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Border Patrol Says It's Barred From Searching Cloud Data On Phones (nbcnews.com)
According to a letter obtained by NBC News, U.S. border officers aren't allowed to look at any data stored only in the "cloud" -- including social media data -- when they search U.S. travelers' phones. "The letter (PDF), sent in response to inquiries by Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-Ore.), and verified by Wyden's office, not only states that CBP doesn't search data stored only with remote cloud services, but also -- apparently for the first time -- declares that it doesn't have that authority in the first place." From the report: In April, Wyden and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation to make it illegal for border officers to search or seize cellphones without probable cause. Privacy advocates and former Homeland Security lawyers have said they are alarmed by how many phones are being searched. The CBP letter, which is attributed to Kevin McAleenan, the agency's acting commissioner, is dated June 20, four months after Wyden asked the Department of Homeland Security (PDF), CBP's parent agency, to clarify what he called the "deeply troubling" practice of border agents' pressuring Americans into providing passwords and access to their social media accounts. McAleenan's letter says officers can search a phone without consent and, except in very limited cases, without a warrant or even suspicion -- but only for content that is saved directly to the device, like call histories, text messages, contacts, photos and videos.
Obviously if your data is in the cloud, the government already has access to it if it needs. This just looks like a territorial dispute between different parts of the government...
At what point would that become coercion?
Doesn't fucking matter. The average citizen does not have the financial means to defend even a single unconstitutional action against them. The Legal Industrial Complex is second only to the Medical Industrial Complex in terms of committing financial ass-rape against consumers. And those committing illegal actions against citizens know this.
Your only real chance is to arm yourself with enough legal knowledge to damn near pass a Bar Exam in hopes of diffusing a situation without being forced to defend yourself in a courtroom. Otherwise, you're likely going to be financially fucked. Is pissing away a chunk of your net worth or going into considerable debt really worth not giving up a social media password? Sorry kids, Daddy can't afford to help you with college. Refused to comply with an illegal search a few years ago. Kind of ate up the college fund.
The only Right we have left is the Right to ignorantly assume we can still afford any other Right history has bestowed upon us.