http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/02/11/laptop.searches/index.html
Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, equates searches of electronic devices to those of papers in briefcases.
"You forgo your right to privacy when you are seeking admission into the country," he says. "This is the kind of scrutiny the American public expects."
But Marcia Hoffman, an attorney for the foundation, says the searches go too far.
"Your laptop computer may contain your financial records, your e-mail with your friends and your family and your co-workers, records of the Web sites you visit, confidential business information," Hoffman says.
"Our position is there should be some suspicion of wrongdoing before the government can search your sensitive personal information at the border."
Georgetown University Law Center professor David Cole says he agrees.
"We don't allow the government to come into people's homes at will without any probable cause, without any basis for suspicion," he says. "Why should we let them get into people's computers just because they happen to be traveling across the border?"
Federal courts have given customs and border officials the authority to examine luggage for contraband, but Cole says searching an electronic device is more like a strip search because an item such as a computer can contain intimate personal information.
Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, equates searches of electronic devices to those of papers in briefcases.
"You forgo your right to privacy when you are seeking admission into the country," he says. "This is the kind of scrutiny the American public expects."
But Marcia Hoffman, an attorney for the foundation, says the searches go too far.
"Your laptop computer may contain your financial records, your e-mail with your friends and your family and your co-workers, records of the Web sites you visit, confidential business information," Hoffman says.
"Our position is there should be some suspicion of wrongdoing before the government can search your sensitive personal information at the border."
Georgetown University Law Center professor David Cole says he agrees.
"We don't allow the government to come into people's homes at will without any probable cause, without any basis for suspicion," he says. "Why should we let them get into people's computers just because they happen to be traveling across the border?"
Federal courts have given customs and border officials the authority to examine luggage for contraband, but Cole says searching an electronic device is more like a strip search because an item such as a computer can contain intimate personal information.
