Digital privacy while crossing borders seems to increasingly be an issue. And I'm worried that it's not going to improve any time soon. Politicians and very rich people don't deal with border security the same way normal people do.
Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
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Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#22> Officers uncovered a customs-related offence during 38 per cent of those searches, said the agency. I really want to understand what kind of digital data is considered a customs-related offence.
There are cases at the Canadian border in which the investigators search for "boy" or "girl" using the Windows search tools to see if there is child pornography on your device. In other circumstances, they uncover hentai[0] showing characters that appear to be underage - and bringing that into Canada is illegal (in fact, much like Australia and New Zealand, any sexual depiction of fictional minors is illegal, and that can include stories or other text). There are anecdotal and well-documented cases for the latter[1]. One Reddit user claimed that the investigators at the border found browser-cached thumbnails of such material (since it used to be permitted on Redddit) and he was jailed for a day or something like that.
Not to suggest that all of the 38% count for that, but with the popularity of drawn pornography I'd wager it makes up a sizable chunk.
[0] Hentai refers to anime-style drawings of fictional characters.
[1] https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=canadian+...
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#23> He said the officer then confiscated his phone and laptop, and told him the items would be sent to a government lab which would try to crack his passwords and search his files. Hopefully they were powered down and used proper full-disk encryption.
Do you think its better to have an iPhone powered down or on?
I am wondering if it would be possible to leverage remote wipe features, but maybe the border agents power off the device or put it in a bag / container that blocks cellular signals.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#24Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#25He's suing to get them back and for compensation for having to "temporarily" replace them, but even if he wins he probably shouldn't trust either device in the future (possibly more so for the laptop).
Eh, wipe disk (or install a new one), re-install OS, and if you're super paranoid then re-flash BIOS and you should be good to go.
That's literally useless for government sponsored persistent malware.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#26> Officers uncovered a customs-related offence during 38 per cent of those searches, said the agency. I really want to understand what kind of digital data is considered a customs-related offence.
There are cases at the Canadian border in which the investigators search for "boy" or "girl" using the Windows search tools to see if there is child pornography on your device. In other circumstances, they uncover hentai[0] showing characters that appear to be underage - and bringing that into Canada is illegal (in fact, much like Australia and New Zealand, any sexual depiction of fictional minors is illegal, and tha…
Doesn’t that make Season 1 of Californication illegal since David Duchovny’s character has sex with a portrayed 16 year old girl (with full frontal nudity)?
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#27> Officers uncovered a customs-related offence during 38 per cent of those searches, said the agency. I really want to understand what kind of digital data is considered a customs-related offence.
There’s a reality tv show that follows the Canadian border patrol, in the couple episodes I’ve seen the agents have found emails about the person crossing actually going for work when they say for tourism or visiting family.
I mean, to be honest, that's probably illegal, but I have never liked trading freedom for security.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are cases at the Canadian border in which the investigators search for "boy" or "girl" using the Windows search tools to see if there is child pornography on your device. In other circumstances, they uncover hentai[0] showing characters that appear to be underage - and bringing that into Canada is illegal (in fact, much like Australia and New Zealand, any sexual depiction of fictional minors is illegal, and tha…
Doesn’t that make Season 1 of Californication illegal since David Duchovny’s character has sex with a portrayed 16 year old girl (with full frontal nudity)?
The representation has to be pornographic; I should have clarified. That said, "borderline" pornography, including a "chibi" (characters drawn with no definition or detail, no genitalia visible) parody of a famous Japanese print, were prosecuted in Canada[0]. If I could I would link the image in question if you wanted to see just how ridiculous this prosecution was.
[0] https://www.cbr.com/canadian-court-drops-criminal-charges-in...
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#29> He said the officer then confiscated his phone and laptop, and told him the items would be sent to a government lab which would try to crack his passwords and search his files. Hopefully they were powered down and used proper full-disk encryption.
Do you think its better to have an iPhone powered down or on? I am wondering if it would be possible to leverage remote wipe features, but maybe the border agents power off the device or put it in a bag / container that blocks cellular signals.
Shouldn’t matter. The key thing is to have a strong password, and disable any biometric authentication beforehand. (You can do this by squeezing the side buttons for a few seconds until the “power off” screen appears. The phone will then require a password before reenabling biometric authentication.)
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#30> He said the officer then confiscated his phone and laptop, and told him the items would be sent to a government lab which would try to crack his passwords and search his files. Hopefully they were powered down and used proper full-disk encryption.
Do you think its better to have an iPhone powered down or on? I am wondering if it would be possible to leverage remote wipe features, but maybe the border agents power off the device or put it in a bag / container that blocks cellular signals.
Powered down.