There might be limited situations where we think it's legitimate to look into a person's phone with real basis to think they've engaged in illegal activity and evidence on it. Transporting child pornography images, for example.



But, for most of us, our phones and our laptops contain an incredible volume of private and sensitive information from years worth of emails to family photos, intimate discussions with a spouse or a partner, medical records, proprietary business information, government research, as in this case.

We believe that people are not legally compelled to turn it over.



Now, everyone needs to make a practical decision about what they want to do because there can be some ramifications.



We've heard numerous reports of border agents holding people in a secondary screening room for hours after they've refused to turn over a password. And we've seen reports over the years and recently of border agents seizing the phone or the laptop and shipping it off to a government facility where it might sit for weeks or months waiting for a forensic examiner to try to break into it.  

Yes, but in California, there are some protections that have been announced by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal court that covers California and neighboring states.



In a case a few years ago, that court said when government agents want to conduct a forensic search of a phone or a laptop – meaning they download all the data off that phone and search through it with electronic search tools – they have to have reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing.



They can't just do it based on a hunch or someone's national origin or religion. 

U.S. citizens are going to be let into the country. You may be delayed, you may be inconvenienced, you may be intimidated at the border, but you're going to get home.



Visa holders and other non-citizens have to consider whether there's a risk that if they don't comply with the request for their password, they may be turned away at the border.



For people in all of these situations – citizens or not – the best protection may be to limit what devices and how much data you're carrying with you.



If you don't have your normal phone, you just have a special travel-only phone without a lot of your personal data, that might be the safest way to avoid a government agent looking through it without good reason.

If you are a U.S. citizen and the officers’ questions become intrusive, you have the right to talk to a lawyer before answering any questions.



You should be aware that refusing to cooperate with officers may result in delay and/or further inspection.



If you are a lawful permanent resident, your right to talk to a lawyer depends on the circumstances.



If the officers’ questions become intrusive, you may ask to speak to a lawyer but, in some situations, officers have the authority to refuse to allow you to speak to a lawyer before you answer their questions.



If you are a non-citizen visa holder selected for further questioning, you may ask to talk to a lawyer but you generally do not have the right to consult a lawyer before answering the officers’ questions.



Importantly, for anyone attempting to enter the United States, if a customs officer or border agent informs you that you are under arrest, or if it becomes clear that he or she suspects you have committed a crime, you have the right to talk to a lawyer before answering any questions. 

We do not know what Customs and Border Protection’s policy is on length of detention. We would strongly argue that indefinite detention is unlawful.