A privacy investigation has been launched into the Canadian Border Agency's practice of reviewing the electronic devices of the various travelers who are coming across the border.

There have been numerous accusations and growing concerns regarding the activity of the CBSA to not only review the data, but it's believed that they might be downloading the contents as well for later examination or possibly for the potential purposes of using it for cloning or mirroring devices.

It's not unusual to have a border agent ask for your cellphone or laptop these days, insisting that they have the right to review its contents.

And this debate is one that has made its way to court, in one specific instance where a man wanted to pursue whether or not the CBSA had the legal authority to force you to hand over your password so that they could go through your device and data. He eventually gave up on the fight and plead guilty, facing a $500 fine.

At the moment, it's alleged that border agents from both the US and Canada operate in a sort of gray area. And it's well-known that travelers should expect reduced expectations of privacy when they reach the point of trying to cross the border.

Not much is known about the pressing complaint that originally launched the investigation, or more details about the investigation itself. For now, travelers are still urged to give authorities their passwords for their devices whenever they are traveling from one police state to another.

Any and all information that gets collected must be in accordance with the Customs Act.

And this means that the information must be related to criminal proceedings, and the purpose of national or immigration security. As of right now, there aren't any official statistics available to determine exactly how often this is occurring at the border.

It's suggested that examinations of any electronic devices doesn't require any reasonable grounds to suspect or believe that some contravention might have taken place. But according to CBSA policy, they are supposed to investigate and look into those devices when there are multiple indicators that there is justified reason to do so. It shouldn't be something they do just because they feel like doing it, but rather because they feel there is justified reasons to do so.

Broad Inspection Powers

Critics of their policies say that the public isn't able to hold the agency accountable because we don't really know what is going on and the rules surrounding their activities are somewhat unclear; given the vagueness of how they are open to subjective interpretation.

For those who are traveling from Canada to the US, they should also expect that they too can have their electronic devices searched. And if they choose to refuse to give their passwords to help enable that search, then they can be refused entry to the country.

banner of @son-of-satire

Pics:
Huff Post Canada

Sources:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/alain-philippon-to-plead-guilty-cellphone-1.3721110
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/privacy-commissioner-investigating-canada-border-services-agency-over-electronic-media-searches