Security News > 2023 > May > Feds, you'll need a warrant for that cellphone border search

It is the first US court to do so, to the delight of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which along with other advocacy groups has been fighting for years to narrow the scope of border searches.

"EFF is thrilled about this decision, given that we have been advocating for a warrant for border searches of electronic devices in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade," said Sophia Cope, senior staff attorney, in a statement Tuesday.

Under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, people in America should be protected from unreasonable search and seizure - specifically, searches conducted by authorities without probable cause.

"Copying and searching a traveler's phone during a border crossing bears little resemblance to traditional physical border searches historically permitted without probable cause under the Fourth Amendment's 'border search exception,'" Judge Rakoff wrote in his opinion and order [PDF].

"Rather, such searches extend the government's reach far beyond the person and luggage of the border-crosser - as if the fact of a border crossing somehow entitled the government to search that traveler's home, car, and office. The border search exception does not extend so far."

The court concludes that the government may not copy and search an American citizen's cellphone at the border without a warrant absent exigent circumstances.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/us_border_phone_search/