.Backer of leak suspect sues US
The cofounder of a group supporting a US Army private accused of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing the Department of Homeland Security of violating his civil rights by seizing his laptop without a warrant last fall when he passed through airport security in Chicago.
David House, 24, a computer programmer and former MIT researcher who lives in Cambridge, asserts in the suit filed in US District Court in Boston that federal agents seized his laptop, USB storage device, video camera, and cellphone Nov. 3, when he arrived at O’Hare International Airport after a vacation in Mexico.
The suit, filed on House’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, says agents kept House from catching a connecting flight to Boston while they interrogated him about his association with the accused leaker, Private First Class Bradley Manning, his work for the group that has been raising money for Manning’s defense, and whether he had been in contact with anyone from WikiLeaks while in Mexico.
House “was asked no questions relating to border control, customs, trade, immigration, or terrorism, and at no point did the agents suggest that [House] had broken the law or that his computer contained any illegal material,’’ the suit says. It alleges that House was targeted solely because of his association with Manning.
House was allowed to go the same day and given back his cellphone, but agents kept his laptop, USB device, and camera for 49 days while they reviewed personal and private information as part of an investigation into his work for the Bradley Manning Support Network, the suit alleges. The equipment was given back to him Dec. 22, a day after the ACLU faxed a letter to government officials demanding their immediate return.
“If the government had legitimate reason for wanting to seize my laptop . . . they could obtain a warrant,’’ House said during a telephone interview yesterday. “Instead they wait for me to cross the border so they can claim this nebulous authority.’’
He accused the government of launching a “fishing expedition’’ in an effort to find out who was supporting Manning and said it has had a chilling impact on his group’s lawful efforts to raise money for Manning because supporters fear they will be targeted by the government.
Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, has been imprisoned by the military for a year on charges of leaking classified information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were posted on WikiLeaks and published by The New York Times and other news organizations.
The suit alleges that the government violated House’s First Amendment right to freedom of association and Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. It seeks the return or destruction of any of House’s personal data that is still being held by the government and urges the court to order the Department of Homeland Security to disclose whether it has shared the information with other agencies.
Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, declined to comment on the suit, saying, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.’’
Last fall, a similar civil rights suit was filed in New York on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Press Photographers Association, and a US-French citizen who had his laptop computer searched and confiscated at the Canadian border while he was traveling home to New York on an Amtrak train.
The government has defended its authority to seize and search laptops and other electronic devices from travelers entering the country, in a motion filed in the New York case urging the judge to dismiss that suit.
“The Supreme Court has held that ‘routine searches of the persons and effects of entrants [into the United States] are not subject to any requirement of reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or warrant,’ ’’ Justice Department lawyers wrote in the motion to dismiss the New York case.
The government argued that searching electronic devices is similar to searching luggage or other containers and is crucial for detecting information about terrorism, drug smuggling, child pornography, money laundering, immigration fraud, and other crimes.
The Justice Department maintains that terrorists and criminals would conceal information on laptops if they were exempt from searches.
House, who cofounded the Manning support group last June and has visited Manning in prison, had been questioned by investigators from the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the FBI at his home and at his workplace before the seizure of his laptop last year, according to the suit.
He was also placed on the FBI’s watch list, which resulted in his being detained for questioning on each of seven occasions that he reentered the United States from foreign trips since last September, the suit says.
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said yesterday that the seizure of House’s laptop at the airport allowed the government to get information about the membership of the Bradley Manning Support Network without obtaining a warrant.
She accused the government of “trying to use that border protection power to do an end run around the Fourth Amendment.’’
“This case is an important case not just for David House, but for all Americans,’’ Rose said. “All of us don’t want to be subject to having our personal papers and effects taken and then copied and held by the government in secret without any constitutional recourse or any suspicion that we’ve done anything.’’
Boston.com
David House, 24, a computer programmer and former MIT researcher who lives in Cambridge, asserts in the suit filed in US District Court in Boston that federal agents seized his laptop, USB storage device, video camera, and cellphone Nov. 3, when he arrived at O’Hare International Airport after a vacation in Mexico.
The suit, filed on House’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, says agents kept House from catching a connecting flight to Boston while they interrogated him about his association with the accused leaker, Private First Class Bradley Manning, his work for the group that has been raising money for Manning’s defense, and whether he had been in contact with anyone from WikiLeaks while in Mexico.
House “was asked no questions relating to border control, customs, trade, immigration, or terrorism, and at no point did the agents suggest that [House] had broken the law or that his computer contained any illegal material,’’ the suit says. It alleges that House was targeted solely because of his association with Manning.
House was allowed to go the same day and given back his cellphone, but agents kept his laptop, USB device, and camera for 49 days while they reviewed personal and private information as part of an investigation into his work for the Bradley Manning Support Network, the suit alleges. The equipment was given back to him Dec. 22, a day after the ACLU faxed a letter to government officials demanding their immediate return.
“If the government had legitimate reason for wanting to seize my laptop . . . they could obtain a warrant,’’ House said during a telephone interview yesterday. “Instead they wait for me to cross the border so they can claim this nebulous authority.’’
He accused the government of launching a “fishing expedition’’ in an effort to find out who was supporting Manning and said it has had a chilling impact on his group’s lawful efforts to raise money for Manning because supporters fear they will be targeted by the government.
Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, has been imprisoned by the military for a year on charges of leaking classified information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were posted on WikiLeaks and published by The New York Times and other news organizations.
The suit alleges that the government violated House’s First Amendment right to freedom of association and Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. It seeks the return or destruction of any of House’s personal data that is still being held by the government and urges the court to order the Department of Homeland Security to disclose whether it has shared the information with other agencies.
Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, declined to comment on the suit, saying, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.’’
Last fall, a similar civil rights suit was filed in New York on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Press Photographers Association, and a US-French citizen who had his laptop computer searched and confiscated at the Canadian border while he was traveling home to New York on an Amtrak train.
The government has defended its authority to seize and search laptops and other electronic devices from travelers entering the country, in a motion filed in the New York case urging the judge to dismiss that suit.
“The Supreme Court has held that ‘routine searches of the persons and effects of entrants [into the United States] are not subject to any requirement of reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or warrant,’ ’’ Justice Department lawyers wrote in the motion to dismiss the New York case.
The government argued that searching electronic devices is similar to searching luggage or other containers and is crucial for detecting information about terrorism, drug smuggling, child pornography, money laundering, immigration fraud, and other crimes.
The Justice Department maintains that terrorists and criminals would conceal information on laptops if they were exempt from searches.
House, who cofounded the Manning support group last June and has visited Manning in prison, had been questioned by investigators from the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the FBI at his home and at his workplace before the seizure of his laptop last year, according to the suit.
He was also placed on the FBI’s watch list, which resulted in his being detained for questioning on each of seven occasions that he reentered the United States from foreign trips since last September, the suit says.
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said yesterday that the seizure of House’s laptop at the airport allowed the government to get information about the membership of the Bradley Manning Support Network without obtaining a warrant.
She accused the government of “trying to use that border protection power to do an end run around the Fourth Amendment.’’
“This case is an important case not just for David House, but for all Americans,’’ Rose said. “All of us don’t want to be subject to having our personal papers and effects taken and then copied and held by the government in secret without any constitutional recourse or any suspicion that we’ve done anything.’’
Boston.com
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