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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?

#231

Post by bfuller »

purple-again wrote: post #98
tornadoboy55 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your method also only works if you have a small social circle or don't go out much. Good luck planning a big party or trip without a Whatsapp/Telegram/Facebook group chat..

You understand that society did just fine for thousands of years without these things right? Maybe if you are 20 the social norms have changed so drastically that calling someone is unthinkable but I rather doubt that. Certainly for my generation and above ('84) it's not required.

In the past most people never went outside the 20 mile radius where they were born. keeping up with friends around the globe is a lot easier using social media

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

#232

Post by anon2264 »

gph wrote: post #226
anon2264 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"First they came for a few people for their political beliefs, and I did not speak out because I was not one of those people..." Do you know how that one ended?

Yea, nice. The Government/Law enforcement harassing dissidents at the border is definitely equivalent to the Nazis rounding up and executing political and religious minorities. /s Not to make light of this issue, it's a serious matter, but don't be ridiculous.

Hah. As a matter of fact, the Nazi movement did get started by harassing political dissidents, not by executing minorities. Although this took the form more akin to the AntiFa riots (the Nazi Brownshirts) than border inspections, but the targeted abuse to political dissidents was the same

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

#233

Post by jknoepfler »

marxidad wrote: post #144
jacquesm wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/s/seems/is/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime

We can have a substantive disagreement about whether or not the practice "is" invasive, less so about whether or not it "seems" invasive.

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

#234

Post by Zak »

gph wrote: post #226
anon2264 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"First they came for a few people for their political beliefs, and I did not speak out because I was not one of those people..." Do you know how that one ended?

Yea, nice. The Government/Law enforcement harassing dissidents at the border is definitely equivalent to the Nazis rounding up and executing political and religious minorities. /s Not to make light of this issue, it's a serious matter, but don't be ridiculous.

I'm not sure it's ridiculous to suggest that failing to stop law the misuse of law enforcement tools to harass dissidents early invites worse oppression later. These things have a way of ratcheting up until they get significant push back.

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

#235

Post by MrDosu »

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...

As a German tourist the most annoying thing getting into Canada is to wait in line while all these other nationalities get questioned extensively before being waved through in 20secs. Wear your bright colored gore tex jackets guys!

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

#236

Post by bfuller »

clamprecht wrote: post #77
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…

So maybe Facebook add a feature to "delete" your account, to later have it restored? Similar to erasing your phone and restoring it later?

Facebook already does this when you delete your account

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

#237

Post by tzs »

What happens if you try to mail or ship a smartphone across the border, as opposed to carry it with you when you are crossing the border? I'm wondering if you could ship your regular phone ahead, and use a burner while you are traveling.

If that works, that could be an interesting business opportunity. Set up a series of phone exchange stations near major airports, where outgoing travelers can swap their smartphone for a burner. You ship the smartphone to your station near their destination, and when they arrive they can turn in the burner and retrieve their smartphone.

You could also add in a temporary backup/restore service for laptops. A traveller could bring their laptop to your station when they are preparing to leave, and you do a backup of all user data and then delete it from the laptop.

While they are in transit, you send the data to your exchange station nearest their destination. When the traveller brings their laptop in, the user data gets restored.

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

#238

Post by sandworm101 »

Ive got a trick. As a lawyer i keep a note on my laptop deacribing how it is encrypted (linux, home dirctories + trucrypt archives for important stuff) and that content is subject to attorney-client privacy rules. Ive been asked to unlock several times. I say "sure thing, but ill need some sort of court order so i dont get sued." Faced with a reasonable person willing to unlock, they have never pushed the matter. For my phone, phones cannot be trusted. Dont do anything you want to keep private on a phone. Buy a netbook.

I would suggest saying something like "sure thing, but i use this device to talk to my lawyer and i should ask him first if it is ok." They wont want the hassle of dealing with this perfectly reasonable request. (Don't fib. Have a lawyer first. All you need to do is email one a couple times for that statement to he true.)

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

#239

Post by krapp »

cr0sh wrote: post #215
mikeash wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's ridiculous about them? We've seen plenty of home-grown terrorism. I'm not sure if searching social media profiles would ever have prevented an attack in the US, for example, whereas internal checkpoints and random house searches certainly could have.

> whereas internal checkpoints and random house searches certainly could have. I upvoted your original comment because I am pretty sure it was meant as sarcasm. I certainly hope I am still correct on that assessment. There was a time, not long ago, certainly within my memory and the memories of many others - when we as a country (the USA as well as other countries) looked down upon such activities as being wholly un-…

>WHAT THE FUCK HAS HAPPENED TO US?

We were attacked on 9/11, and our government succeeded in convincing many of us that the rights we were taking for granted were in fact making us vulnerable to an existential enemy within, and needed to be incrementally deconstructed in light of the "new normal."

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

#240

Post by technofiend »

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…

That will be difficult to do for those of us without Facebook profiles!
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