Muslim woman sues US border agency for making copies of her iPhone data

[midian182]

A hot potato: Nobody wants someone else searching through their private phone content, which is why so many people object to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) engaging in the practice. Now, an American Muslim woman is suing border officials after her iPhone was taken by agents and had its data copied.

Rejhane Lazoja was returning home to the US from Zurich, Switzerland, on February 26, 2018, with her six-year-old daughter. After using an automated Passport Control kiosk, customs officers held Lazoja and questioned her, before requesting that she unlock her iPhone 6S Plus. “Since there was no stated reason for me to unlock my iPhone, I refused," she said, in an affidavit.

Lazoja added that the phone had photos of her in "a state of undress without her hijab," along with private messages from her lawyer. She alleges that the device and SIM card was confiscated and kept by border agents for 130 days without an explanation as to why. It was only returned after she contacted attorneys at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"Ms Lazoja is a Muslim woman and wears a hijab (a headscarf) in accordance with her religious beliefs. Pursuant to her sincerely held beliefs, Ms Lazoja cannot be seen in a state of undress by men who are not family members," the documents state.

“Neither was there probable cause, nor a warrant [to search the phone]. Therefore, the search and seizure of Ms Lazoja’s property violated her rights under the Fourth Amendment,” the filing says.

One of Lazoja’s attorney’s told Ars Technica that federal authorities “forensically cracked” her iPhone and copied everything before returning it. Now, in a federal court in New Jersey, her legal team have filed a "Motion to Return Property," which relates to the copied digital data. They want the judge to order the CBP to return it, delete any copies, and reveal all third-parties that received full or partial copies.

CBP says only 0.007 percent of international travelers were subject to a digital border search during the fiscal year 2017, up 0.002 percent from a year earlier. “All travelers arriving to the US are subject to CBP inspection. Failure to provide information to assist CBP may result in the detention and/or seizure of the electronic device,” said a CBP spokesperson. “All persons, baggage, and merchandise arriving in, or departing from, the US are subject to inspection, search and detention.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/76138-muslim-woman-sues-us-border-agency-making-copies.html

 

[Uncle Al]

These agents are thoroughly briefed on their limitations. The Supreme Court decision about the privacy of a persons cell phone data was widely distributed within the federal and state law enforcement communities. Unless these agents can produce a tangible cause & reason for their actions they could be charged with the federal offense and terminated with prejudice. Their failure to obtain a proper warrant prior to this seizure and violation must be dealt with harshly. The rights of American citizens are not at the whim of law enforcement to break no matter their opinion. If our Attorney General were a real law man he would understand this and crack down harshly on any and ALL that chose to ignore the law.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Another case of don't keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone?

 

[Lionvibez]

I guess people haven't learned yet. Carry a secondary phone when you a travel to the us or a travel phone and leave your main phone at home.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Another case of don't keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone?

lmao!
You're very confused. Read the paragraph again.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Another case of don't keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone?

lmao!
You're very confused. Read the paragraph again.

While it simply says "a state of undress without her hijab", we have no idea if those photos are simply her without her hijab, or more revealing photos....

Either way, you should NEVER have anything on your phone (or any other device) that you aren't comfortable sharing with the world at large...

Saying all this, US Customs is still in the wrong here, and they should be punished accordingly...

 

[hahahanoobs]

While it simply says "a state of undress without her hijab", we have no idea if those photos are simply her without her hijab, or more revealing photos....

Either way, you should NEVER have anything on your phone (or any other device) that you aren't comfortable sharing with the world at large...

Saying all this, US Customs is still in the wrong here, and they should be punished accordingly...

Your first statement is leaving out the FULL context.
Your second statement is funny at best.
Yes, yes they are.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Your first statement is leaving out the FULL context.
Your second statement is funny at best.
Yes, yes they are.

What FULL context? Your post leaves EVERYTHING out....
Care to share?

 

[hahahanoobs]

What FULL context? Your post leaves EVERYTHING out....
Care to share?

I posted the ENTIRE paragraph.
Your reply contained one line from it....

 

[Squid Surprise]

I posted the ENTIRE paragraph.
Your reply contained one line from it....

I fail to see how your post is relevant... please illuminate

 

[hahahanoobs]

I fail to see how your post is relevant... please illuminate

If you don't know, don't reply.
#notrocketscience

 

[Squid Surprise]

If you don't know, don't reply.
#notrocketscience

Lol, so it was just trolling... fair enough... perhaps you might want to do some reading...

 

[mailpup]

Further personal comments will disappear into the ether.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

There's probably tens of thousands of interactions between travelers and US customs officials every day, and in this case it sounds like one of them made a mistake.

But because the woman who had her phone taken was a Muslim we can call this officer a racist. and because he was wearing a uniform and acting as a customs official we will call all the customs officials racist. And now we have a very juicy story - queue the #internetOutrage

One important detail though - she refused to unlock her phone. She may be right, she may be within her rights - but to exercise those rights you need a lawyer, lots of money, and it'll take a long time.
If she doesn't want a man to see her without her hijab then request a female officer search through the phone. This probably would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.

 

[cliffordcooley]

If she doesn't want a man to see her without her hijab then request a female officer search through the phone.

That could have been a suggestion from either party.

 

[p51d007]

I'm about as conservative as they come. But, I'm also I don't care what you do, but LEO's have to follow the Constitution.
Was she a suspect? Did she break any law?
Then get a warrant if you want to see what's on my phone.
Just as if they knocked on your door, without a warrant, tough toenails.
Now, "for your convenience" they are playing around in some states with electronic
drivers license cards that are stored on your phone so you don't have to carry one.
How nice! If I were forced to do that, I'd make it my screensaver or lockscreen wallpaper.
You know good and well most people will have to unlock their phone to access that, and
once they do, they can look at anything.
The LAW is the LAW, and the minimum of the 4th, 5th amendment are "bill of rights"
Rights not granted by GOVERNMENT, but rights all people have, blessed to them by
the creator (I used creator instead of God just to be PC). They are rights that ALL PEOPLE
should have and the bill of rights, along with the Constitution (USA) are suppose to be the
limits government should have. Unfortunately, government wants to be the know all do all
thing. TSA, Homeland are just testing grounds for how much freedom people are willing to
give up, under the idea of "safety". Well, when you give up your rights, you never get them back
unless you use force (war) to do it. Which, is why we have a 2nd amendment. An armed republic,
is SUPPOSE to keep an out of control government, in check. Unfortunately, people (USA) are too
"fat, dumb & happy" and are more concerned about which hollyweird person is tweeting/instagraming
than what government is doing. Plus, the (un)education system has "dumbed down" the public
that most don't have a clue. As long as their phones work, that's all that matters.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Another case of don't keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone?

That's a pretty terrible conclusion.

Without probable cause they should not have any right.

 

[Darth Shiv]

If she doesn't want a man to see her without her hijab then request a female officer search through the phone.

That could have been a suggestion from either party.

Pretty sure that wasn't her primary concern. Violation of privacy without cause is a pretty hot topic.

 

[Sausagemeat]

This woman should be entitled to her privacy. Officials should require a warrant to search your phone. They need one to search your property, I don’t see this as any different. However it bothers me that they are pulling the religion card. She should have no more entitlement to privacy than anyone else just because she is a Muslim who carries unfrocked pictures of herself on her phone.

Funny really, we get upset at instances like this but yet we keep continuing to allow our device manufacturers to harvest data from our phones on an hourly basis

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

That could have been a suggestion from either party.

True, but how would the customs official know that the reason she didn't want her phone searched was because of those pictures.

I'd also guess the woman is smarter than that. If you give someone a reason why they can't do something they'll come up with a way around it. I don't think she wanted them looking at her phone, and I'd guess she never explained why at the time. She knew she had done nothing wrong and that was her reason at the time.

 

[regiq]

Customs officers don't need a warrant to search your phone at the border, simple extortion does it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/can-us-border-agents-search-your-phone-at-the-airport-2017-2
I really hate airports, everyone is a suspect there.
The 9/11 terrorists were successful in taking away a part of our civil rights.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Customs officers don't need a warrant to search your phone at the border, simple extortion does it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/can-us-border-agents-search-your-phone-at-the-airport-2017-2
I really hate airports, everyone is a suspect there.
The 9/11 terrorists were successful in taking away a part of our civil rights.

While sad, it’s true. You have the right not to have them search your stuff - and they have the right to refuse you entry.... you want in, you have to do what they say.... however, keeping copies of the contents of the phone after you were allowed in doesn’t seem constitutional - especially without any warrant.

 

[wiyosaya]

Another case of don't keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone?

And what makes you think that the pictures were of her naked?

In the article it clearly says the following:

Lazoja added that the phone had photos of her in "a state of undress without her hijab," along with private messages from her lawyer.

While it does not elucidate on the exact state of undress, what I got out of this is that for anyone other than her husband, seeing her without her hijab is forbidden by her religion. There's a big difference there between being naked and being without her hijab.

Personally, I think this says more about you than of her.

I am glad that people on both sides of the political spectrum see this as a violation of her rights as a citizen of the US.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

I agree the federal officers need to follow the law, whatever it is. Personally however, I feel anyone coming into the country, US citizen or not; may be thoroughly investigated or to whatever extent felt necessary to ensure the safety of the country. I'm not saying what happened here was right or wrong, I'm just stating my opinion on what I think is appropriate for people coming into the country.

And you people need to stop with saying this kind of stuff is "racism". Muslim is a religion, not a race. Is it profiling? Certainly, but it isn't racism.

 

[Roush60]

Another case of don't keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone?

she didn't have naked pictures of herself on the camera, but did have photos of herself without her hijab and that is against her religious belief system as stated in the article. Or did you skip over that part of the article? The hijab is the full head covering with, at times, only the eyes left visible and with some women, depending on the company they are with, fully covered, including the eyes covered with a semi-transparent material. In some Muslim countries, they cannot even go outside the home unless accompanied by an adult male member of the family.