# Obama wants to search everyone's mobile devices: hoax? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442 "2009-03-31T15:29:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/1 "2009-03-31T15:29:58Z")
Here’s the link to a blog post and a rather authentic-looking news reporting on that [Obama is going to infringe on everyone’s privacy and search their laptop/mobile devices](http://sandrarose.com/2009/03/30/under-obamas-new-copyright-plan-the-government-can-search-your-laptop/) I smell a fish because no major new sites are reporting it, the only sources are log, and the broadcasting station is Russia Today? Anyone have any more information on this? My google-fu turns up nothing. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/2 "2009-03-31T15:38:16Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Here’s the link to a blog post and a rather authentic-looking news reporting on that [Obama is going to infringe on everyone’s privacy and search their laptop/mobile devices](http://sandrarose.com/2009/03/30/under-obamas-new-copyright-plan-the-government-can-search-your-laptop/) > > I smell a fish because no major new sites are reporting it, the only sources are log, and the broadcasting station is Russia Today? > > Anyone have any more information on this? My google-fu turns up nothing. In what sense would you call this “authentic-looking”? All I see are a bunch of blogs quoting each other. Ed ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/3 "2009-03-31T15:55:24Z")
It looks like the video is referring to [ACTA.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement) “Infringing on everyone’s privacy” sounds like a bit much but since the negotiations are [secret](http://www.pcworld.com/article/161234/obama_administration_says_treaty_text_is_state_secret.html), it’s hard to say what will come of it. Maybe this is SOP for treaty negotiations. I really don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/4 "2009-03-31T16:25:04Z")
I looked at the OP’s link and then at the “source” link in that page, and could not find any source for the statement at all. [Wikipedia has an article on ACTA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement), which contains a statement very similar to the one in OP’s link, prefaced by “Newspaper reports indicate that…”. Cited are the Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail (must pay to read). I found an [actual news report on ACTA](http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/07/09/231412/police-could-get-powers-to-seize-and-search-laptops-and-ipods-for-illegal.htm). However, both these articles and the one I linked are all from last May/June. So this is not exactly breaking news and may not really happen at all. A search on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will show some other blogs and whatnot but no hard reporting. One item from a [Wired blog](http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/international-i.html) (again, from September, not exactly fresh) calls this “rampant speculation.” Apparently a chief source of all the commotion is [WikiLeaks](http://wikileaks.org/wiki/G-8_plurilateral_intellectual_property_trade_agreement_discussion_paper) (isn’t there a Wiki for everything now?). ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/5 "2009-03-31T16:30:51Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > In what sense would you call this “authentic-looking”? All I see are a bunch of blogs quoting each other. > > Ed Clarification: The video looks like a proper broadcast hence I use the word ‘authentic looking’, not for the blog. I am not even sure if the video is authentic (I’m not from the US, btw). Further edit: is it just making mountains out from molehills? ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/6 "2009-03-31T18:07:06Z")
I read up on ACTA the other day over here. [Link.](http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/27/video-what-exactly-is-in-acta/) Hot Air is a conservative blog, but the information presented appears factual. Bottom line: not a hoax. Perhaps not the end of the world, but still an apparently problematic trade agreement for privacy defenders. Something to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/7 "2009-03-31T19:59:34Z")
So the TSA will be nabbing all of our cellphones, MP3 players and laptops, and searching them for illegal downloads, huh? These would be the people that had me waiting in line for 30 minutes to get through security last week in Chicago? The ones that don’t have enough people to cover the job they have now? What are the chances that this would actually happen? Every single air traveller would be livid. Not because of the searches, but because of the time delay. “XYZ Airlines recommends that you arrive at the airport 6 hours before your flight, 8 hours for international flights, to allow time to clear security.” ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/8 "2009-03-31T20:29:26Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > So the TSA will be nabbing all of our cellphones, MP3 players and laptops, and searching them for illegal downloads, huh? This is exactly how the alarmists would like you to react. I think these bloggers are raising the cry to drive traffic to their sites. As has been mentioned in my post and others and their links, ACTA is in the negotiation process and nothing is a done deal. There are ideas on the table but who knows what form the final agreement will take, if it happens at all. First, remember that this is an international treaty and worst-case scenario would be some sort of searches for travelers leaving the US, or searches by Customs for visitors entering the country. For this to happen, it would have to be funded (oh yeah, we’re flush with cash right now :rolleyes:), and the resulting outcry from the public would be deafening. I think the whole issue is overheated and doubt that much of substance will actually come about. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/9 "2009-03-31T20:58:39Z")
You people have not been paying attention. Laptops and other devices have been searched and sometimes retained and even confiscated at the border for ever now and the courts have upheld this as legal. It is nothing new. It was going on a lot in the last few years and I have posted about it. Maybe they were not in practice concerned about pirated music but they were already searching and looking what you had in there. I already posted my concern long time ago that they might start checking to see if all your software and files were legit. Of course, every time I say this a bunch of people tell me I am paranoid and it has never happened to them. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/10 "2009-03-31T21:05:56Z")
Samples > [@](#): > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103030.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103030.html) > August 1, 2008 > Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border > No Suspicion Required Under DHS Policies > > Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. > [@](#): > > [The Seattle Times | Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment, travel, restaurants and opinion for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008067440_searches23m0.html) > July 23, 2008 > Privacy vs. border security: Critics say laptop searches cross the line > > Jawad Khaki, a corporate executive from Sammamish, was returning home from a business trip to Ireland and Germany last year when a customs agent at the airport asked him to turn on his cellphone. > > He already had told the agent in detail where he had traveled and why, so when the agent began looking over the to-do list and calendar in his phone, Khaki was shocked. > > “It was an invasion of privacy,” he said. “I thought it was going too far.” > > Khaki’s story joins what seem to be growing numbers of similar reports from people — many of them Muslims or of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent — who say that their laptops, cellphones or other electronic devices were searched or seized at airports or U.S. border crossings, and that they’ve been questioned extensively. > > The heightened scrutiny is prompting concern and raising questions among a diverse array of groups, from Muslim associations to law firms, corporate groups and technology organizations. > > Among their questions: What if a traveler’s laptop includes corporate secrets, a lawyer’s confidential documents, a journalist’s notes from a protected source, or personal financial and medical information? > > Some advocacy organizations say they’ve asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security how often such searches or seizures take place, who gets selected, what the government does with any copied data, who has access to it, what safeguards are in place, and how the data is stored and eventually destroyed. > > But so far, the organizations say, they haven’t gotten clear answers. Meanwhile, two groups have filed a lawsuit to get that information, and some businesses are taking a variety of steps to minimize their risks. > > Even Congress has gotten involved, holding a hearing last month on the subject of “Laptop Searches and Other Violations of Privacy Faced by Americans Returning from Overseas Travel.” > [@](#): > > [http://chronicle.com/news/article/1826/canadian-student-detained-by-us-border-officials-who-confiscate-his-laptop](http://chronicle.com/news/article/1826/canadian-student-detained-by-us-border-officials-who-confiscate-his-laptop) > > March 19, 2007 > Canadian Student Detained by U.S. Border Officials, Who Confiscate His Laptop ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/11 "2009-03-31T21:16:16Z")
The blog cited by the OP seems to be confused, because it talks first about security checks at all airports, and then talks about international borders. Firstly, the TSA doesn’t check laptops except to make sure they aren’t some kind of weapon or explosive device in disguise, and the Obama administration doesn’t seem to be proposing to change this. So domestic travel within the US won’t be changed. Secondly, apart from the TSA check, the government doesn’t check people as they leave the US, so they’d have to set up a whole new system to check laptops as they leave the US. I don’t see that happening. (But, of course, you have to go through immigration and customs at your destination, and they might check your laptop). Thirdly, immigration and customs already have extensive powers to check anything you are bringing into the US, so if you are bringing in a laptop, or a suitcase full of DVDs, they can check the contents of all of these. Some reasons why they might do so are to look for child pornography, to look for pirated music, or to look for evidence that you are entering the US with the intention to work illegally. And people have expressed concerns about this meaning that their laptops full of business secrets can be examined by the government. So it’s already happening, because when you enter a country you have very few rights to privacy. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wants-to-search-everyones-mobile-devices-hoax/491442/12 "2009-03-31T22:20:29Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Thirdly, immigration and customs already have extensive powers to check anything you are bringing into the US, so if you are bringing in a laptop, or a suitcase full of DVDs, they can check the contents of all of these. Some reasons why they might do so are to look for child pornography, to look for pirated music, or to look for evidence that you are entering the US with the intention to work illegally. And people have expressed concerns about this meaning that their laptops full of business secrets can be examined by the government. So it’s already happening, because when you enter a country you have very few rights to privacy. What has changed **(meaning it was changed under the previous administration and previous Congress)** is Customs and Border Patrol claim the right to search within one hundred miles of the border, and not just at the border. Two-thirds of the US population is within 100 miles of the border and subject to warrentless “border” searches. It’s already being done on the border with Mexico. See [ACLU Assails 100-Mile Border Zone as ‘Constitution-Free’ - Update](http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/aclu-assails-10.html). Perhaps the wingnuts need to spend some time checking their facts and attribute the details correctly.