Privacy at the borderHearing Monday in lawsuit over border searches of laptops, smartphones

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will appear in federal court in Boston Monday, fighting the U.S. government’s attempts to block their lawsuit over illegal laptop and smartphone searches at the country’s borders.

The EFF says that the case, Alasaad v. Nielsen, was filed last fall on behalf of ten U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident who had their digital devices searched without a warrant. The lawsuit challenges the government’s growing practice of searching travelers’ electronics at airports and other border crossings—often confiscating the items for weeks or months at a time—without any individualized suspicion that a traveler has done anything wrong.

The government has moved to dismiss this case. In court on Monday, EFF Senior Staff Attorney Adam Schwartz will argue that the plaintiffs have legal standing to challenge these illegal searches, and ACLU Staff Attorney Esha Bhandari will argue that the searches are unconstitutional, violating the First and Fourth Amendments.

For more information on this case:
https://www.eff.org/cases/alasaad-v-duke
https://www.aclu.org/cases/alasaad-v-neilsen-challenge-warrantless-phone-and-laptop-searches-us-border