Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) is making another attempt to overturn a US Supreme Court ruling which allows customs officials the authority to inspect travellers’ computers (and other electronic devices), examine and copy any data, and even seize the unit.

ACTE – which believes the random searches violate the Fourth Amendment - has filed a second amicus brief with the US Circuit Court of Appeals to get a rehearing. It filed its first in June 2007 - after two of its members had laptops seized, one of which was confiscated for a year – but it believes Congress has taken an interest in the issue and hopes its second attempt will receive a better reception.

“[We have] been fighting this issue for the past 18 months,” said ACTE executive director Susan Gurley. “Our position is straightforward. Computers and other electronic devices are an extension of an individual’s thoughts and expressions. They should not be regarded as luggage or briefcases.”

Gurley has been called upon to testify on behalf of the business travel industry before a Senate Subcommittee regarding ‘Laptop Searches and Other Violations of Privacy Faced by Americans Returning from Overseas Travel’ scheduled for 25 June.

Concerns about how confiscated data is stored by the US government and how long it is kept, and who has access to it have also been repeatedly expressed. 

“There are serious implications here for travellers who are carrying trade secrets, reporters with sources listed in their computers, and individuals who may lose access to critical data for which there may be no copies,” said Gurley. “There is also a question of economics. Some companies would be compelled to change business plans if they thought their strategies had been compromised by a laptop seizure. The age of electronic data is creating new circumstances for which greater consideration must be made.”

To overturn this rule, ACTE is working jointly with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US-based international non-profit advocacy and legal organisation dedicated to preserving civil liberties in today’s digital age.