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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

I don't carry any of these elctronic gadgets, myself.  I still don't think 
this is right .. Tomorrow's WSJ   ...bobford


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Excerpt:


"When you look at your BlackBerry, you see a gadget full of important email, 
contacts and other files. Increasingly, authorities see admissible evidence.

In a small but growing number of cases, customs officials and police officers 
have been carrying out warrantless searches of the contents of laptops, 
mobile phones and other wireless devices. This spring, the 9th Circuit U.S. 
Court of Appeals in California ruled that "reasonable suspicion is not needed 
for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage 
devices at the border," including international airports.


The contents of this laptop (here in an ordinary airport scan) can now be 
searched without a warrant.
And in a handful of instances, courts have supported local police 
interpretations of legal searches to include browsing through phone call 
lists and text messages on cellphones when they arrest suspects.

Adam Gershowitz, a professor at the South Texas College of Law, argues law 
enforcement officials are flirting with a dangerous invasion of privacy under 
the "search incident to arrest" doctrine, which allows officers to search 
"containers" on the person of or within the reach of suspects without 
probable cause." .......


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122532444653782321.html