Don't take your devices with you.
Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
81–90 of 248 posts
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#82The problem with Customs and Border Protection is the attitude. They do have a challenging job. 99%+ of travelers are legit and doing nothing nefarious. They have to pick out the ones who are not legit/up to no good. I have no problem with them asking questions of myself or other travelers, even a lot of questions. The problem is the attitude and abusive nature of their conduct. I have had this experience a couple ti…
The TSA's mission is to "protect the nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce." Preventing someone's freedom of movement because they weren't permitted to browse his phone is entirely contrary to their stated mission.
This isn’t TSA, it’s Customs and Border Patrol. Whole different can of worms.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#83This is certainly not the first article of its kind, and the legality of such action seems to be upheld in court (at least the use of search without a warrant at the border). So, the selfish question then is: How do I protect myself from such unwarranted searches? Is there a way I can present my phone such that it drops into a mode that contains no data? Do I need to back my phone up before traveling, wipe it for the…
> It feels crazy to ask this question, as an American citizen, but HN, what do you do to protect your data at the American border? I guess the real (rhetorical) question is, are you doing this for the principle of the thing or because you have something illegal? If the latter, then the only foolproof way is to travel without a phone, purchase a burner when you get wherever you're going, then destroy it when you leave…
Even innocent people can go to jail, taneq.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until a court rules that they can ask for your encrypted remote backup because reasons. And then hold you in contempt until you comply. This isn’t a technical problem, it’s a political one, which means it demands a political solution.
Then you can deny you have one, and they won't be able to prove anything. Or you can have two, and then give them the one with a porn collection or something. Or you can have three, in case they suspect you of having two. Or you just have none, and they detain you indefinitely because you can't prove otherwise… though if you fear that, you probably shouldn't cross the border ever again. I was wondering what they'd do…
As you may have learned in recent news, lying to a Federal officer is a felony. If you have a blank phone, and you tell them you have no backup, and they later find out you did, you could go to prison just for that alone.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#85I was searched at the border a few months ago on my way in via car from Vancouver to Washington. It did unfortunately appear to be the case that they had selected a significantly larger number of non-caucasion looking people for searches that followed mine (I'm caucasion), thought I hadn't noticed until my girlfriend pointed it out to me. However, while I was waiting for them to finish searching my car, I spoke with a caucasion fellow who happened to be Canadian with a German passport. Based on what he described, they decided that he must have been trying to work in the states without the right visa. They then proceeded to molest him and his personal privacy for 4+ hours. He tossed me a pamphlet that they gave him indicating that they had the full legal right to do so and he was more or less screwed. I proceeded to start deleting every avenue they'd have to view chat messages, emails, photos, anything, but there really was only so much I could do. Fortunately, it seems like they just wanted to try and intimidate me. The search seemed to be a formality. From what I hear, similar things happen on the way into Canadians to Canadians. It's a strange world we live in, and I wish all the good fortune in the world to those who try and fight it.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#86Suggestion: for international travel, when possible stow your powered off phone in checked baggage, and bring a non-important factory-reset phone or tablet for entertainment or to connect to the cloud if needed for work etc. If needed keep your work files in a hidden folder on an SD card in your camera... lots of annoying but increasingly necessary workarounds to deal with the growth of authoritarian states.
All the inbound customs checkpoints I've seen in the US and overseas are after you pick up your checked luggage. It sounds like this specific case was outbound, but outbound inspection at commercial airports is unusual in the US.
Formal checkpoints, yes. A cluster of agents standing in the jetway and pulling people aside as they board the plane - not uncommon.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
German law allows predatory lawyers to file lawsuits on behalf of another party without their involvement. That level of BS thankfully doesn't happen in the US.
Abmahnung is not a proper lawsuit, it's a mostly legal way to get parties to agree in case of a legal dispute without having to actually involve a court. You can ask to be reimbursed for incurred costs for up to 1000€. The current government is working no reducing the abuse of this legal mechanism. Sending one of these requires you also to clearly show how the recipient infringed on your rights or a law that affects…
Very informative, sounds like a litigious society
I’ll take “Semantical distinctions I dont have to care about” for $200, Alex
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't forget that the border zone extends 100 miles in from the actual border (including the great lakes). Most US people live their entire lives in the constitution free zone where this kind of violation is allowed.
However the authority using "border zone" justification for a warrantless search must also have probable cause to believe you have recently crossed the border.
Now, if you leave the possibility that somebody crosses the border unchecked - you can use your incompetence to gain the right to search anybody. Nice one.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Plenty of other countries have customs/border agents that quiz you without attacking or belittling you. I agree. I am Canadian, but I went to school in the US. After school I returned to Canada. A couple years later I had a US work visa to train Americans on a particular technology that my company specialized in, and I was maybe the foremost expert in (outside of the manufacturer). I wasn't taking anyone's job, I w…
I’ve been to Canada numerous times and the agents on your side are so nice. Also never really had a problem with us agents other than they all seem over worked and under paid. At least that’s what their attitude comes off like to me. I do remember one case where a Canadian agent asked what my profession was and at the time I said “web developer” but they heard weapon developer. Pretty funny and awkward. And Gesh, I k…
> don’t have nexus or global entry
I am sorry, not a native speaker. What is "nexus or global entry"?
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry who would be laughed out of the room and for what? It wasnt clear to me from what you wrote Also I found it interesting that Germans perceive the US as overly litigious but I found an article that said Germany has more lawsuits (per capita? In absolute totals?), funny how perception takes a long time to catch up to various forms of reality
> I found an article that said Germany has more lawsuits https://www.clements.com/sites/default/files/resources/The-M... was it this one?
That original source is 20 years old. This is more recent paper
https://ideas.repec.org/p/iuk/wpaper/2010-18.html
which curiously says that US has 5806 lawsuits per 100k people compared to 3681 in the UK (second highest) and immediately adds that it's not special