US Files Show How Feds Waited for Political Advocate to Cross Border to Seize His Laptop

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

@AP: US government files show how feds waited for political advocate to cross border to seize his laptop: http://t.co/FX5SZhIG7j - VW

NEW DETAILS IN HOW THE FEDS TAKE LAPTOPS AT BORDER

By ANNE FLAHERTY
— Sep. 9 9:40 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly disclosed U.S. government files provide an inside look at the Homeland Security Department's practice of seizing and searching electronic devices at the border without showing reasonable suspicion of a crime or getting a judge's approval.

The documents published Monday describe the case of David House, a young computer programmer in Boston who had befriended Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks. U.S. agents quietly waited for months for House to leave the country then seized his laptop, thumb drive, digital camera and cellphone when he re-entered the United States. They held his laptop for weeks before returning it, acknowledging one year later that House had committed no crime and promising to destroy copies the government made of House's personal data.

The government turned over the federal records to House as part of a legal settlement agreement after a two-year court battle with the American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued the government on House's behalf. The ACLU said the records suggest that federal investigators are using border crossings to investigate U.S. citizens in ways that would otherwise violate the Fourth Amendment.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/new-details-how-feds-take-laptops-border

[struggle4progress]

1. "House said he severed ties with the Support Network last year after becoming disillusioned

with Manning and WikiLeaks, which he said appeared more focused on destroying America and ruining lives than challenging policy"

I don't think Congress will touch this anytime soon, and I think House's chances in court are spotty at best

Here's my reasoning:

Any sane counter-intelligence staff will have wondered immediately how extensive Manning's full release was and whether we knew the whole story on it. And after reports that one of Assange's close associates was trying to sell some of the cable information in Russia and had handed other info over to the Belarus government in order to help the authorities therre identify opponents, a lot of people were also going to wonder if there wasn't a large international espionage circle behind the release. If one suspects that espionage activity is being conducted under some loud "public interest," the international travel of vocal supporters will naturally provoke scrutiny. When House finally decided that "Wikileaks .. focused on destroying America," he didn't make his claim of being unfairly targeted more credible: a lot of folk simply said, "yeah, well, duh!" -- and they'll say that again in court, pointing out that even House has reached that conclusion now

The subsequent Snowden affair further weakens House's case: an American ex-pat living in Brazil is in contact with a young man who later gets a job with an NSA contractor, admitting later he took the job only to obtain documents, which he releases to the ex-pat in Hong Kong, where the press reports he has revealed details of US spying on the Chinese, after which he goes to the Russian embassy before flying to Russia to obtain asylum. The ex-pat in Brazil then proceeds to farm out documents to press in Australia, Germany, the UK, and elsewhere. And again, one natural suspicion will be that some international espionage circle is behind the release

So Congress isn't going to touch this, and the courts are quite likely to side with the Administration

[Cha]

2. Ya think?

"House said he severed ties with the Support Network last year after becoming disillusioned

with Manning and WikiLeaks, which he said appeared more focused on destroying America and ruining lives than challenging policy"

Mahalo, struggle4progress~

[caseymoz]

4. Why do I get the idea they didn't destroy his personal data? nt

[quadrature]

5. you have no rights at a border, buy a throwaway laptop

and a burner cellphone.
remove controversial files

transfer files on the internet
with encryption