ACLU sues for laptop search details

The American Civil Liberties Union wants federal government records pertaining to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's policy of searching travelers' laptops without suspicion of wrongdoing. The watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Wednesday in a New York federal court to learn how the agency's policy, issued last year, has impacted the civil liberties of travelers during the first year of its implementation. The ACLU made an initial FOIA request for CBP records in June.

"Traveling with a laptop shouldn't mean the government gets a free pass to rifle through your personal papers," ACLU staff attorney Catherine Crump said. "This sort of broad and invasive search is exactly what the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches are designed to prevent." According to the ACLU, the CBP policy permits agents to read the information on travelers' laptops "absent individualized suspicion" including personal financial information, photographs and lists of Web sites travelers visited.

CBP's policy extends to suspicionless searches of "documents, books, pamphlets and other printed material, as well as computers, disks, hard drives and other electronic or digital storage devices," the ACLU said. The policy covers all persons, whether or not they are U.S. citizens, crossing the border. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced in January that she was reviewing a range of immigration and border security policies and in May said clarification is needed with respect to the laptop issue. She said a team at DHS will "issue pretty firm guidance and protocol for how you conduct a laptop search."