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Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

theguardian.com

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Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#101

Post by neuland »

skrowl wrote: post #87

Remember the 5th Amendment applies to passwords. No law enforcement officer may EVER compel you to log in to a device with a password / pass code / unlock pattern, for any reason.

This is the way things should work. But, there was a widely reported case recently where a man accused of possessing child pornography has been held in jail for a long time [0]. From what I can tell, he's been in jail for contempt of court for nearly 2 and a half years!

[0] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/man-jailed-indef...

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#102

Post by AlexCoventry »

skrowl wrote: post #87

Remember the 5th Amendment applies to passwords. No law enforcement officer may EVER compel you to log in to a device with a password / pass code / unlock pattern, for any reason.

What's the latest case law on this? I thought it was still unsettled, and there were a lot of confusing edge cases. E.g. https://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz/smartphone-passwords-const...

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#103

Post by Chaebixi »

graeme wrote: post #75
arca_vorago wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop flying so much and tell them when the time comes fuckoff and come back with a warrant or at least get an officer who can explain under what authority do they conduct domestic searches without a warrant, ergo, unconstitutionally? Ah, you know what, I get it. They want to bring back the 90's cryptowars. They will lose again.

This is terribly dangerous advice for a border crossing.

Depends on who you are, whose border, and which direction.

If you're an American returning from abroad, my understanding is the most they can do is detain you (briefly) and confiscate your electronic devices for a limited period of time. Americans can't be denied re-entry to the US. So go ahead and refuse as a political statement, the worst that could happen is you'll miss your connection and you'll have to use a temporary phone for a bit.

But if you're a foreign citizen, it's probably best to swallow your pride and comply.

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#104

Post by komali2 »

greensoap wrote: post #91
skrowl wrote: post #87

Remember the 5th Amendment applies to passwords. No law enforcement officer may EVER compel you to log in to a device with a password / pass code / unlock pattern, for any reason.

In other words, don't enable touch id or face unlock.

I'm trying to find the article now, but I recall reading that in the USA it's a lawful order to have you unlock your phone with a thumbprint, but not to unlock with a PIN code. God knows why.

Here: https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/31/judge-rules-suspect-...

Unsure about federal application, actually. We as country need to get our shit together regarding device privacy. You should need a warrant to look at a phone, laptop, whatever, with or without a password. The security of the device should be meaningless.

As for me, I'm grateful that I have the resources to push back should this ever happen to me, jailtime or included. That's a luxury probably very few Americans can realistically afford (seeing as they can just throw you in jail for 48 hours).

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#105

Post by pishpash »

eli wrote: post #32
ep103 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hidden partitions, and/or storing all your important data off-device are the two pieces of advice that get suggested the most.

Presumably whatever forensic tools they have will easily detect hidden partitions. The advice I hear for international travelers is disk encryption + FedEx'ing your laptop to its destination.

Whole disk encryption should really be standard. No point deleting data if it's encrypted. At that point it's more clear-cut in becoming whether you surrender a key or not, no gray zones.

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#106

Post by [deleted] »

neuland wrote: post #101
skrowl wrote: post #87

Remember the 5th Amendment applies to passwords. No law enforcement officer may EVER compel you to log in to a device with a password / pass code / unlock pattern, for any reason.

This is the way things should work. But, there was a widely reported case recently where a man accused of possessing child pornography has been held in jail for a long time [0]. From what I can tell, he's been in jail for contempt of court for nearly 2 and a half years! [0] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/man-jailed-indef...

[deleted]

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#107

Post by jjulius »

pentagonpapers wrote: post #53
jjulius wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If the extra security results in a strange TSA agent getting to enjoy some surprise dick pics, well that's the price of freedom Jerry. I wouldn't say that someone has 'freedom' if they're being forced to possibly have their body visibly exposed to strangers against their will.

isn't that what those scanners do lol?

They highlight where there are extraneous objects on one's body, but they do not reveal what's underneath your clothes. The OP that I responded to explicitly states s/he would be fine with TSA agents ruffling through your most recent messages on your phone, and that it should be OK for them to see nude photos of yourself that you may have just sent someone.

There's a big difference between going, "Hey, the computer put a red square on the left thigh of a generic outline of a human, it suggests we should look there to see if you have anything," and, "Hmm, let's see what Johnny sent Sally yesterday. Oh look, his dick! And this lady who isn't even traveling with him sent him six pictures of her breasts!"

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#109

Post by komali2 »

throwaway613834 wrote: post #69
reaperducer wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They take the devices away for some period, but if they’re securely locked, TSA won’t be able to get anything from them. It is well documented that there is no cell phone that cannot be unlocked. And once it's unlocked, who knows what the real goal is. On the surface, one suspects that it's to examine its contents. But other possibilities include sideloading spyware, or even targeted viruses. Some random NGO secret…

> It is well documented that there is no cell phone that cannot be unlocked. Citation needed?

That's a difficult thing to cite, I would say it's more along the the lines of the saying "There's no such thing as non-buggy code" or "there's no un-hackable system."

I get it, burden of proof. The blanket statement by OP also doesn't consider the ol' "baseball bat" ceiling of hacking strategies - at what point is it easier to just break someone's fingers until they tell you what you want to know?

(don't break someone's fingers that's not good)

Re: Questions for TSA after reports of laptop and phone searches on domestic flights

#110

Post by chillwaves »

kbenson wrote: post #84
chillwaves wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a non story. The real story is that congress passes impossible to enforce legislation that cannot properly define which groups are political and which not. https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/liberal-groups-got-... > A federal watchdog has identified scores of cases in which the Internal Revenue Service may have targeted liberal-leaning groups for extra scrutiny based on their names or political leanings, a…

> "Classic tactic" for the gov't to target conservatives? You need to provide some real evidence or another example that pans out before making those kind of claims. In case you didn't notice, that was a repeat of the exact words used in the comment that was being responded to. Unless you're planning to call out the initial comment in the same way, since it actually provided no evidence, whether you think it worthwhi…

People who make outrageous claims need to be prepared to defend them. There is enough disinfo out there already.
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