Laptop search policy at US borders upheld in court ruling
A lawsuit challenging US government policy on searching laptops at borders was dismissed by a federal judge who cited past rulings that authorities need not show "reasonable suspicion" when they inspect computers.
US District Judge Robert Korman in Brooklyn, New York, said that Pascal Abidor, a US-French dual citizen and graduate student who was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, lacked standing to bring the lawsuit because he didn't seek damages based on his claim that he was subject to an unreasonable search. Korman also said there was reason for agents to be suspicious of Abidor when an initial search of his laptop turned up photos of rallies by Hamas and Hezbollah as he sought to cross the border from Canada in 2010.
Korman said he agreed with earlier court rulings that found no reasonable suspicion is needed to conduct a cursory manual search of an electronic device at a border.
He also concurred with other rulings that said full forensic searches, which could invade privacy, require a different standard.
"If suspicionless forensic computer searches at the border threaten to become the norm, then some threshold showing of reasonable suspicion should be required," Korman said. He said that because of limited resources, full forensic searches are currently limited to situations where suspicion is present.
The National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers and the National Press Photographers Association had joined Abidor's lawsuit. The judge dismissed their claims as well, saying they couldn't prove imminent or actual injury. The chance that a US citizen's computer will be searched at a border crossing is less than five in a million, Korman said.
Abidor told authorities he was working on a doctorate degree on the history of Shiites in Lebanon, potentially explaining the photos of Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and influences the Shia community, the judge said. It didn't explain the pictures of Hamas, a terrorist organisation not composed of Shiites and not based in Lebanon, Korman said.
