Comment: ACLU Seeks Info on Border Laptop Searches

One interesting aspect of the previous post is the issue of assessing searches of laptop computers:

The court rejected the argument that a laptop is like a human mind because of its ability to record ideas and emails, and held instead that a laptop is the same as closed containers such as purses and wallets.

While clearly it would be silly to take the analogy between human minds and any inanimate object literally (pace some of my more extreme philosophical friends) there is clearly a real issue here. Not all searches of 'closed containers' or other objects are going to be on a par here - its reasonable to expect a search of my diary to be much more invasive than searching my lunchbox. Laptop computers record some of the most intimate information about us. Surely this is a distinction that ought to be recognised?