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What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

arstechnica.com

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Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#81

Post by bflesch »

In a world where thousands of people annually travel to some "freedom fighter" camps in order to get combat training, I very much agree that it is necessary to intensively screen travelers who return to their country of origin once they fit a certain heuristic.

As one single returnee who is not caught might actually cause dozens or hundreds of citizen deaths, there shouldn't be a screening exception for smartphones or computers.

We can all argue that the current heuristics / profiling methods are not good enough, but as an EU citizen I'd be glad if my government would actually be as straightforward about screening travellers as USCBP is. If travelers - citizens or not - want to return after learning to kill or taking part in some sort of criminal activities, or even announcing their support for such criminal activities in social media, they should be held accountable for their actions upon returning by strict border controls.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#82

Post by WildUtah »

RubberSoul wrote: post #32
tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

Makes me wonder what the best options are for cheap phones and laptops that can be used while traveling. Also, does having saved passwords in a computer (for servers, email, GitHub, etc.) mean that CBP could use those passwords to search computers inside the United States? Or is their search power limited to information actually stored on the machine's hard drive.

If your phone is logged in to email or Facebook, they can download the total contents and history of your accounts.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#83

Post by lb1lf »

Question: what would happen if you are asked to unlock your device and you refuse on the grounds that it contains classified material?

Presumably they wouldn't just shrug and say 'OK, then' - but neither could they (if the classifying authority was one they cared about - say, NATO) just say 'Tough luck, now unlock it!', right?

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#84

Post by ekiru »

biscuitsandbbq wrote: post #38

This happened to me crossing into Canada and to be honest I really wasn't expecting it. I had tons of very private pictures and messages on there stretching back years. I really didn't want to turn over my password so that 3 border agents could look through all that stuff in some back room, but at the same time I knew there wasn't anything illegal on there. Anyway, I was with my partner and didn't want to ruin her va…

Recognizing when people are lying is an important part of CBP's job. They're trained specifically to do it. It's unlikely that you're better at lying than they are at noticing that you're lie. Lying to them will end poorly.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#85

Post by danbruc »

How is this not in violation of international law, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [1] article 17, which would apply to US citizens as well as non-US citizens?

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.

Maybe even article 9 if the law does not clearly establish what is allowable.

Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.

EDIT: Turns out the US did not really ratify this treaty. [2] So no human rights in the US, or at least not all of them enforceable in court. There may of course be similar rights from other laws or treaties.

[1] http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Civi...

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#86

Post by thrusong »

adekok wrote: post #57
jacquesm wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The current best practice for border crossings --- really anywhere in the world --- is simply not to carry anything you're unwilling to unlock for Customs. Or, to simply stop traveling to countries that refuse to play nice with the rights of foreigners. The whole idea that this sort of thing is even anywhere near acceptable behavior revolts me.

> Or, to simply stop traveling to countries that refuse to play nice with the rights of foreigners. s/foreigners/citizens/ i.e. everyone . I'm a Canadian Citizen. When I enter Canada from abroad, they claim the same rights as the US CBP. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/alain-philippon-cb...

I've never had a nice experience returning to Canada (either by plane or car) after a trip to the US or Mexico. I get the full "random search" in a secluded room every single time.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#87

Post by biscuitsandbbq »

crispyambulance wrote: post #74

If some CBP knuckle-dragger wants me to unlock my phone so he can browse through it looking for whatever as I stand there watching while asking me insipid questions, that's not a huge deal. The real problem here is downloading of data from the phone. Once that data is off-loaded, the government can make it a part of their "Seven-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon-Osama-Bin-Laden edition" game, stored forever, perpetually looking…

I was crossing into Canada and 3 agents demanded my phone and password (as well as my SO) under threat of detention. They took the phones in the back for 45 minutes before they came out. Asked questions about a conversation I had about marijuana with a friend months ago, basically accusing me of being a drug dealer when even in the most wild reading of that conversation, that cannot possibly be the case. Anyway, who knows what happened in that 45 minutes, probably our data is still sitting deep in some Canadian government server somewhere.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#88

Post by aw3c2 »

ythn wrote: post #70
leesalminen wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a show on Netflix that follows the Australian immigration cops. They go hard and frequently examine text messages, email, social, etc. for non resident entrants. If you think this is just the US, you are mistaken.

USA is a surveillance state. Here in UK we are much more progressive and respecting of peoples' privacy /s.

USA, Australia, UK, Canada (other comment branch). Sounds like the Five Eyes?

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#89

Post by sporkenfang »

tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

What if one doesn't have a Facebook and is unwilling to give up email for work/NDA reasons?

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#90

Post by purple-again »

mirimir wrote: post #28
voxic11 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet another reason never to sign up for Facebook.

That's unworkable. OK, maybe Facebook. But going without social media is no longer workable. Too much depends on it: family, friends, education, work, etc. However, what is workable is keeping your social media clean. Compartmentalize anything questionable, anything potentially embarrassing etc, using pseudonyms. And compartmentalize those pseudonyms on separate hardware, and avoid linkage through IP address, activit…

I'm only 32. I live in a different city than I grew up in which was a different city than I went to school in. I don't use any social media sites (tried google+ but none of my close friends helped it so I left quickly). It's never been an issue. My friends from all three cities made it to my wedding and no one has an issue texting me when a group camping trip is being. planned. It's perfectly workable unless you feel the need to see what everyone is doing everyday, which never appealed to me.
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