Sen Wyden asks DHS to explain border demands for cellphone, Internet passwords

Can the government demand you unlock your phone at the airport? Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) is demanding the Department of Homeland Security explain reports that it's doing just that.

Sen Wyden, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is set to send a letter to DHS Secretary John Kelly calling reports that Americans were required to unlock their smartphones "deeply troubling," asking what legal authority allows for it. "These reports are deeply troubling, particularly in light of your recent comments suggesting that (Customs and Border Protection) might begin demanding social media passwords from visitors to the United States," Sen Wyden wrote. "With those passwords, CBP may then be able to log in to accounts and access data that they would otherwise only be able to get from Internet companies with a warrant. Circumventing the normal protections for such private information is simply unacceptable."