The federal court in Boston ruled on Tuesday that ransoming devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and other travelers' electronic devices when they cross the border into the United States is unconstitutional.
The civil rights organizations American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and two border police on behalf of eleven people over the past year due to the proliferation of electronic devices such as laptops and smartphones. The sufferers' smartphones and laptops had been searched without individual suspicion when entering the United States.
The civil rights organizations said that border guards now have concrete suspicions to search content from electronic devices. The court made it clear that the right to privacy also applies when traveling.
"This is a great day for travelers who can cross the international border right now without fear of the government searching, without suspicion, the extremely sensitive information that we all have in our electronic devices," said Sophia Cope to the decision.
The ACLU said that there had been a significant increase in the number of searches for electronic devices at US border posts. Last year, the Border Guard investigated more than 33,000 devices, nearly four times as many as three years ago.
