Professors Beware — Laptops that Cross International Borders May Be Fair Game

Dan Kowalski has written about a fascinating recent legal development taht affects the border and our professional lives.  Click here for the link.  In July 2006 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision upholding border searches of laptops and other computer memory devices. But on October 2, 2006 a lower federal court in Los Angeles issued a decision throwing out a laptop border search. The court wrote: “[E]lectronic storage devices function as an extension of our own memory. They are capable of storing our thoughts, ranging from the most whimsical to the most profound. Therefore, government intrusions into the mind – specifically those that would cause fear or apprehension in a reasonable person – are no less deserving of Fourth Amendment scrutiny than intrusions that are physical in nature.” U.S. v. Arnold.

KJ