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Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

cbc.ca

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Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#431

Post by ada1981 »

I’d love to have a second password that when I enter it automatically encrypts the phone and simultaneously loads a dummy user account.

This way I can give them my password, let them look around at some basic programs, benign emails, photos, etc. and then hand me back the phone.

Perhaps even a couple dummy passwors so I can keep a password like “1111” to generate a false positive if they try to brute force my phone.

I’m surprised this doesn’t exist a jailbreak feature.

If it does, please let me know as I’ve looked.

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#432

Post by Amygaz »

abeyer wrote: post #388
rlue wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. This thread is full of people proposing inventive technical solutions to genuinely prohibit your own access to the device while you're going through customs, as if border patrol a) knows the difference and b) gives a damn. These are all functionally equivalent to "Um, I forgot my password." (Or, if you wish for a more plausible but equally ineffective excuse, "This is actually my mother's laptop; I'm bringing it…

> it's his job to assume you're lying and find the next legal option available to him. Not sure where you live, but in the US it's actually his first and foremost responsibility to uphold a constitution that says that people are free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Oh you should try that at US border. Let us know how well it worked out...

Spoiler alert: If not cooperating, then BPO not friendly; Else, please proceed.

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#433

Post by sctb »

fopen64 wrote: post #303
arminiusreturns wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrorism, children, drugs, or sex; all excuses used for attacking individual liberty. Let's get real here, stuff like this is about control, not about security, and certainly Nota about morality... That's just how politicians package it so the people swallow the poison pill. That said, I feel like people vastly overestimate the similarity of governments of the US and the UKs vassal states like Canada, and that false…

That's what I think. The "think of the children!!!!111" eats civil liberties and does not solve the underlying problem.

You're failing to meet the bar of discourse here in this thread. Please review the guidelines and start following them or we'll ban the account.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#434

Post by iwalton3 »

ada1981 wrote: post #431

I’d love to have a second password that when I enter it automatically encrypts the phone and simultaneously loads a dummy user account. This way I can give them my password, let them look around at some basic programs, benign emails, photos, etc. and then hand me back the phone. Perhaps even a couple dummy passwors so I can keep a password like “1111” to generate a false positive if they try to brute force my phone.…

The problem is if these features become common enough you will start getting asked about them. Even worse, if you aren't using them you may be asked to provide something that is impossible to provide.

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#435

Post by sctb »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #259
DoreenMichele wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in my case. I'm for the decriminalization of sex work, among other things. I'm just against raping children and generally mistreating poor people because you think you can get away with it. Keep it among genuinely consenting adults, and I don't care how many, what genders are involved, how you folks agree to get your freak on and yadda. Just one easily findable prior comment by me: https://news.ycombinator.com/it…

Terrorism, children, drugs, or sex; all excuses used for attacking individual liberty. Let's get real here, stuff like this is about control, not about security, and certainly Nota about morality... That's just how politicians package it so the people swallow the poison pill. That said, I feel like people vastly overestimate the similarity of governments of the US and the UKs vassal states like Canada, and that false…

Please don't post flamebait like this again. It's flamebait because it's both inflammatory and unsubstantive. It's like spending your last dollar to buy spoiled milk.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#436

Post by Simon_says »

numakerg wrote: post #348
sedatk wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is a common mechanism for triggering dual boot, they would know about it and try it out too. So, not unless you use a unique, inconspicuous mechanism.

I don't know much about cryptography or low-level software, but could you hide the second profile inside the encrypted data? For example, I believe Truecrypt has a dual container system with two passwords in addition to their regular encrypted containers. You enter one password to get to the "fake" container and another password to get to the "hidden" container. Plausible deniability exists where it is impossible to…

Lying to immigration officers is a crime. If you're going to go that route, you better be damn sure it's gonna work and they don't have prior information on you.

If you're at the point where this seems like a good idea, you're better off not bringing data over the border.

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#437

Post by michaelt »

chii wrote: post #272
mises wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's much easier for a policeman to demand the password to decrypt data when he has you in custody at customs than when it is searched by the mailman. You're confusing "not perfect" with "not good". There's an old saying: when outrunning a bear, you don't have to be the fastest guy, you just have to be faster than the slowest guy.

> It's much easier for a policeman to demand the password to decrypt data when he has you in custody at customs than when it is searched by the mailman. is that really true? I would expect that they can just perform hardware tampering when you're not present when searching in mailed items, but given that customs might use racial profiling to target you at airport, you may be better off mailing the computer securely,…

Dragnet demanding your password at the border is something we know they do - there are loads of witnesses saying they were asked for passwords at borders. Dragnet hardware tampering of electronics in the mail is not something we know they do.

I've only seen two articles claiming evidence of physical tampering - like a hoax about Dell from 2005 [1] and Bloomberg's dodgy story about spy chips from last year [2] - neither of which seems truthy, and neither of which involved mail interdiction.

(Of course, it's widely suspected mailed hardware can be tampered with, but most of the claims/speculation I've read has been about targeted tampering, not dragnet)

[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keyboard-loggers/ [2] https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/04/bloomberg-spy-chip-murky-w...

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#438

Post by GoblinSlayer »

vbezhenar wrote: post #180
dontbenebby wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Encrypt the data (probably easiest way is to use encrypted 7z archive), memorize the password, upload the encrypted data into any cloud storage (e.g. Google Drive) and don't care about disclosing anything on your devices.

Or log into a guest account and let the dude search all he wants, lol.

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#439

Post by Amygaz »

Considering he is a lawyer and a politician and civil liberties activist, he knew CBPA’s rights very well, and this is a public stunt to encourage the government to change the law.

A simple search about this nick wright, reveals that this is not his first encounter with the authority. He is definitely more active about civil liberties than the average person. He has been arrested during a G20 event, and his story then sounds a bit like this one.

So, we either have case of lightning striking the same person twice, or he likes to play games with the law.

Re: Canada Border Services seizes lawyer's phone, laptop for not sharing passwords

#440

Post by fredgrott »

rlue wrote: post #381
fooqux wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what's the difference? The end result is the same: your device(s) are confiscated and they attempt to brute force the password. Telling an officer that you cannot give them the password because you did some techno-mumbo-jumbo is just going to piss them off and make them assume you have "something to hide" because "no honest person would go to those lengths".

Yes. This thread is full of people proposing inventive technical solutions to genuinely prohibit your own access to the device while you're going through customs, as if border patrol a) knows the difference and b) gives a damn. These are all functionally equivalent to "Um, I forgot my password." (Or, if you wish for a more plausible but equally ineffective excuse, "This is actually my mother's laptop; I'm bringing it…

better solution access stuff via ssh graphically another desktop machine for all work and browsing...last access remove the ssh key

than when CBP ask for password give it and watch them search the laptop..

You full filled your legal obligation to follow their orders despite the illegality its now their problem they cannot find anything

Note...all social public stuff is searchable on google..tweets facebook postings etc..

CBP never needs a password they are searching with that password for other reasons than the ones they GIVE

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