New US Customs Guidelines Limit Copying Files and Searching Cloud Data (theverge.com)

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency has updated its guidelines for electronic border searches, adding new detail to border search rules that were last officially updated in 2009. The Verge reports: Officers can still request that people unlock electronic devices for inspection when they're entering the U.S., and they can still look through any files or apps on those devices. But consistent with a statement from acting commissioner Kevin McAleenan last summer, they're explicitly banned from accessing cloud data -- per these guidelines, that means anything that can't be accessed while the phone's data connection is disabled. The guidelines also draw a distinction between "basic" and "advanced" searches. If officers connect to the phone (through a wired or wireless connection) and copy or analyze anything on it using external devices, that's an advanced search, and it can only be carried out with reasonable suspicion of illegal activity or a national security concern. A supervisor can approve the search, and "many factors" might create reasonable suspicion, including a terrorist watchlist flag or "other articulable factors."

Comments

Because they already have access

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't need new access to the cloud because they already have full access.

Re:erase before entry

[dgatwood]

Yeah, this is what I don't get. Anyone who would actually have something to hide would not carry it unencrypted across the border, because they would know that the border security people might decide to search it. So apart from catching the most incredibly stupid criminals (who would probably get caught for other reasons even without this search), the only thing this rather bizarre policy will do is cause Americans to become lackadaisical about our fourth amendment rights. Then again, maybe that's the point.