How Many Laptops Have Been Searched at Customs?
How many laptops have border officials searched at U.S. borders? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wants to know. The group filed a freedom of information (FOIA) request with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Homeland Security Department requesting any and all records dating back to January 1, 2007. “Disclosure of the requested information … will further public understanding of the government’s expansive exercise of search authority over all travelers, including U.S. citizens, passing through the country’s international borders,” the letter reads. “These searches implicate core Fourth Amendment interests, because they involve highly intrusive governmental probing into a traveler’s most private information,” it continued. “They also implicate the First Amendment, because searching or retaining a traveler’s ‘information’ – especially the vast stores of information contained in a laptop or other electronic device – risks chilling the free exchange of ideas.” In May, DHS
