Electronic devices can be seized without warrants

Did you know that any time you return to the U.S. from an international trip, federal Customs and Immigration agents have the right to inspect and copy the data on your laptop or other electronic device – or even to seize that device, with no warrant? When the Association of Corporate Travel Executives surveyed its members recently, 81 percent had no idea the government held such authority. But seven percent knew that it did – because their personal electronic devices had been seized by U.S. border agents. At a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, ACTE urged Congress to rein in the Department of Homeland Security, or at least to pass legislation that would require DHS to formulate specific policies for laptop inspections and seizures, and to publicize that information so business travelers know what they might be facing. Meanwhile, ACTE also filed a brief with a U.S. Appeals Court seeking to reverse an earlier decision that the group called “flawed,” because it gives Customs and Border Protection officials “blanket authority to inspect all electronic devices, examine the contents, copy them, or seize the unit as they see fit. Suspicion of a crime need not be a factor in the decision,” ACTE said.

In testimony before the Senate panel, ACTE’s Susan Gurley observed that warrantless searches of a person’s home or office are barred by the Constitution, and yet the modern traveling executive’s office isn’t limited to a physical cubicle. “Rather,” she said, “one’s office consists of a collection of mobile electronic devices…that contain both personal information and confidential business-related information.” She noted that in some cases, data or hardware “has been seized indefinitely,” and that “In the case of an independent entrepreneur, a laptop seizure can represent the loss of his or her entire business.” She urged Congress to require DHS to report on how many times if has seized electronic devices or their data, and how long it holds them; to require that DHS publish its policies regarding laptop seizures on its web site, including how it will protect “the integrity of the data” and who will have access to data; and to inform travelers about their rights to have their equipment returned. Some companies have already started adopting procedures to protect themselves from such seizures, she said, like encrypting emails or storing data on secure USB drives instead of hard drives. “It is our understanding that some senior executives are prohibited from carrying any computers” when they travel abroad, she said, because of the chance of a government seizure.