I need to prioritize phones with SD cards way more. This is ridiculous.
US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
201–210 of 566 posts
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
45 minutes of unsupervised access to your phone? Even if it's a "travel" phone I wouldn't connect it to any other device after that.
They took my laptop in the back for just 30 minutes or so, after which I refused to accept it back from them or even touch it, which took another 2 hours or so. Eventually they agreed to dispose of it themselves.
Why not just throw it away yourself?
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get the plausible activity bit. Just tell them it is your travel phone and be done.
That's not an acceptable answer in a number of countries.
So let me get this straight - if I broke/lost a phone before a flight (and replaced with spare) - I can expect to be declined entry?
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
45 minutes of unsupervised access to your phone? Even if it's a "travel" phone I wouldn't connect it to any other device after that.
They took my laptop in the back for just 30 minutes or so, after which I refused to accept it back from them or even touch it, which took another 2 hours or so. Eventually they agreed to dispose of it themselves.
Were they surprised at your refusal?
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
45 minutes of unsupervised access to your phone? Even if it's a "travel" phone I wouldn't connect it to any other device after that.
They took my laptop in the back for just 30 minutes or so, after which I refused to accept it back from them or even touch it, which took another 2 hours or so. Eventually they agreed to dispose of it themselves.
Did you get reimbursed?
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#206As a thought experiment, what would happen if you wrote your own malicious payload to a burner device and handed that over? What if you warned the border agents that your device would deliver malicious code and they plugged it in anyway?
My guess is it would be like setting up a trap gun and putting a sign on the door warning about it. Still illegal. But I'm a rando on the Internet and a loooooong ways from being any kind of lawyer, and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, either.
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#207On my last trip back from Europe in June, when I re-entered the US, US Customs & Border Control didn't ask for my passport. No one did. They did wave a webcam connected to a computer in front of my face, and then a moment later, called out my name and said I could enter. Same with everyone coming through the international border area.
I think that's just as weird a development and worthy of "WTH?" as this topic.
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is like suggesting a biological cell not have a cell wall. One of the fundamental functions of a country is to regulate input/outputs at the border. There are so many disastrous problems that arise from the elimination of a border, that I question whether such a suggestion is ever even made seriously or made by sane people.
I advocate for almost completely open borders, for three reasons, freedom + economic growth + national security. (1) Freedom. Closed borders was actually one of the first iterations of technology being used to suppress human freedom. We had open borders for most of human history. Only with the advent of modern nation states (and the associated mind virus of nationalism) and recent technical capabilities have we both…
I still think there is merit in Lifeboat Ethics. Our country can only support so many people before it would be overwhelmed by resource scarcity and further overpopulation that burdens other nations.
Of course closed borders are protectionist. I don't think that's a bad thing.
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#209This happened to me in 2016 crossing into Canada. Borders agents took my phone for no reason, demand I give them the password to unlock it (otherwise they would seize the phone), took it in the back for 45 min before returning it and letting me enter. I think it’s obvious they took all my data. So now when I travel I just bring my “travel” phone with no sensitive data on it.
> I give them the password to unlock it (otherwise they would seize the phone)
IIRC, I've read they can only hold your phone for 30 days or something like that, then they have to return it to you. They can delay an American citizen, but they can't deny entry.
Ever since then, I travel with a travel phone, make sure my photos are backed up when I cross a border, and shut it down before I go through border control. If they demand a password, I'll put up a little fuss and then let them take it.
Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years
#210Read the book "Habeas Data"
It's a great overview of digital privacy and protection laws in the US, how they came about, and what protections they actually offer. The short answer is "very few" and the long answer is "never ever ever turn over your data short of a court order and even then try to fight it."
Then with Third Party Doctrine, most of the few/limited privacy/warrant rules go out the window.
Also, I'm not a lawyer.