The US government has long maintained the fairy tale that the borders are somehow a civilrights-free zone and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents can do whatever they like without having to worry that pesky 4th Amendment or other procedural safeguards. There’s no support for this idea in the constitution and as far as I can see the government made it up out of whole cloth. Sadly, the courts have acquiesced so that’s the world we live in.
Engadget has a disturbing article on how CPB agents can and do copy user data and store it in a database for 15 years. Once in the database, the data is available to DHS agents to rummage through without securing a warrant or even having to record their reasons for accessing the data.
As usual, Sen. Ron Wyden is on the case but, sadly, he is, also as usual, a lone voice. In a letter to the commissioner of CBP, Wyden lays out the type of data seized and the questionable legal basis for taking and storing it. He asks the commissioner to develop a plan for dealing with this problem and to let him know what it is no later than the end of October. I—and I’m sure Wyden—am not holding my breath.