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1Password Travel Mode: Protect your data when crossing borders

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

#311

Post by IcyPickle »

Analemma_ wrote: post #46
eridius wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, you're deleting it because you don't want to transport it across the border. You're just not bringing it, and border control can't inspect what you don't bring.

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

#312

Post by avaer »

When the features start rolling out, the market entrenches the status quo. Props to 1Password though; this is a symptom and they are not the cause.

I guess the reasonable next step, when all the outrage has fizzled, is pre-screening. Pay for the government to have all of your passwords all the time, and save yourself the hassle.

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

#313

Post by edaemon »

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.

The point of travel mode isn't to dodge border control policies or questioning; the point is to prevent the exposure of credentials when travelling, even if the exposure is to a border agency.

If a border agent asks you directly, "Did you remove information from this device to prevent us or others from seeing it when entering or within this country?" the only truthful answer is "Yes", but travel mode has still achieved its goal. Even if they confiscate your device, they can't access the credentials. You may have other issues entering the country but your data is kept secure and private.

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

#314

Post by rhizome »

rosser wrote: post #228
noja wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That border agent is a real person, who is "only doing their job". So are you. It works both ways. If enough people say no, then after a hellish but hopefully short adjustment period, the policy will change.

That job they're "just doing" is, as it's drilled into their minds, to act as a barrier against anything that even might be a threat in some form or fashion to their country. They have pretty broad authority toward that end. You (the notional you) aren't even from here . If you say no, you've identified yourself as a potential threat, and can just sit in a room by yourself for as long as it takes to put you on the ne…

That job they're "just doing" is, as it's drilled into their minds, to act as a barrier against anything that even might be a threat in some form or fashion to their country.

They may get that drilled into their skulls, but I think it's more that they just don't want their boss to yell at them.

No police officer arrests a DUI and says "but I'm just doing my job." It's only when the other person (the traveler in this case) has an entirely legitimate reason to resist them that "I'm just doing my job" comes out, with an implied threat that the authority they're appealing to (that they themselves don't have) will come down on everyone involved, and they don't want that.

Also, they don't have any personal liability for anything that goes wrong in this process, except perhaps that the company they work for will lose the contract (unlikely here). Again, "boss will yell at me."

These people are better thought of as clerks than cops. And yes, they can inconvenience you, but that's not the same thing as compliance.

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

#315

Post by TallGuyShort »

schoen wrote: post #308
TallGuyShort wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently delayed by the TSA to the point of missing my turn to board. Was subjected to additional searching. Upon finding nothing, I discovered the extra searching was what they do when you fail the hand swab test. I had not had the test administered. So they administered the test. I passed. They then searched my things again and I was questioned regarding the quantity of business cards I was carrying. Oh also I'm wh…

TSA is not the same agency as CBP. They don't receive the same training, encounter travelers in the same situations, enforce the same laws, or execute the same authority.

I've had similar experiences with CBP too. It's still a pretty silly unqualified comment. They tend to be on power trips any chance they get, brown or black or white.

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

#316

Post by schoen »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #315
schoen wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TSA is not the same agency as CBP. They don't receive the same training, encounter travelers in the same situations, enforce the same laws, or execute the same authority.

I've had similar experiences with CBP too. It's still a pretty silly unqualified comment. They tend to be on power trips any chance they get, brown or black or white.

I didn't mean to comment on the use of racial profiling; I've just noticed that there's a lot of confusion about the difference between TSA and CBP.

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

#317

Post by RodericDay »

rosser wrote: post #116
stickfigure wrote: post #114

The right solution to this problem is, when traveling, always answer "no" to "may I search your laptop?" It sucks, and it many mean a lot of hassle ranging from confiscated equipment to being held at the border to being refused entry, but this is just one of the new risks of travel. Border security only gets away with this because people say yes. Companies need to make clear to their employees (and the public) that s…

Do you honestly think customs agents care whether you'll get fired or not? US immigrations will permanently sever families that have been together for years or even decades with utter disregard for the emotional trauma they're inflicting. Your job matters exactly fuck-all to a CPB agent.

If you, as an innocent person, don't refuse to have your belongings inspected, you participate in making belonging-inspection-refusal into a great heuristic for determining guilt.

This is a form of "citizen duty".

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

#318

Post by imartin2k »

stickfigure wrote: post #114

The right solution to this problem is, when traveling, always answer "no" to "may I search your laptop?" It sucks, and it many mean a lot of hassle ranging from confiscated equipment to being held at the border to being refused entry, but this is just one of the new risks of travel. Border security only gets away with this because people say yes. Companies need to make clear to their employees (and the public) that s…

Have you done this in practice? Have you been asked and answered "no"?

If not, it is probably way to easy to make such a statement.

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

#319

Post by dflock »

nihonium wrote: post #244

I don't understand. Is this really a thing? I'm from the UK and never heard such a thing. Is this common in US? What are they looking for? Do they just pick someone randomly, login to the laptop and check emails and stuff?

As I understand it, they generally don't just aimlessly scroll through your email/facebook in front of you, then give your device back (although they can, if they feel like it) - they get you to surrender your credentials, then save these in their database; the contents of the accounts will then be downloaded automatically.

Same for devices - they have you unlock the device, then take it away, plug it into a PC/whatever, which sucks down a complete image of the device. Then they give it back, if they feel like it.

Obviously, if they do this with your email & facebook, they're also sucking in all your connections - your social graph: everyone you've ever emailed or has emailed you, everyone you're connected to on facebook.

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

#320

Post by riking »

caseysoftware wrote: post #229
mLuby wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that count as lying to federal government agents? (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001)

Who said I'm lying? I'm not going to disclose private medical issues to rent-a-cops.

Or on Hacker News, for that matter...
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