It’s a well-known fact to anyone who has traveled abroad that US Customs and Border Protection is exempt from needing a warrant to access phones and other electronic devices. But in a shocking report from Washington PostUS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders have admitted to lawmakers that CBP agents copied some travelers’ personal information and stored it in a massive database.
According to the report, this practice has continued since 2007, with users’ personal data accessible to over 2,700 BKP agents. These agents do not need a warrant to access the database, nor do they need to record the rationale for accessing certain information. Government officials add about 10,000 each year to the database, Washington Post reported.
These details were revealed in a letter that US Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus. According to of Washington postas these two details were not previously known to the database.
https://mashable.com/article/twitter-whistleblower-congress-hearing
In his letter to CBP, Wyden wrote that many travelers screened at places like airports and border crossings are not informed of their rights before their equipment is searched.
Wyden wrote that “Innocent Americans should not be tricked into unlocking their phones and laptops,” and said CBP should not “dump” all this illegally obtained data into a central database , only to “keep the records for fifteen years and allow thousands of DHS employees to search Americans’ personal records whenever they want.”
According to a CBP official who spoke with mail, the official said the agency’s directive gives its officers the authority to scroll through any traveler’s device in a “basic search.” Which can then turn into an “advanced search” if they find any “reasonable suspicion” that a traveler is breaking the law or doing something that poses a threat to national security. Aaron Bowker, director of CBP’s field operations office, said mail that the agency copies people’s data only when it is “absolutely necessary”.
CBP came under some scrutiny in 2020, when Senator Wyden pushed for an investigation into the government office’s use of phone location data. CBP admitted to spending over $500,000 to access location data extracted from apps used by millions of Americans.
