DHS can seize your electronics within 100miles of US border, says DHS

[NotMyBro]

This sounded so insane that I couldn’t actually believe it:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...rder-seizures/

The Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog has concluded that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security.

The DHS, which secures the nation’s border, in 2009 announced that it would conduct a “Civil Liberties Impact Assessment” of its suspicionless search-and-seizure policy pertaining to electronic devices “within 120 days.” More than three years later, the DHS office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties published a two-page executive summary of its findings.

....

According to legal precedent, the Fourth Amendment — the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures — does not apply along the border. By the way, the government contends the Fourth-Amendment-Free Zone stretches 100 miles inland from the nation’s actual border.

So... you don't have to be really crossing the border for DHS to just take your electronic devices. You just have to be 100 miles from the border and they can just seize your shit... even if you're at your own home.

Insane? Well, I did some searching and it appears to be true:

Are You Living in a Constitution Free Zone?

Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.

The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This " Constitution-Free Zone" includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

http://www.aclu.org/national-securit...tion-free-zone

Land of the "free"....