NY- Computer searches

7-31-2008 New York:

Congress should establish guidelines

International travelers carrying laptops and cell phones are being forced to allow customs agents to rummage through their electronic contents much as they do travelers' luggage.

Only the searches can be more intrusive since they invade private, personal communications and confidential business data. Material has been copied by security officials. Equipment has been confiscated and held for months. All without a search warrant or even what might pass as reasonable cause.

A corporate executive from Washington complained that he was ordered to turn on his cell phone and then watched as the customs agent checked out the contents.

An engineer returning from London was required to open his laptop. A federal agent copied the Web sites the man had visited.

Agents seized the laptop of a marketing executive with assurance it would be returned in a few days. More than a year later, she still does not have it back.

A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection said the department does not seize electronic items unless it suspects wrongdoing and any copied material is retained only if it's relevant in an investigation. Whether that is true is impossible to determine. None of those who have publicly complained about the seizures have yet been charged with a crime.

In effect, agents conduct the electronic searches at whim.

Homeland Security officials say it is the same as searching other luggage. Not so, says Susan Gurley, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

The laptops and phones can contain confidential business records. Seizing them can interfere with business transactions. Some corporations are restricting the type of business data employees may carry on laptops when traveling overseas.

"When your luggage is looked at, you get your luggage and all your clothes back. The difference with a computer," she said, "is that you don't know if all the information that has been downloaded has been returned."

And it leaves open the question of who has access to the data that may be left lying around unprotected.

Concerns have also been raised about racial profiling that singles out certain religious or ethnic groups.

Lawsuits have been filed challenging the practice and seeking more information about its application. However, lower level federal courts have upheld the legitimacy of the searches, which is reason why Congress has to intervene.

Clear guidelines are needed to establish when such searches are permissible, to control seizure of equipment and then to ensure security of any confiscated or copied data. ..News Source.. by Watertown Daily Times.com