This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, September 27, 2017.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The new iPhone unlocks when you look at it, that may pose some risks for people who are compelled to interact with the police.

But a bigger problem for preventing warrantless government searches of electronics is how Customs and Border Patrol understands its mandate.

Cato's Matthew Feeney comments.

For a while we've been hearing about people complaining that police are trying to get access to their cell phones.

The new iPhone that was announced very recently

indicates that it just has to look at your face and it takes a 3D image of your face,

determines that it's you if you're paying attention to the phone,

and then it wakes up, which raises a lot of concerns for people.

But perhaps a bigger concern for people coming

back to the United States who are citizens of the US is that there is this

broad understanding that some government agents can search your electronics

without regard to any of those things we understand under the Constitution

that protect us from that kind of search.

So that's exactly right.

Many listeners will be aware that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens

from unreasonable search and seizure. And indeed a few years ago the Supreme Court did

find that police can't get into someone's cell phone without a warrant and what's

interesting though is that there is a massive exception to these

fourth amendment protections and those are at the border and that includes by the way airports that can

process international arrivals and unfortunately the fact is that CBP agents when they're

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