You might remember Duane Kerzic as the photographer who was detained and cited for trespassing in 2008 by Amtrak police for taking pictures inside New York’s Penn Station while participating in Amtrak’s annual photo contest, “Picture Our Train.” Kerzic was later vindicated by an undisclosed financial settlement and an appearance on “The Colbert Report,” and now he’s a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s laptop search policy at the border.
According to NPPA:
In July 2007, Kerzic was returning to the United States from a trip to Canada where he’d been photographing lighthouses and national parks for a story. He was riding his motorcycle and his laptop and camera gear were in his saddlebag when he arrived at the Customs and Border Protection inspection point at the Thousand Island border crossing. When agents asked him where he was going and then referred him to secondary screening, he was asked to wait inside a building while his motorcycle and saddlebag remained outside. Kerzic could see CBP agents going through his belongings outside, and in a few minutes a CBP agent came into the building with Kerzic’s laptop in his hands.
After looking through the photographer’s laptop for about 15 minutes, Kerzic was permitted to leave and to enter the United States.
The policy authorizes US Customs and Border Protection agents to conduct suspicionless searches on U.S. citizens’ electronic devices at international borders and then copy and distribute the devices’ contents (even after the individual is permitted entry into the United States). And that, needless to say, is deeply concerning to journalists who rely heavily on protecting their sources from disclosure and possible retribution to do their jobs.
As a First Amendment concern NPPA’s lawyer, Mickey H. Osterreicher, believes that “government officials’ unfettered ability to search journalists’ laptops and other electronic devices will have a chilling effect on their ability to gather and disseminate the news once it becomes widely known that any information they gather may be subject to search and seizure without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.”
“This will directly impact their ability to provide confidentiality to their sources,” Osterreicher said. “One can only imagine the added difficulty, if not impossibility, for journalists to conduct interviews, report on foreign relations or cover stories involving allegations of corruption when news sources believe that the information gathered abroad may be reviewed, copied and shared by agencies of the government without any of the normally guaranteed Constitutional protections.”
More important, these DHS policies not only impact journalists, but all Americans.
“Allowing government officials to look through American’s most personal materials – the things we store in our laptops, cameras, and cell phones – without reasonable suspicion is unconstitutional and inconsistent with American values, and a waste of limited resources. It doesn’t make us ‘safer’. Instead it ‘builds a bigger haystack’ and diverts resources away from proven law enforcement methods.”
The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the National Press Photographers Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, graduate student Pascal Abidor, and Duane Kerzic as plaintiffs against Janet Napolitano, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security head, argues that Americans do not relinquish their constitutional rights when they decide to travel outside the United States, i.e., protection from unreasonable searches and seizures that are protected by the Fourth Amendment.
Source: NPPA Joins Federal Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of DHS Laptop Search
boywithgrenade.org 
Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Many thanks, However I am going through problems with your RSS.
I don’t understand the reason why I can’t join it. Is there anybody else getting identical RSS issues?
Anybody who knows the solution can you kindly respond? Thanx!!
Good day! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay.
I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look
forward to new posts.
Hi there! I know this is kind of off-topic but I needed
to ask. Does running a well-established blog
like yours take a massive amount work? I am brand new to blogging but I do write in my journal on a daily basis.
I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my personal experience and thoughts
online. Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions
or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate it!
Hello to every body, it’s my first visit of this
blog; this website consists of awesome and actually good material for readers.
Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before but after browsing through many of
the articles I realized it’s new to me. Regardless, I’m certainly delighted I found it and I’ll be
bookmarking it and checking back often!
Nice replies in return of this difficulty with solid arguments and describing
all concerning that.
So it creates instant visibility of the news submitted
at press release submission websites. Approved Do – Follow
blog comments get indexed by search engines and commenters’ websites get the promotion they deserve.
In press release distribution service , we are going
to market clients product or service in high PR websites.
I am genuinely thankful to the holder of this web page who has
shared this enormous piece of writing at here.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog
posts. After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed
and I hope you write again very soon!
What’s up everyone, it’s my first go to see at this website, and article
is in fact fruitful for me, keep up posting
these articles or reviews.
My family members all the time say that I am killing my time
here at web, however I know I am getting knowledge every
day by reading thes good posts.
I think that what you said made a great deal of sense.
However, think on this, what if you composed a catchier post
title? I ain’t saying your information isn’t solid., but what if you added a title that makes people desire more?
I mean Duane Kerzic Suing Homeland Security
| is kinda plain. You ought to glance at Yahoo’s home page and see how they write post
titles to get viewers to open the links. You might try adding a
video or a picture or two to grab people interested about everything’ve got to say.
Just my opinion, it could bring your posts a little livelier.
Thanks , I’ve recently been looking for info approximately this subject for a while and yours is the
greatest I have found out till now. However, what in regards to the bottom line?
Are you positive about the supply?
Hello to every one, as I am truly keen of reading this web site’s post
to be updated regularly. It contains pleasant information.
Fantastic web site. Plenty of useful information here.
I am sending it to several buddies ans also sharing in delicious.
And obviously, thanks to your sweat!
I have read a few excellent stuff here. Definitely
value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much attempt you set to make this type of wonderful informative web site.
Terrific work! That is the kind off information that
should be shared aroubd the internet. Diswgrace on Gopgle for no longer
positioning this post higher! Come on over and discuss with my web site .
Thank you =)
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been tto this website before but aftsr reading through some of the
post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking
and checking back frequently!
Thanks for finally writing about >Duane Kerzic Suing Homeland Security
| <Loved it!
Fine way of describing, and nice paragraph to obtain data concerning my presentation subject matter, which i
am going to present in institution of higher education.