DHS Seizes WikiLeaks Supporter David House's Laptop at Border
In November 2010, Department of Homeland Security agents detained MIT researcher David House at Chicago's O'Hare Airport upon his return from Mexico, seized his laptop and other electronics without a warrant, and copied their contents — apparently because of his work supporting the Bradley Manning defense fund.
David House, a computer programmer and MIT researcher who had co-founded the Bradley Manning Support Network, was detained for 90 minutes by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at O'Hare International Airport on November 3, 2010, upon returning from a vacation in Mexico. Agents seized his laptop, camera, and USB drive without a warrant and kept copies of the data for 49 days. House had not been charged with any crime. The ACLU sued on his behalf in May 2011 in House v. Napolitano, arguing the search was an unconstitutional, suspicionless seizure aimed at chilling his political association and advocacy for an accused WikiLeaks source. A federal judge allowed the suit to proceed in 2012. The government ultimately settled in May 2013, agreeing to destroy the copies of House's data and paying an undisclosed sum. The case was a landmark challenge to the government's claimed authority to conduct warrantless device searches at the border when motivated by the traveler's speech or associations.