So what, if a few people get stopped and if they refuse to respond to a lawful order to give up the data on their phones (little computers really). If you do, you can be detained for because you gave them reasonable suspicion. (Catch 22s are real.)
You say I’ll give my phone up with nothing to hide They might catch somebody that would blow up a car or something and kill me, members of my family or people I know. Even though, you know the odds of such an event are better on a lightning bolt. This is not a security vs. privacy issue this is a fear problem.
Remember, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said this is about “fear itself,” for many reasons. Fear is the main lever of Fascism because people in fear become its fulcrum. Fear is a lever that can destroy a country’s financial stability, and it is “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Volunteer to summarize the following and to watch this issue over the next couple of years and join others who doing the same.
- NBC News, “American citizens: US border agents can search your cell phone,”
March 13, 2017.
BuzzFeed, “New bill would outlaw warrantless phone searches at the border,”
April 4, 2017.
The Hill, “Border agents, demanded searches of US citizens’ phones: report,”
March 13, 2017.
NPR, “More travelers are being asked for their cell phones and passwords…”
April 11, 2017.
CNN, “Bill would stop warrantless border device searches of US citizens,”
April 4, 2017.
All of this despite the Supreme Court June 25, 2014, unanimously ruling (9-0) that police may not search the cell phones of criminal suspects upon arrest without a warrant — a sweeping endorsement for privacy rights. Wallets, briefcases, and vehicles remain subject to limited examination by law enforcement. The C-22 here is clear, go “all the way” in the justice system on the one hand or handing it over for a data upload on the other.
In the House of Representatives Jared Polis (D), Denver CO was elected in 2008 and defeated a Republican incumbent and Blake Farenthold (R) defeated an incumbent Democrat in 2016. Both along with two Senators, Rand Paul, and Ron Wyden have introduced legislation that would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before they can search your phone when you, (a citizen) enters the US.
The bill extends the privacy principles clarified in the Supreme Court decision Riley v. California. In that case, the High Court ruled that warrantless searches of electronic devices during an arrest are unconstitutional. Read the complete Protecting Data at the Border Act here, and a summary here. (both pdf).
Thanks so far, y’all are brilliant.