Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 464 posts

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#131

Post by Canada »

blubb-fish wrote: post #100
pyrophane wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, I suspect that failing to have a the ability to grant border agents access to social media or email accounts will soon become grounds for detainment and further scrutiny by itself. If you are carrying a "dumb phone" or don't have email or social media set up on your phone, then what are you trying to hide?

Exactly - and some smart people do actually have "dumb" phones. Or sometimes I think about ditching my GUI Linux for something really basic - same reason why some people stick with dumb phones - now what happens if I hand over full control over my neat z-shell to the TSA? Will he grep around or just consider me dangerous?

They're just going to copy the data off and some software will look for things by hash.

It would not surprisee if at some point, if we leave this tyranny unchecked, we will all be forced to hand over our devices while deboarding so they can be scanned while we wait in line for initial interrogation.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#132

Post by bestnameever »

legostormtroopr wrote: post #107
brndnmtthws wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you realize the job of the president is to instruct these agencies on how to conduct their operations. Don't defend people (CBP employees) which are are acting immorally, and possibly illegally. The Nazis said they were "just doing their job", and that defense did not stand up at the Nuremberg trials. Anyone who enforces orders of questionable legality is part of the problem (such as those executing these race…

Who is excusing it? All people are saying is that this is a failing of previous administrations. Bush set a lot of these rules up, and Obama strengthened them.

It doesn't really matter that bush set up these rules. We will be hearing more and more about it if they're being applied more and more frequently now against US citizens, especially given the political current climate.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#133

Post by waqf »

krab wrote: post #103

As a EU citizen, I see these events from a bit different angle. I have visited US several times and the atmosphere and behaviour of both the customs officers and the TSA personnel gets more and more overlooking. I have never went through such extended search but going across a US airport feels really uncomfortable, to the extent I haven't seen in another country (UK comes close, though). The thing is Trump only added…

I'm curious, can you tell me what bad experiences EU passport holders have, or fear to have, at UK airports?

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#134

Post by coldcode »

Jonnax wrote: post #10

Their point about how other countries will take the US's stance as a cue is somewhat scary. If you try and cross any border it will be relinquishing access to all accounts. I'm assuming email also comes along with 'social media', since communication is by its definition social. So how do you protect yourself? I think just going with "Don't have any social media" isn't a good answer because the relationship that child…

The result of stories like this will be to chill visiting from other countries (destroying tourism in the country) and likely result in the same treatment by other countries to American citizens. I can't understand why the people who decide these policies think they are harmless.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#135

Post by tankenmate »

droithomme wrote: post #68
AckSyn wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I look forward to not unlocking my phone and taking it to court if it comes down to it next month.

If they have an actual warrant or other order signed by a judge and targeting you specifically then you should know you will likely be found in contempt and indefinitely jailed without trial, perhaps for the rest of your life. Without a warrant though they can seize it as contraband but they can't deny you entry.

But if they have a warrant (apart from possibly a FISA issued warrant) they are legally required to show you the warrant.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#136

Post by josteink »

vidarh wrote: post #44
masklinn wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So how do you protect yourself? Wipe phone when you pass through border, restore afterwards. If you're really paranoid, if the device leaves your presence it's to be considered physically compromised.

It is bizarre that we're now having to consider the type of preparation you previously would want to consider for places like China. I'm really not sure if I want to visit the US at all while Trump is in power. Not because I expect the chances of any severe problems are all that huge, but because the growing lack of predictability is just creating sufficient friction.

> I'm really not sure if I want to visit the US at all while Trump is in powe

I don't fancy Trump anymore than the next guy, but this started long before he got elected.

This is driven by the intelligence community for their own power grab and is 100% independent. It would be pushed through no matter who sat in the presidential seat.

Let's just say that if you try to oppose it, in the current (intolerant liberal) political climate someone has enough data on you to ruin your life and career as a politician no matter who you are.

That's a massive amount of power. Seeing how the head of NSA openly and repeatadly lies under oath to no consequence what so ever, I'd be surprised if it's not a power being misused regularly.

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#137

Post by yborg »

shripadk wrote: post #102
yardie wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you bother to read the article? He was detained coming into the country. Just call a spade a spade. Trump wrote a shitty, racist executive order and people from all walks of life who happen to have one thing in common, a Muslim sounding name, are caught up in it.

How is "Sidd Bikkannavar" even remotely "Muslim sounding"? It's a Hindu name. He probably shortened it from "Siddarth" Bikkannavar to Sidd Bikkannavar like most Hindus in foreign countries do. Bikkannavar is a place in Karnataka, India. Maybe that is his parent's place of origin.

Does it sound like a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant name to you? These border cops aren't exactly the cream of the law enforcement crop, if it sounds foreign, time to search! Because ISIS will of course send people here for terrorism named "Achmed al-Jihadi" and not "Bob Smith".

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#138

Post by psybin »

blubb-fish wrote: post #100
pyrophane wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, I suspect that failing to have a the ability to grant border agents access to social media or email accounts will soon become grounds for detainment and further scrutiny by itself. If you are carrying a "dumb phone" or don't have email or social media set up on your phone, then what are you trying to hide?

Exactly - and some smart people do actually have "dumb" phones. Or sometimes I think about ditching my GUI Linux for something really basic - same reason why some people stick with dumb phones - now what happens if I hand over full control over my neat z-shell to the TSA? Will he grep around or just consider me dangerous?

The documentation that comes when you are compelled to give over keys mentions that they will retain complete copies of any disks, drives, flash card, any piece of data until it is no longer relevant (read, forever).

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#139

Post by notsrg »

rl3 wrote: post #37

Using detention as a tool to extort access from people is underhanded at best. Rifling through people's digital devices should not be acceptable. Why doesn't Apple/Google/Microsoft/Facebook et al. coordinate with organizations like EFF or ACLU and throw their weight behind a campaign to stop this bullshit? If not companies, there's still plenty of extremely wealthy individuals in SV that one would think might care.

Because none of those companies actually care about privacy? (sans maybe Apple).

Re: A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone

#140

Post by EGreg »

usefulcat wrote: post #97
EGreg wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deniability. Have many accounts, some of which have a subsetof your email which is totally safe. They can even be mirrors. Or alternatively, have all your sensitive communication on other channels which leave no trace (in browser history, for instance). Simple! PS: It would be cool if apps let you have steganography... like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp wouldn't show ALL conversations until you entered a specific pa…

That presupposes that you can accurately determine exactly what qualifies as "safe" in advance.

Better than nothing - which is what these apps offer now in terms of incognito sessions.
Post reply on HN