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Sen. Ron Wyden will soon introduce legislation to prevent Customs and Border Patrol agents from demanding the passwords to online accounts and mobile devices from American travelers without a warrant.
In a letter sent to Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly dated Feb. 20, the senator from Oregon said that border searches that take place without a warrant circumvent the right to privacy and “weaken our national and economic security.”
“I am alarmed by recent media reports of Americans being detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and pressured to give CBP agents access to their smartphone PIN numbers or otherwise provide access to locked mobile devices,” Sen. Wyden writes. “Circumventing the normal protections for such private information is simply unacceptable.”
He goes on to say that he will introduce legislation that will ensure that the “4th Amendment is respected at the border.”
Read the letter in full:
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