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Fifth Amendment Protections for Account Passwords and Device Passcodes

by | Apr 26, 2017 | ,

The Bill of Rights at the Border Lately, a big question on everyone's mind has been: Do I have to give my password to customs agents? As anyone who’s ever watched any cop show knows, the Fifth Amendment gives you the right to remain silent and to refuse to provide evidence against yourself – even at the border. If a CBP agent asks you a question, you can tell them you choose to remain silent and want to speak to an attorney, even if you don’t have one retained yet. That choice may not stop CBP agents from pressuring you to “voluntarily” talk to them, but they are supposed to stop questioning...

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Fourth Amendment Limits on Searching Your Data and Devices

by | Apr 25, 2017 | ,

The Bill of Rights at the Border More than 325,000 people enter the United States via airports every day, with hundreds of thousands more crossing by land at the borders. Not only is that a lot of people, it’s also a lot of computers, smartphones, and tablets riding along in our pockets, bags, and trunks.  Unfortunately, the Fourth Amendment protections we enjoy inside the U.S. for our devices aren’t always as strong when we’re crossing borders—and the Department of Homeland Security takes advantage of it. On the other hand, the border is not a Constitution-free zone. What are the limits to...

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The First Amendment and the Right to Anonymous Speech

by | Apr 24, 2017 | ,

The Bill of Rights at The Border The U.S. border has been thrown into the spotlight these last few months, with border agents detaining travelers for hours, demanding travelers unlock devices, and even demanding passwords and social media handles as a prerequisite for certain travelers entering the country. As the U.S. government issues a dizzying array of new rules and regulations, people in the U.S. and abroad are asking: are there meaningful constitutional limits on the ability of border agents to seize and search the data on your electronic devices and in the cloud? The answer is: Yes....

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Congressional Oversight Committee Wants Warrants to Rein in Cell-Site Simulator Abuse by Police

by | Feb 24, 2017 | , ,

A bipartisan Congressional committee’s recent report showcases troubling details about police abuse of cell-site simulators, and calls on Congress to pass laws ensuring that this powerful technology is only deployed with a court-issued probable cause warrant. Cell-site simulators, often called IMSI catchers or Stingrays, masquerade as cell phone towers and trick our phones into connecting to them so police can track down suspect targets, but their use also collects the data and location of innocent bystanders and extracts unnecessary sensitive data in the process. EFF has long opposed law...

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