(2012)
> Posted: May 05, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 10 hours ago
Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
61–70 of 483 posts
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#62>Wright refused, telling the officer both devices contained confidential information protected by solicitor-client privilege. >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. Can this be used to get whatever case(es) he was defending thrown out because solicitor-client privilege was violate…
This and related edge cases are something that I've always wondered about e.g. where compliance would be illegal. There are a number of scenarios where one can have content on devices that it is expressly illegal to disclose to random border police. Even within a single country, there is a conflict of authority here.
When I was a grad student I worried about this, since I was required to keep study participant data and student data confidential.
Sounds like this lawyer arrived at the same plan I did:
Refuse the request, file a lawsuit, and contact the media when released to shame the government that saw fit to violate my rights.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#63> 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…
Is there an exception for religious texts? There are Is more than one common religions whose holy texts depict sexual activity with minors.
Also, if I have a copy of Nabokov “Lolita” on my kindle, will I get in trouble? Stephen King’s It? An apt pupil?
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
>he probably shouldn't trust either device in the future (possibly more so for the laptop). Seems risky for the government to put any firmware/hardware implants on those devices. The user is naturally going to be suspicious of it because the government had unrestricted access for days/weeks. So there's a high chance that the user might not even use it or will send it to an expert for analysis. If discovered, it's goi…
Suspicious, sure, but most users aren’t equipped to do that kind of diagnosis, and many won’t be able to afford new devices, and maybe it will look even worse for the government but I am certain absolutely nothing bad will happen to the people who added the malware.
$30 smartphones exist.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#65Fighting this is all well and good, but we should look into the near future to when brain scanning or lie detecting has improved.
The fundamental problem is that governments believe they deserve to know citizens and travelers' thoughts. (Cell phone contents are a close proxy.) I disagree, and believe they can still provide adequate border and intranation security without it.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm more surprised at the 38% true positive rate. If you consider false positives, it would mean that they are shockingly good at profiling and most criminals are dumb enough to leave obvious evidence on their phone, or an overwhelming majority of people have committed a "customs-related offence" so that you could pick anyone and they would be guilty.
I would think most offenses are for improper entry, visa, etc. If you were entering to work on a tourism visa I think it would be very easy to find proof in a simple email, text or document.
Plus it isn't hard to pick out people crossing consistently for work.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#67(2012)
No, 2019...
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#68Why do border services think they can seize a device and send it to a lab?
If a border officer suspected I had a hidden compartment in my suitcase could they ship it off to a special lab?
I don't agree with (but can see the logic in) them copying data off your HD and trying to crack it later.
But I don't understand what legal argument is to be made for arbitrarily seizing property at the border.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#69These cases keep on cropping up and you see people suggesting to do some sort of technical trick like taking the hard-disk out of the laptop and carrying a TailsOS live USB flash device for your computing. Other tricks might include mailing a USB flash disk to a hotel reception with the intent of picking it up when you arrive. These are all fraught with risk and you could appear extra suspicious by doing these. Another 'trick' I see people advocating for is trying to act like a so called 'normie' and having normal average joe files on your computer and maintaining an innocent-looking browsing history where you can be seen visiting cnn.com or even cbc.ca for your news and not some left-wing conspiracy websites. The only caveat with the 'normie' method is that you will need to access your more controversial/sensitive files at some later stage, so this could mean logging into Dropbox and then downloading an encrypted Veracrypt container onto your machine and proceeding to work with those files in the privacy of your hotel/where-ever.
Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
#70>Wright refused, telling the officer both devices contained confidential information protected by solicitor-client privilege. >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. Can this be used to get whatever case(es) he was defending thrown out because solicitor-client privilege was violate…
You will never be able to prove parallel construction happened.
who has the burden of proof though?