We argued that electronic device searches at the border should require a warrant based on probable cause, but at minimum, regardless of whether an officer searches by hand or with forensic software that plugs into a device and downloads its entire contents for search, the same Fourth Amendment standard should apply to all device searches at the border.

Unfortunately, the court rejected that argument and ruled that a lower standard applies to manual searches, allowing the government to conduct extraordinarily invasive electronic device searches without any suspicion of wrongdoing, simply because the border officer chooses to search by hand rather than with a forensic tool.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/72772050

[...]

(EFF) argued that electronic device searches at the border should require a warrant based on probable cause, but at minimum, regardless of whether an officer searches by hand or with forensic software that plugs into a device and downloads its entire contents for search, the same Fourth Amendment standard should apply to all device searches at the border.

Unfortunately, the court rejected that argument and ruled that a lower standard applies to manual searches, allowing the government to conduct extraordinarily invasive electronic device searches without any suspicion of wrongdoing, simply because the border officer chooses to search by hand rather than with a forensic tool.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/politics@lemmy.world/p/2231481/the-fourth-circuit-says-border-agents-can-search-your-phone-by-hand-no-suspicion-requir

Legal intern Suzanne Castillo was the principal author of this post.The Fourth Circuit issued a disappointing opinion in U.S. v. Belmonte Cardozo, a case in which EFF filed an amicus brief, alongside the national ACLU, its Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia affiliates, and the...

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1281688/the-fourth-circuit-says-border-agents-can-search-your-phone-by-hand-no-suspicion-require

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The original was posted on /r/technology by /u/HumbleRestaurant790 on 2026-07-23 13:32:17+00:00.