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

1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

blog.agilebits.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 553 posts

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#41

Post by eridius »

soverystatesly wrote: post #32
crooked-v wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's basically the definition of spoliation of evidence, if things were to ever escalate to civil or criminal proceedings.

This qualifies already. 18 U.S. Code § 1519 defines it as "Whoever knowingly...conceals...with the intent to impede...the proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States" So technically, entering travel mode for the purpose of hiding your stuff from border agents could be interpreted as a violation of that statute, regardless of whether there was an active…

Entering travel mode is literally deleting the data off your computer. It's not concealing anything. I think a federal prosecutor would have a hell of a time arguing that people aren't allowed to erase data from their computer before traveling.

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#42

Post by ryanlol »

gruez wrote: post #31

Counter: the border agent asks "are you hiding any information from us?". answer yes, and they get you to disable travel mode. answer no, and you just committed a felony.

"Are you hiding any drugs from us?" "Oh yeah, I've got lots in my apartment in $ANOTHER_COUNTRY"

Why should the actual answer be any different with data than it would be with the drugs?

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#43

Post by easilyBored »

misnome wrote: post #7

Isn't the counter simple; they ask for your logins to the 1Password vault? I guess this just adds an extra layer of obfuscation. The most secure way I can think of is to either encrypt your drive (or wipe for travel and online restore once arriving) and physically mail the new password (or hand over to a trusted friend/store location) to the destination. Then there is no way of restoring at the airport. Of course, th…

"Then there is no way of restoring at the airport."

IIRC, the border agent has the power to turn you back, visa or no visa. So there might be a price to pay for getting too cute. They want what they want and trying to avoid that might make them angrier.

If you are a US citizen they can make you wait in a room for a few hours and maybe add your name to the "make his life miserable every time he flies" list.

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#44

Post by confounded »

eridius wrote: post #36
mcgrath_sh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any subscription-based 1Password can be accessed from the web. Couldn't they just demand those credentials?

Only if you know them. I don't know about you, but I don't have my long random account key memorized (only my master password). You can't log into the website without that account key. Of course, you do need to be able to log in to turn travel mode back on, so if I were to use this I'd probably do something like set up a service to securely send me my account key after I'm expected to have finished crossing the borde…

That's a great solution if you're a US citizen and want to enjoy showing off to a border guard before being guaranteed entry, but for migrants (who are most affected by this), this kind of 'gotcha' logic would likely be considered insubordinate grandstanding, and get them denied entry.

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#45

Post by lb1lf »

mikestew wrote: post #29
badminton1 wrote: post #12

A more accurate reality: https://xkcd.com/538/

At, say, the US/Canadian border? No, not accurate nor realistic at all.

Then again, you don't even need a $5 attitude readjustment tool when you can just shrug and say "Whatever. You are detained until you cough up what we want." - and are able to do just that...

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#46

Post by Analemma_ »

eridius wrote: post #41
soverystatesly wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This qualifies already. 18 U.S. Code § 1519 defines it as "Whoever knowingly...conceals...with the intent to impede...the proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States" So technically, entering travel mode for the purpose of hiding your stuff from border agents could be interpreted as a violation of that statute, regardless of whether there was an active…

Entering travel mode is literally deleting the data off your computer. It's not concealing anything. I think a federal prosecutor would have a hell of a time arguing that people aren't allowed to erase data from their computer before traveling.

In the law, intent matters. You're deleting the data with the intent to hide it from border agents. A federal prosecutor absolutely could argue that, if they wished.

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#47

Post by jzl »

This is a nice feature, but ultimately if you are concerned with border agents requiring a phone search then you should just backup and install a fresh OS before traveling, then restore when you get back. Log into the minimal number of apps after you've entered the destination country, and optionally delete/logout of said apps prior to return travel if the return border crossing is also a concern. Admittedly if you use a password manager you might need still want to make use of a feature such as the one in this article, or install the password manager app after entering the country, or just write down the passwords that you will need and hide them somewhere unfindable with your stuff.

On iOS about the only thing you would lose is your message history during the trip. It might be an annoyance if you wanted to play games that had non-cloud-based saved player state, but I can't think of too many other issues with doing this.

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#49

Post by awinter-py »

badlucklottery wrote: post #22
netgusto wrote: post #18

Wouldn't an alternative "destroy everything" password be a good idea also ? Would work like this : When forced to enter / give the password to your vault, you enter/give this one, and everything the vault contains is wiped out before the vault is unlocked.

I think using it would be tampering with evidence in the USA. So probably a bad idea.

Not clear you're destroying evidence -- is it evidence if there's no probable cause for the search? If a crime hasn't been committed?

Hard to apply ordinary statutes & case law here because the 4th amendment doesn't seem to apply to border agents.

Re: 1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

#50

Post by int_19h »

badlucklottery wrote: post #22
netgusto wrote: post #18

Wouldn't an alternative "destroy everything" password be a good idea also ? Would work like this : When forced to enter / give the password to your vault, you enter/give this one, and everything the vault contains is wiped out before the vault is unlocked.

I think using it would be tampering with evidence in the USA. So probably a bad idea.

Is it evidence at the point where, say, a CBP agent asks you to show him your data? I mean, they're not a judge, and it's not a trial, or even an investigation into some crime.
Post reply on HN