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

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

#371
post #15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet another reason never to sign up for Facebook.

A fun prank: Create realistic facebook profiles for people you hate, and send links to CBP right before they travel.

it is illegal to create a profile for someone else, i.e. to impersonate someone: http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2011/11/fake-facebook-profi...

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

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Say you bring no electronic hardware. Could they make you login to your social media accounts from one of their computers?

Yes, they can.

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

#373
post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The words "inept CBP agent" get you in trouble here. If you're a citizen, by all means, play chicken! If not: remember, they have vastly more resources than you do. Money buys a lot of forensics techniques --- in fact, governments are better at computer forensics than software developers. They're the ones doing it all the time, and funding all the research. They don't have to decrypt. They just have to decide you're…

> They just have to decide you're suspicious enough to confiscate equipment and bar you from entry. That's fine with me. I don't take anything to a foreign country which I'm not willing to lose, and I have no problem turning around & heading back home if the country I wish to visit turns out to have unacceptable rules. If someday I visit someplace that has an implicit rule, 'all visitors must have Facebook accounts,'…

Hold on, once again, because you're oversimplifying the situation here. You might be comfortable being turned back at the US border, but there are plenty of people who aren't in that situation --- they're children, or are coming to take care of their children, &c --- and being turned back at the border can mean it's very difficult to return to the country under any circumstances for years afterwards.

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

#374
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…

Facebook really needs to step up and add an anti border guard feature. Maybe a travel password that provides a hygenic profile.

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

#375
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…

But if they can force you unlock your Facebook, can't they force you unlock your Gmail, AWS, Salesforce, internal company archive or some actually classified missile bunker?

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

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But searches incident to a border crossing have always been considered not "unreasonable," because inspecting the flow of things across the border has always been seen as a legitimate government function. ... > So searches of digital content are at least outside one of the key purposes of the border search exception. Yes. And also, who in their right mind would use a phone and an airline ticket to smuggle at most 3…

I feel obligated to point out that: 1. my phone has a 200GB microSD card in it right now 2. 256GB microSD cards are readily available 3. phones with two microSD cards are available 4. I can easily purchase a 4TB hard drive that is roughly the same size as a pack of cards It's not terribly relevant, but you're dramatically underestimating the volume of data that can be reasonably stored by media carried on one's perso…

"3. phones with two microSD cards are available"

link ? Genuinely curious ...

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

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes, but so does a super-clean phone, I'd guess.

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

#379
What if I simply reset my Android phone to factory settings just before exiting the plane? Can they force me to log in to my Android account in order to get to my FB?

And what if my battery is dead or my phone stops working? Can they force me to log in to their own Android phone?

What if I don't carry any phone at all, can they simply force me to log in to an empty phone? (Assuming everyone has an Android or Apple phone or is going to spend couple days in detention.)

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

#380
post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to countries like Iran, which US considers 'evil', and encountered nothing but politeness and smiles all around the country, including customs. I've been to US once, and the amount of paranoia and customs arrogance even in 2004 was staggering. I would be perfectly OK to not visit that place anymore, ever. Fiancee is not aware of these things yet, and she keeps mentioning US as a nice place for honeymoon. Well…

They don't even let you into Iran without making you perjure yourself into pretending to be religious. "Atheist" or "none" is not an option on the form and is grounds for deportation or execution (if you're Iranian and renounce Islam). Iran's reputation for evil is well-deserved.

If you're atheist, agnostic, or nonreligious, and are forced to declare a religion, just say "Unitarian Universalist". Official church doctrine is essentially, "believe whatever you want; spirituality is a deeply personal experience, yet it can be shared with others".
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