NEW YORK _ A federal judge rejected a Trump administration policy allowing agents at U.S. border crossings and airports to arbitrarily search the phones and laptops of international travelers.
The agents must demonstrate individualized suspicion that a traveler's devices contain digital contraband before conducting searches that would tap troves of personal data such as photographs and social-media posts, U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper ruled Tuesday in Boston.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which sued on behalf of about a dozen people, called the ruling a major victory for privacy rights. Customs and Border Protection searched more than 33,000 devices last year, almost four times the amount from three years earlier, the groups said.
Warrantless searches of travelers' belongings have long been a feature of U.S. borders and airports, where the government's need to deter terrorism and illegal entry by criminals justified an exception to the U.S. Constitution's ban on unreasonable search and seizure. The plaintiffs argued that exception became too powerful in the digital age.
"By putting an end to the government's ability to conduct suspicionless fishing expeditions, the court reaffirms that the border is not a lawless place and that we don't lose our privacy rights when we travel," Esha Bhandari, an attorney with the ACLU, said in a statement.
The media office for U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn't immediately return a call seeking comment on the ruling.
