---
title: "The noose is tightening. "IN GENERAL, LAW enforcement agents have to…"
date: 2019-06-23
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a post.
---

# The noose is tightening. "IN GENERAL, LAW enforcement agents have to…

*June 23, 2019 · Facebook*

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The noose is tightening.\
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\"IN GENERAL, LAW enforcement agents have to get a warrant to search your electronic devices. That's the gist of the 2014 Supreme Court case Riley v. California. But the Riley ruling only applies when the police arrest you. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether the same protections apply to American citizens reentering the United States from abroad, and federal appeals courts have issued contradictory opinions.\
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In the absence of a controlling legal authority, CBP goes by its own rules, namely CBP Directive No. 3340-049A, pursuant to which CBP can search any person's device, at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. If you refuse to give up your password, CBP's policy is to seize the device. The agency may use "external equipment" to crack the passcode, "not merely to gain access to the device, but to review, copy, and/or analyze its contents," according to the directive.\
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CBP can look for any kind of evidence, any kind of information, and can share what it finds with any other federal agency, so long as doing so is "consistent with applicable law and policy."\
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[https://theintercept.com/2019/06/22/cbp-border-searches-journalists/](https://theintercept.com/2019/06/22/cbp-border-searches-journalists/){target="_blank"}
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