By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
The Border Patrol cannot confiscate or download every laptop or electronic device brought into the U.S., a federal appeals court said, ruling that people have an expectation their data are private and that the government must have "reasonable suspicion" before it starts to snoop.
A federal appeals court has ruled as constitutional a law giving telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the government with its email and telephone eavesdropping program.
A federal appeals court has ruled as constitutional a law giving telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the government with its email and telephone eavesdropping program.
Oregon lawmakers carefully crafted two laws to prevent pedophiles from using sexually explicit materials to lure and "groom" their child victims. But a panel of three appeals court judges struck down the laws as "overbroad." What will the laws' defenders — Oregon's attorney general and 36 district attorneys — do next?
"It is little comfort to assume that the government — for now — does not have the time or resources to seize and search the millions of devices that accompany the millions of travelers who cross our borders. It is the potential unfettered dragnet effect that is troublesome," Judge McKeown wrote.
"Electronic devices often retain sensitive and confidential information far beyond the perceived point of erasure, notably in the form of browsing histories and records of deleted files," Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote in the majority opinion. "This quality makes it impractical, if not impossible, for individuals to make meaningful decisions regarding what digital content to expose to the scrutiny that accompanies international travel. A person's digital life ought not be hijacked simply by crossing a border."
