Corporate business travellers are being warned that laptop computers can potentially be searched and seized at US borders.
This affects both US and non US citizens.
Global Executive Director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (A global business travel organisation) Susan Gurley said, ‘While the incidence of laptop seizure or the confiscation of other electronic devices remains rather small when compared to the numbers of business travellers entering the country, the implications for individuals who fall into this category can be rather significant.’
ACTE represents the global business travel industry and membership consists of senior travel industry executives from 82 countries.
A recent survey conducted by the ACTE concluded that a huge segment of travel industry directors, vice presidents, and managers are unaware of the longstanding US policy that allows laptops and other electronic devices to be searched and seized at border crossings.
‘Sixty-two per cent of respondents to a recent poll indicated they were unaware that computers and other devices, such as Blackberries, iPhones, iPods, flashdrives and cameras, can be examined, searched, and seized, without warrant or provocation, when crossing a US border,’ said a press release from the organisation.
A spokesperson from US Customs and Border Protection said, ‘It is not the intent of CBP to subject travellers to unwarranted scrutiny. However, unless exempt, all travellers entering the United States, including US citizens, are required to participate in CBP processing. As part of the process, CBP officers are verifying admissibility and looking for possible terrorists, terrorist weapons or narcotics.’
She added that laptop computers may be subject to detention for violation of criminal law such as if the laptop contains information with possible ties to terrorism, narcotics smuggling, child pornography or other criminal activity.
Owner of Cayman Islands travel agency, Adventure Travel at Grand Harbour, Gail Duquesnay (and former US Consular agent to the Cayman Islands) said she is aware of the fact that US Customs and Border Protection can search people’s laptops but she had not had any clients who experienced this.
‘It is my interpretation that a person would never be stopped unless they were already under the radar of the US system,’ she said. ‘They just don’t take anyone’s laptop.’
She said she feels that it is not something the general public should be worried about.
In the ACTE survey, only four of 100 respondents stated they knew of a traveller who had had a device or devices seized. One cited a laptop while two others listed laptops and other electronic devices seized.
The ACTE noted that the government is not required to state why a laptop or other device has been seized.
‘Further controversy has developed over whether or not an individual is required to provide authorities with passwords to open certain files (doing so may be regarded as waiving rights to require a warrant, as some authorities maintain)’ said the release.
The spokesperson from Customs and Border Protection said the CBP officers adhere to all requirements to protect privileged, personal and business confidential information.
Eighty-one per cent of survey respondents were unaware that laptops and other electronic devices that were seized could be held indefinitely. ‘The loss of access to proprietary data or personal financial records can be devastating on a number of levels,’ the release stated.
Susan Gurley stated that ACTE is not advising its members to hide data from the US government or border officials. ‘Our primary concern is to alert travellers that their laptops and other electronic devices can be seized at a border without explanation, provocation, or even likely cause. Thus informed, they can carry the barest minimum of data they can afford to lose on their laptops.”
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