[deleted]
Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
101–110 of 248 posts
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#102This 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's a surprise to me that nobody has pointed to the EFF whitepaper and recommendations on this issue.
Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the Data On Your Devices
https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017
EFF Border search pocket guide (printable PDF)
https://www.eff.org/document/eff-border-search-pocket-guide
Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border - EFF’s guide to your Constitutional rights at the border
https://www.eff.org/document/digital-privacy-us-border
It has all the information you need to deal with it.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#103The 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…
I agree. I went through the TSA checkpoint at the United Premier Access this last Tuesday. They have the new automated bin return system. Some of the people who travel less frequently were leaving the bins behind instead of putting them in the machine to be returned to the front. The TSA agent shouted at them repeatedly, "do any of you read English? Can't you read the damn sign?" While he pointed at the instructions.…
I had this at Gatwick last year...
"Hey idiot, get your goddamn bags off the (expletive) belt! Hurry the hell up!"
At which point another passenger decided to take advantage of the confusion and tried to steal my phone...
"God (expletive) damn you! Are you trying to make my (expletive) life hard?! Just take your bags and go, you're holding up my line!"
Approached the airport, "we do not comment on security matters".
"How can I take this complaint further?"
"You'll need to ask your solicitor to contact our legal department."
And then there was Stockholm Arlanda...
(On the way in) "Good morning Sir. Welcome to Stockholm."
And on the way out...
"Sir, is this your bag? Can you please turn the laptop on for me?"
'Do you need me to log in, it's for work...'
"Oh no, I just need to see it turn on."
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#104The 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…
I couldn't agree more. Just recently we visited Hawaii with our 6-month-old daughter. We were going through security and got pulled aside because one of the baby glass bottles was filled with water.
About 20 mins of bomb testing and pat downs later and making us and our daughter drink the explosive water... To be fair most of the people working that day were fine, it was just one complete moron calling the shots that made it 100 times more difficult than it needed to be.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
> let them nose through your happy snaps for a minute on the way through. Just so you know, that's not how it has worked since 2013. Now they take your phone to the back room and image your phone. Then they upload that image to a service that searches your data. Then, and there is recent evidence of this, they don't always destroy the local copy of your data in the field office which would allow agents to browse your…
I hate this idea. To the best of my knowledge there's no evidence of anything illegal on my phone or any of my social media accounts. But still, I would absolutely loathe the idea of handing over an image of my phone in perpetuity. Might as well give you a scan of the contents of my brain. Not much evidence of law-breaking there either, but I'd rather hold onto it, thank you!
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Most people” seems like a bit of a stretch...
Not at all[0]. The continental coastline is an "external boundary". [0]: https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone
When you get technical about this 100 miles from every international airport is a border as well...
How does that impact that map ?
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anecdote: About a year ago, I went through TSA and asked to opt out of the body scans in place of a pat down. Another agent on the side watched the whole thing and made kissing faces my way the whole time while making gay jokes. It was extremely belittling. Fuck TSA.
Are you me? Had a really similar experience until I said that “this is the cheapest rub job I’ve ever gotten” and winked at him. He didn’t appreciate that. Tbh I seem to be making it my life’s work to be a little shit at airport security. I will _never_ use the millimetre scanner which seems to be a huge point of contentenion. And, while not TSA, the Gatwick airport security were trying very hard to convince me that…
Wow. I thought the experience I had with Gatwick was a one-off... :(
These days I aim for London City or Leeds-Bradford if I can, Heathrow is my second choice, and I'll actively avoid Gatwick and Manchester unless there's no other alternative.
I keep meaning to try Glasgow or Edinburgh for departures... I've flown into Edinburgh due to a KLM screw-up but never departed from there.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#108"Do as we say or you'll miss your flight" probably get 99.99% compliance. Most people have plans and "have nothing to hide," or so they think. Question: Why do they ask all these question about kids, schools, wife etc? Identity is established, the passport is legit because they can check it, WTH do they want?
It's normal interrogation techniques. They ask normal stuff to see if you lie or you get nervous. Just watch any of those airport security shows on TV to see how many people who end up smuggling stuff fail to answer those simple questions or change their story several times during the interrogation process.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not at all[0]. The continental coastline is an "external boundary". [0]: https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone
When you get technical about this 100 miles from every international airport is a border as well... How does that impact that map ?
There is no actual country border at any airport. It's an approximation that has its own rules and is not affected by the international treaty that sets these 100 miles.
Re: Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
#110Earlier 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.
This is the real answer. The problem is that the government feels entitled to any data they may request of you. Regardless of your technical acumen, they can always fall back on a $5 wrench.
I was just waiting for someone to mention the XKCD Universal Decryptor... a $5 wrench and a length of hose...