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A comment on Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights. Parent comment

Re:Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searc... by onetimemanytime on Monday March 12, 2018 @04:29PM (#16571273)
>>It's possible the TSA will claim that taking a device for some amount of time and giving it back doesn't qualify as a (4th amendment) search.

Not likely to work: "We just want to search your house for 30 minutes" or "you can have your document back after we photocopy it, so no warrant needed."

The idea is that they cannot do certain things without a warrant.

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Re:Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searc... by mcherm on Monday March 12, 2018 @05:02PM (#16571599)
I think the fear is that the TSA will deny having searched the phone and the complaintant will have not way of proving that they did.
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Re:Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searc... by oldandtired on Monday March 12, 2018 @05:25PM (#16571810)
Having the system have an ability to log all accesses after switching on get past this problem. As the logs will be proof the system was searched while not in your hands.
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Re:Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searc... by mcherm on Tuesday March 13, 2018 @05:41PM (#16580101)
Does the system have such an ability?

I can't exactly go re-write iOS or Android (technically, I suppose I could do the latter) in order to add this feature.

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Re:Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searc... by iwalsh on Monday March 12, 2018 @06:27PM (#16572255)
>"We just want to search your house for 30 minutes" or "you can have your document back after we photocopy it, so no warrant needed."

This scenario would be quite a bit more akin to "let me have that locked briefcase you're carrying through security, no need for you to unlock it" and then returning it to you locked after 10 minutes.

Was that a 4th amendment search if they claim that they didn't look through your briefcase?

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Re:Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searc... by dragonwriter on Monday March 12, 2018 @06:30PM (#16572291)
> Was that a 4th amendment search if they claim that they didn't look through your briefcase?

It's a seizure whether or not they looked through it, and it's a search if they examined—by any means, technical or otherwise—the contents in a way they wouldn't have been practically able to without seizing it, irrespective of whether they opened it (and even more independent of whether they claim they opened it.)

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