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Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

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Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#91

Post by bitcurious »

StuffedParrot wrote: post #41
umvi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion: why is profiling bad in context of airplane security? If 100% of airplane terrorist attacks are carried out by people of X country (Xians), and 0% of airplane terrorist attacks are carried out by people from Y country (Yians), it seems like a pointless charade of political correctness to check Xians and Yians with equal frequency. I say profile the heck out of Xians. Stop and frisk 100% of Xians an…

It doesn’t work. The TSA is horrendously ineffective and is the definition of security theatre. This just hurts people needlessly. Much like the no fly list which is a huge violation of due process.

Israel is known for having effective airport security, as well as for making use of profiling.

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#92

Post by dboreham »

strictnein wrote: post #60
papito wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are cases of doing this to U.S. Citizens, in some cases, quite disturbingly, to journalists .

It's no more or less disturbing for journalists to be subjected to this. They're not some special class of protected people.

Hmm...I thought they actually were a special class of protected people.

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#93

Post by Havoc »

A tiny bit of sanity returns to the US borders.

Think I'll give it a miss for now though. The entire border crew seems like a law onto themselves.

e.g. last time - got hassled about being a dual citizen (neither US). But then while standing in a queue for a metal detector (as per agent instructions) another agent pulls me out of the queue and says I don't need to do this go around there. Rest of epic long queue proceeds towards detector/search as if nothing happened...just me.

Very much doubt there is any rhyme or reason behind what's happening at the borders beyond massive power trips.

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#94

Post by kevinh »

bitcurious wrote: post #91
StuffedParrot wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t work. The TSA is horrendously ineffective and is the definition of security theatre. This just hurts people needlessly. Much like the no fly list which is a huge violation of due process.

Israel is known for having effective airport security, as well as for making use of profiling.

Do you have evidence that one is the cause of the other?

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#96

Post by jcranmer »

wyldfire wrote: post #82
papln wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true. the Consitution makes a distinction between 'person' and 'citizen', but is painfully ambiguous about 'People'. In context, 'people' most likely means 'citizens'. Even if you mean 'persons', not 'people', it's still largely ambiguous. https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution... 'People' have rights: > the right of the people peaceably to assemble > the right of the people to keep a…

Constitutional jurisprudence is really the sum of the text of the Constitution and the rulings held by courts. IMO the BOR should apply to all humans, anywhere in the universe, when subject to US Government jurisdiction. Let's hope courts agree.

SCOTUS has generally leaned towards that interpretation, at least insofar as the rights involved are judicial in nature (e.g., due process).

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#97

Post by djsumdog »

lonelappde wrote: post #79
strictnein wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's no more or less disturbing for journalists to be subjected to this. They're not some special class of protected people.

On the one hand, it's extra bad because searching a journalist leads to an additional violation: freedom on the press. On th other hand, we should not think of 1A rights as rights that only specialists or professionals need. (Much like we shouldn't think of police as relieving civilians of their duty to help maintain law and order and safety. Police augment and assist citizens, as public servants .)

Except that we can all journalists really. There's no professional mandate. Go to rallies and make videos and post them on your political blog? You should be considered a journalist.

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#98

Post by Rebelgecko »

Finnucane wrote: post #28
tus88 wrote: post #20

But are travelers (foreigners) part of "the people"?

If you're on US soil you're subject to US law, including all provisions of the Constitution. And the Constitution makes a distinction between 'citizens' and 'people' (i.e., everybody, including noncitizens)

I'm not sure about the legal justification, but I don't think that is true in practice. For example a tourist or someone on an expired visa (edit: or an unexpired but non-immigrant visa) doesn't have the same 2A rights as a US citizen or permanent resident.

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#99

Post by 1123581321 »

ngngngng wrote: post #88
luckydata wrote: post #21

It was always CLEARLY unconstitutional. It's worrying it took so long to have it declared as such.

As an American I'm very confused why clear constitutional violations don't warrant any repercussions on the perpetrating individuals. So I work for a company that deals with medical data, if I violate HIPAA, I don't get to just keep doing it until a federal court says stop and then walk away as if nothing happened. I'm personally held responsible for those violations. Not just my company, me. Why aren't each of these…

The Constitution does not specify punishments for violating it. Congress could pass legislation specifying punishments in accordance with this ruling, but it would not be retroactive.

Re: Court: Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional

#100

Post by calibas »

gorgoiler wrote: post #30

I’m not sure to whom the reasonable suspicion has to be announced? It makes it hard for me, a lay person, to understand the practical ramifications of this decision. Would the suspicion have to be announced to me, when I’m asked to unlock my phone, or would it have to be presented to a court, when they are asked to prosecute me based on the contents of my phone? If they find illegal content on my phone, wouldn’t the…

> surely I can’t impede law enforcement because they haven’t justified their authority to me

Unless you've broken the law (and certain special cases), they have no authority over you. Because of the nature of their jobs, which requires them to sometimes take away a person's freedom or life, they must be held to a much higher level of accountability than your average person.

You cite fear of harassment as a reason for not standing up to police, and to me that says something is deeply wrong with our current system.

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