do something about it \u2014 now. Every day at the border, an individual\u2019s privacy \u2014 along with the Fourth Amendment\u2019s particularity requirement and the First Amendment\u2019s free speech guarantee \u2014 are being infringed. And for reasons having no relation to the outdated \u201cborder exception,\u201d or the Government\u2019s interest in security. With little more than a \u201chunch,\u201d border security personnel can confiscate an individual\u2019s laptop (sometimes, for days), force the owner to disclose the password, and conduct an unlimited search of (even copy) the contents for later investigation. They are not searching for contraband or dangerous weapons. They are fishing for evidence of any criminal activity \u2014 related or unrelated to border security \u2014 where there exists not a scintilla of suspicion that any crime has been committed. This bears no relation to the reasons that initially justified a \u201cConstitution-free\u201d zone 100 miles inland from the border. And it implicates some of our most cherished freedoms \u2014 privacy and free expression. Specifically, such conduct violates the Fourth Amendment\u2019s reasonableness and particularity requirements, and threatens to chill political speech that is neither criminal nor suspicious. Think about it: a laptop is a virtual office, with the capacity to store thousands of files, troves of entertainment, and scores of intimate photos. If border officials could look in any \u201croom\u201d they pleased, people might think twice before storing a video critical of the President or of someone burning the American flag. That should not be tolerated in a country \u2014 and constitution \u2014 that embraces unpopular speech as an integral part of the marketplace of ideas. Until a more comprehensive policy is established, one thing should be clear: there are fundamental differences between the physical and virtual world, between searches of containers and laptops, and between present and future threats. Accordingly, before law enforcement officials conduct forensic searches of an individual’s lap top computer, reasonable suspicion should be required.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abidor v. Napolitano: Suspicionless Cell Phone and Laptop \u201cStrip\u201d Searches at the Border Compromise the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, Adam Lamparello & Charles E. MacLean, 108 Nw. U. L. Rev. Colloquy 280 (2014). Abstract: Technology has outpaced the law, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-search","category-computer-searches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11883,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11882\/revisions\/11883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}