House, 24, ran into what civil liberties advocates call the “Constitution-free zone’’ at US ports of entry, where courts have carved out broad exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. As long as they don’t use invasive techniques such as strip searches, government agents don’t need reasonable suspicion or probable cause to seize what they want - including laptops, a 2008 appeals court ruling held.
House’s case forms the basis of one of two lawsuits the American Civil Liberties Union has filed to stop the search and seizure of laptops at US borders without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing and calls attention to a vulnerability that many people are unaware of when they travel in and out of the United States with important files on laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
A survey last month by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives found that nearly half of the participating companies did not know customs agents could inspect, copy, or even seize travelers’ laptops.
Robert Plotkin is a Burlington patent lawyer who sometimes travels overseas with documents and data related to his clients’ proprietary technology stored on his laptop. He said he was alarmed when he learned recently that the government could confiscate his computer without cause when he returned home.
“I have a legal obligation to maintain the confidentiality of that data for my clients,’’ he said. “If I were to cooperate with [a search], then I think my clients would have a claim against me for breaching client confidentiality.’’
The ACLU argues that the search and seizure of laptops is much more invasive than looking in someone’s luggage, since laptops often contain personal, private, or sensitive information. Several bills that would require suspicion of illegal activity to search laptops have been considered by Congress in recent years, but they have never passed.
Balancing civil rights and national security is tricky, said US Representative William Keating, a Quincy Democrat and member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. But he said the government should not be able to randomly take people’s electronic devices.
