In a case that raises a myriad of questions for corporate travelers with confidential or other sensitive information, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held uncatagorically that the contents of laptop computers may be searched at international borders without a search warrant and without any probable cause.  The case is U.S. v. Romm, and the search of the laptop in that case included a review of internet caches, and the forensic recovery of deleted files, all of which led to charges and a conviction unrelated to border or security issues.  Although there has long been established a "border search" exception to the 4th Amendment  for obvious reasons of general security and identifying foreign contraband, this is the first case that clearly justifies going beyond confirming that a laptop is not a bomb, and actually upholding the detailed scrutinizing of its contents resulting in charges and a conviction unrelated to border security issues. 

 It should be noted that the defendant in Romm was a child pornographer.  Not the most sympathetic defendant, but the potentially over-reaching implications of the broad holding in this case may prove the axiom that bad facts make bad law.

Photo Courtesy of Robbed, under Creative Commons License