Picture this: You’re travelling across U.S. borders, heading home from a client meeting abroad. However, unlike other trips, this time a Customs and Border Protection agent requests that you unlock and hand over for inspection your computer and cell phone — full of client confidential information. You’ve been concerned about this issue, and so you’ve
U.S border searches of electronic devices
Client confidentiality at the border: suit filed to block warrantless searches of e-devices
By Karen Rubin on
The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have sued the Department of Homeland Security to block U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel from searching travelers’ electronic devices without warrants. This has implications for lawyers who cross in and out of the U.S. with phones and laptops containing confidential client information. The CBP’s policy, which the…
U.S. border searches of e-devices: NYC bar advises on confidentiality duty
By Karen Rubin on
Travelling abroad for work? What should you do if a Customs and Border Patrol agent, claiming lawful authority, demands that you unlock your computer or thumb drive or cell phone — full of client confidential information — and hand it over to be searched as you cross the U.S. border?