FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - TSA searching laptops/cell phones before DOMESTIC flights
Old Mar 12, 2018, 4:09 pm
  #1  
greggarious
Suspended
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 817
TSA searching laptops/cell phones before DOMESTIC flights

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...mestic-flights

There are a growing number of reports of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) searching the electronic devices of passengers on domestic flights in the US, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has sued the federal agency for records.The ACLU Foundationof Northern California filed a lawsuit against the TSA on Monday demanding that the government disclose its policies for searching the computers and cellphones of domestic travelers, arguing that anecdotal accounts have raised concerns about potential privacy invasions...One woman who shared her story with the ACLU told the Guardian that in the last year, she had twice had her electronics searched while flying within California. The 64-year-old, who works in the not-for-profit sector and requested anonymity for fear that she could face further scrutiny from TSA, said that on one occasion last year, TSA agents pulled her aside to pat her down multiple times and eventually asked to see both her iPhones – a work and personal one.The agents did not ask her to unlock the phones, but took them for at least 10 minutes out of her view, she said, adding that she quickly became distraught.“I no longer had my phones, so there was no one I could contact,” she said, adding, “It just feels like an invasion of privacy, especially when they are not telling you what the problem is.”The woman said on a recent trip, the TSA also briefly took her laptop, which was password protected.
This would almost certainly vilate Riley V California, which ruled searching a phone incident to ARREST is not allowed w/o a warrant, let alone a security screening:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_v._California
greggarious is offline