Hunter writes:
Amid complaints from travelers about Department of Homeland Security agents now demanding they unlock their cell phones to allow searches of the devices, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked the department to explain what was going on. They simply ignored his request.
“It’s very concerning that [the Department of Homeland Security] hasn’t managed to answer my questions about the number of digital searches at the border, five weeks after I requested that basic information,” Wyden, a leading congressional advocate for civil liberties and privacy, told Mother Jones on Tuesday through a spokesman. “If CBP were to undertake a system of indiscriminate digital searches, that would distract CBP from its core mission, dragging time and attention away from catching the bad guys.”
Given that he can’t seem to get DHS’s attention any other way, he’s proceeding to step two: He says he’ll introduce legislation to require warrants for such phone searches and which will forbid DHS from demanding passwords to the devices.
Read more on Daily Kos.
h/t, Joe Cadillic