Court Upholds Border Gadget Searches

For any reason at all

A federal judge today upheld a President Barack Obama administration policy allowing U.S. officials along the U.S. border to seize and search laptops, smartphones and other electronic devices for any reason.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in New York comes as laptops, and now smartphones have become virtual extensions of ourselves, housing everything from e-mail to instant-message chats to our papers and effects.

The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge nearly three years ago, claiming U.S. border officials should have reasonable suspicion to search gadgets along the border because of the data they store. But Judge Korman said the so-called "border exemption" in which peopled an be searched for no reason at all along the border continues to apply in the digital age.