Laptop seized at border isn't like a handbag, judge says
May 13, 2015 11:08:51 GMT -6
littled16, Glencairn, and 2 more like this
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2015 11:08:51 GMT -6
The Judge looked, considered and told the Government it was not even funny to suggest.....using more professional language, of course. 
The Government can argue anything they'd like. They can even do whatever they'd like...until someone pushes it to a court and says 'Oh NO, you do NOT do that!'. In this case, they got told pretty hard, how this can't be done. It sounds like it may cost them a good case, too......but that is what nosy neighbors get for getting in everyone ELSE's business 'just because they think they can'. They might find IMPORTANT stuff occasionally, like this, that just got trashed for the illegal thugish tactics.
Source
...and with that? I'd say it adds with a couple other recent decisions to show the tide is slowly turning, as cases to deal with the abuses are FINALLY making it into levels of the Courts which matter and mean something to say 'This far...and NO further'. Or even...'TOO FAR Already!'.
Here is hoping we continue to see more of this. It's well past time the pendulum swung back the other way, and in more than one area of life. I'll take this for now though.
Federal agents who seized a laptop computer without a warrant at the Los Angeles International Airport may not use the contents in a prosecution against a South Korean businessman, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington, D.C., rejected the government’s argument that the border-search exception allowed the warrantless seizure of the computer, Ars Technica and the Blog of Legal Times report. The government had argued the exception applied because the laptop is a container that it has an unfettered right to search.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington, D.C., rejected the government’s argument that the border-search exception allowed the warrantless seizure of the computer, Ars Technica and the Blog of Legal Times report. The government had argued the exception applied because the laptop is a container that it has an unfettered right to search.
The Government can argue anything they'd like. They can even do whatever they'd like...until someone pushes it to a court and says 'Oh NO, you do NOT do that!'. In this case, they got told pretty hard, how this can't be done. It sounds like it may cost them a good case, too......but that is what nosy neighbors get for getting in everyone ELSE's business 'just because they think they can'. They might find IMPORTANT stuff occasionally, like this, that just got trashed for the illegal thugish tactics.
“Given the vast storage capacity of even the most basic laptops, and the capacity of computers to retain metadata and even deleted material, one cannot treat an electronic storage device like a handbag simply because you can put things in it and then carry it onto a plane,” Jackson wrote in the opinion (PDF), issued last Friday.
...and with that? I'd say it adds with a couple other recent decisions to show the tide is slowly turning, as cases to deal with the abuses are FINALLY making it into levels of the Courts which matter and mean something to say 'This far...and NO further'. Or even...'TOO FAR Already!'.
Here is hoping we continue to see more of this. It's well past time the pendulum swung back the other way, and in more than one area of life. I'll take this for now though.
