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Hard Drives Fair Game at the Border

By Patrick

This SF Gate article discusses a recent Ninth Circuit holding. Apparently that there is no 4th Amendment violation when border patrol agents examine the content of travelers' laptops without probable cause:

Border agents would need grounds for suspicion before conducting a body search, but a "piece of property simply does not implicate the same dignity and privacy concerns as highly intrusive searches of the person," the court said.

Whaaaa?

A piece of property simply does not implicate the same dignity and privacy concerns as highly intrusive searches of the person?

First, yesterday's news suggests not everyone agrees that the long white finger is excessively intrusive--indeed, your friendly ER doc may be allowed to do what your border patrol agent cannot.

Secondly, why is it fair to conclude that laptops' content is not personal? What about privileged information, like medical records, attorneys' client files, or (closer to our hallowed halls) drafts of upcoming Boalt Briefs articles?

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Update: WSJ Law Blog picked it up, too. A commentator there asks, what about password protected information?

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).