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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?

#331

Post by panzagl »

lb1lf wrote: post #83

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?

You would need appropriate credentials and material/systems would have to be marked appropriately. I would think saying 'phone contains classified material' and then not having documentation really just gives them probable cause to get really nasty.

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

#332

Post by intopieces »

mirimir wrote: post #36
intopieces wrote: post #5

Is it worth it to clear those devices and restore from cloud backup after crossing?

No. First, as others noted, it creates suspicion. Second, you can't trust devices after authorities have messed with them. Maybe they're backdoored. Best option is to carry only inexpensive devices, containing no sensitive information. If they're searched, just throw them away later.

Since the chance of search is on the order of what, .0012% though? According to the article. If we're going down the backdoor rabbit hole, we need to abandon smart devices entirely. Not feasible.

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

#334

Post by belovedeagle »

tptacek wrote: post #210
graeme wrote: post #162

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. How do password managers play into this? I'm likely going to be traveling to the US on business. I'll be bringing a travel phone rather than a normal phone (This is my standard travel practice for any country). I could do the same with a computer. I don't mind…

If you're not a citizen, I think this is probably pretty simple: don't carry anything across the border that you would be uncomfortable being forced to unlock. There's nothing you can encrypt with a passphrase that is protected from a border search, unless you're comfortable being sent back home, losing your computer hardware, and not being allowed back to the US at least until the next Presidential administration, p…

What does the searching of devices at the border have to do with presidential administrations? This policy has been in place for years (from the article).

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

#335

Post by pvg »

coldtea wrote: post #303
mamon wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure those are actual Ukrainians, and not just ethnical Russians with Ukrainian citizenship? Eastern Ukraine has a huge Russian minority.

> Are you sure those are actual Ukrainians, and not just ethnical Russians with Ukrainian citizenship? Ans who said those aren't actual Ukrainians? Ukraine has been multi-ethnic for centuries... > Eastern Ukraine has a huge Russian minority. And has had for centuries, but it's seldom mentioned in stories about "Russia invading Crimea". It's as if e.g. Baja California had 60% population of US ethnicity, Mexico's gover…

It's as if e.g. Baja California had 60% population

It's not 'as if' and you're regurgitating Russian propaganda and shallow whataboutism. The key issue is Russia invaded and annexed a piece of a sovereign country, a country whose territorial integrity it was bound to respect not just by international norms but a relatively recent treaty. It just isn't comparable.

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

#336

Post by intopieces »

tom_mellior wrote: post #24
intopieces wrote: post #5

Is it worth it to clear those devices and restore from cloud backup after crossing?

You mean if you want to look like you have something to hide? Yeah, that might help...

But I do have something to hide. My personal information. This something I want to hide. Pretending like I'm an open book only encourages the bastards, no?

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

#337

Post by mgbmtl »

thrusong wrote: post #86
adekok wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Anecdotal, but: I suspect that the CBP have very specific criteria that can flag specific situations. I know someone who would systematically get arrested/interrogated by plain clothes officers if she was returning back to Canada alone. When not alone, no problem. Once, she was on the point of being arrested, when she pointed to her partner, and they stepped back. Although they never wanted to admit why.

After a bit of A/B testing, it seems to have been "older woman traveling alone with a fancy watch" that was flagging her. Without the watch, the problems went away.

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

#338

Post by Shivetya »

megous wrote: post #180

Haha. Terrorism bla bla. Anyone noticed that the first two example cases are actually political activists being targeted. - the first is some Chelsea Manning advocate - the second is some pot legalization activist There you have it for what actually are these rarely used rules used for.

I would not go that far. What is points out is that the database being used is lumping all people of interest together regardless of their level of threat or type. Lazy or nefarious, who knows. More than likely those who created the system never would have guess how easily people would get on it.

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

#339

Post by Raphmedia »

drusepth wrote: post #323
tom_mellior wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean they actually find emails saying "good luck with your illegal work in Australia on a tourist visa, lol"?

I got a not-quite-as-bad grilling at the UK CBP, where they required me to log into my banking apps and show them my accounts & balances, as well as transaction histories to determine whether I was currently working remotely (and, therefore, would continue "illegally" working remotely while in the country).

Wait. So if I am a tourist in, let's say, the USA and I keep working remotely on Canadian projects and getting paid in Canadian dollars, do I need a work visa?

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

#340

Post by tomtang0514 »

drvdevd wrote: post #108
no1youknowz wrote: post #19

One thing I have thought about. I have dozens of profiles which are just test accounts for social media, to hook up to applications I've been building. I've been thinking recently to just close all the accounts, including email. This will leave me in a state where I have pretty much no social accounts, just 1 email account which is used for friends/family. Are there any cases of individuals giving up their phone and…

I've wondered the same. What if you just opt out of 90% of everything? What are the implications of not using social media?

Nothing really. I don't have twitter, my linkedin is just like my online profile page, i haven't log on to facebook for years. The most "social" apps on my phone are probably yelp, google map and email. Honest I don't feel anything different.
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