An American traveler is a lawsuit started against the government of the United States, because his laptop at an airport has been seized, and his data are searched. He wants that the seized data be destroyed.
Software developer David House got about an airport in Chicago when his laptop was confiscated at the border, writes The Boston Globe. It took 49 days before the laptop back. In that time his laptop was searched and the data on his laptop were copied. On the laptop were personal data, but also code that he during his vacation had tapped.
The government wanted to know more about his connection with Bradley Manning, who is currently stuck on suspicion of leaking state secrets to WikiLeaks. House helped with raising money for the defense of Manning.
In the seizure of the laptop, however, there was no concrete suspicion against House. According to the Us constitution, a search warrant is required for searches, but with the American border control is the exception. Legislative proposals in recent years have been submitted to restrict the power of customs officers were not all adopted.
House wants that the random searches by the court, be made impossible. Along with the American civil rights movement the ACLU, he is a lawsuit started. He wants any copies of his data will be destroyed or returned, and that he can get an overview of the public services that have access to the data. The chance is not very large that the House wins the case, he admits, but if that happens, may be applied by customs officers, according to the ACLU no longer just laptops search.
The American organization for border control argues that the searches will prevent ‘terrorists, drug smugglers, and other criminals” from entering the us. In 2011 there were 5000 laptops, phones, iPods, and cameras searched. Sophos recommends companies that staff the U.s. border is about to send to laptops falling, sensitive information to a cloud-based upload, or on a protected disk and possibly even a second laptop to purchase. This is to prevent data that a search be obtained, in the wrong hands.