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Pair Locking Your iPhone

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Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#101

Post by DoubleGlazing »

noident wrote: post #44
woutr_be wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Apple would put something in place where you effectively have two user accounts. If you type your actually passcode, it's just your normal account. If you type another specific passcode, it's a burner account with minimal apps and information. It has enough info to make it look like it's being used, but nothing important. Obviously border control would quickly know about this, but there's no way to veri…

Attempting to deceive CBP through hidden volumes and the like is not recommended. https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017

It's worse than that in some cases. I used to work for a big 4 consulting firm and they had some horror stories about border device searches.

The company policy for travel outside the EU was simple... Your own laptop would go into a server room and become a remote desktop host, you'd be given a blank laptop. When you got to your destination safely you'd call up IT who'd tell you where to download the VPN software and provide you login details. If asked why you laptop was blank by border agents you were instructed to give them a copy of the company IT policy.

Which is all well and good border agents demand you go through the above process and log in to the VPN and then remote in to your own laptop. It happened on multiple occasions in several countries and in most cases the employee was deported after refusing to comply.

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#102

Post by 2rsf »

Nextgrid wrote: post #24

Note that this disables the use of Activation Lock, so in case of theft the bad guy can erase the device and resell it. Also this won’t actually protect you against bootrom exploits.

I don't get the benefit of Activation Lock, a thief will find it out only AFTER your phone was stolen, I doubt they will give it back to you.

It's the same as with GPS / Position Car Alarms- it's great for your insurance company, but in most cases I don't want to get my car back damaged or in pieces

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#103

Post by taneq »

stkdump wrote: post #61
noident wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attempting to deceive CBP through hidden volumes and the like is not recommended. https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017

What about if I put an encrypted backup of my phone into some online storage and factory reset it? Probably not a workable solution for frequent travelers.

That's basically using your own phone as a burner phone.

You could probably stick a few innocuous photos and messages on it and claim you'd just upgraded or something.

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#104

Post by sombremesa »

jeroenhd wrote: post #80
rendall wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are both correct. Incidentally, the "border" for legal purposes extends 100 miles into the interior.

Exactly this. And remember that international airports are also borders!

So does it extend 100 miles from airports?

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#105

Post by 8fingerlouie »

kazinator wrote: post #2

> Pair locking is a useful feature to protect yourself against invasive device searches. Probably also a good way to get onto no-fly lists, and spend hours in detention, etc.

I sure hope not.

I work for a financial institution and our phones are locked down hard, including pair locking. This is done as a requirement from the FSA as a result of having access to confidential data on the phone. None of the data is stored on the phone, or even cached there, but it's still pair locked.

I regularly bring my phone through US customs, and i've yet to have any problems. Granted, i travel from a visa waiver country, and am a white male, so my experience is probably not typical.

My personal phone gets backed up and wiped before travelling, and is usually just running a selection of "basic apps" - phone, messages, and a few utilities.

Once i arrive at the hotel i restore it from the real backup, and repeat before leaving again. 10-15 years ago this was the procedure i would follow when traveling to China or Russia, but modern times has expanded this to include the U.S.A. and GB.

If it's just a short trip (1-2 days) i just bring my company phone though.

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#107

Post by tjbiddle »

Nextgrid wrote: post #33
hughes wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think avoiding the USA is a realistic option for a lot of HN readers.

I somehow manage to have a comfortable career & good money while having never stepped foot in the US (and no intentions to do so). It’s not impossible or even that difficult.

I think the OPs point was that the demographics of HN users are mostly US citizens.

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#108

Post by kmlx »

woutr_be wrote: post #93
meddlepal wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't beat the government or law with clever technological tricks. So you pull that stunt, then the border agent reminds you that lying to a federal border agent is a crime. You give a hesitant, non-confidant, shift your eyes wrong and you're detained. Heck they might even just detain you for shits and giggles because there is no repercussions to them. Have fun.

So your best bet is to just let the government invade your privacy? Or travel without your actual phone, and take some random cheap Android device?

or you could go out and Vote!

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#109

Post by sombremesa »

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #101
noident wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attempting to deceive CBP through hidden volumes and the like is not recommended. https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017

It's worse than that in some cases. I used to work for a big 4 consulting firm and they had some horror stories about border device searches. The company policy for travel outside the EU was simple... Your own laptop would go into a server room and become a remote desktop host, you'd be given a blank laptop. When you got to your destination safely you'd call up IT who'd tell you where to download the VPN software and…

It might've been better to respond with the fact that you had only just received that laptop from the company, which was the truth.

Re: Pair Locking Your iPhone

#110

Post by earenndil »

xorfish wrote: post #100
epistasis wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are a US citizen, you can't be turned away at the border or forced to unlock the device. There's an important divide between what customs is supposed to do, and what they might actually do in practice. Going through customs means putting yourself at the whims of people that you do not control. If you're a white male, there's perhaps less of a chance that a bad employee will feel they can take advantage of yo…

Last time I looked it up, law enforcement would treat white women the most lenient, followed by black women. White men are treated a bit worse than black women and of course, black men were treated harsher than the other groups.

Was that controlled? That is, did they measure only illegitimate detainments? Because I'm sure crime rates vary by demographic.
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