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US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

engadget.com

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Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does biometric here mean your passport photo? I totally believe this is the official name, but the nomenclature definitely opens up the possibility of concept creep so that biometric data can mean anything from the mundane to the terrifying

A set of high quality photos, from a few different angles, a set of fingerprints, and quite possibly a sample of your writing gait. Also, very likely, some measurement of your height. Those are pretty standard for most countries.

Thanks for the info, I was wondering what all was involved. I still think that falls under the mundane

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#302
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup! Write "Not at this Address" and put it in the outbox if you have one, or back in your mailbox with flag up.

I've been routinely receiving junk mail for a person that I know for a fact has been dead for about a decade. I used to do this with that mail, but stopped a couple of years ago. Now I just toss it directly in the recycling bin.

It is understandable, I just know not to fuck with the Postal Service. I doubt you will get convicted, but I don’t have great luck with things lol.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#303
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it was clear that he was asking about >>> you also may say "no" >> people have been killed by law enforcement for doing what you are suggesting. > Can you cite any examples of this happening? and not George Floyd.

It seems clear when you selectively edit the transcript the way you did. But add a little more context: > Right, same as a police officer who asks if they can "look around" or "ask a few questions". ...But in general you'd be a fool to do so, and you also may say "no" and it becomes a lot less clear.

But I didn't have any problem understanding it at all, when I first read it.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#304

Even if you are a person who will never in your life end up as any kind of person of interest for the government, handing over data in this way could still be quite dangerous. Phones will often contain data that can facilitate theft and fraud if ending up in the wrong hands. If they're able to copy everything, including private data from all apps that could be quite bad. For example many countries now use apps to log…

Things like secured enclave should make it hard to extract private key from a device even if you have full access.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#305
This is tangential to the content of the article but this site's data protection consent pop-up (not sure if this is EU-only) is actually an own-goal when it comes to EU GDPR compliance:

If you can revoke consent for "legitimate interest", it's not legitimate interest. Legitimate interest is a legal basis for collecting and processing data without explicit consent (i.e. it's an alternative mechanism to explicit consent and you can merely inform the user of it, not ask them to consent to it). If you can opt out, it's not legitimate interest. And if it's not actually legitimate interest, you have to make it an opt-in option like the other consent prompts, not an opt-out (tho at least this site doesn't make you select them individually).

I'm not sure what marketing firm convinced publishers they could use "legitimate consent opt-outs" as a fallback for the consent many people probably don't opt in to, but their advice is flat out wrong at best and illegal at worst. They'd be better of not providing a detailed consent popup than doing this because the former at least allows them to claim ignorance whereas this clearly demonstrates an attempt to circumvent consent requirements. Not to mention the current state of the law explicitly requires them to provide both "opt in to all" and "opt out of all" options without additional clicks and dark pattern shenanigans (i.e. they have to be equally prominent and the same color and design).

Also if you find these popups annoying keep in mind that there's literally no legal requirement to have a consent popup under the EU GDPR. You don't even need one if you use cookies. The only reason these sites need them is because they use third party embeds, resources and scripts that set non-essential (e.g. tracking) cookies or want to record/process user data (e.g. for targeted ads). It's the death pains of a failing business model that's making this annoying for you, not the law.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#306
post #2

I'm not sure I missed something, the title says "Americans" but I couldn't find an elaboration on exactly _who_ is subject to these searches. The ACLU [0] seems to contend that, at least, US citizens are not subject to these measures. [0]: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encounter...

They are searching anybody who they please, even Americans

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#307
post #87

Do they do this with laptops too? If not, the laziness of assuming everything is on the phone is amusing.

And I'm still waiting for someone to explain how that works with employer gear. I'm guessing my corporate compliance team will not be pleased if I tell them someone made copies of all the companies data...even if it is uncle sam. Like what does one do in that situation? Can't really agree. At the same time US border staff is not known for their understanding nature when it comes to saying no.

If they are concerned they will do what many companies do when going to places like China. You get issued a new laptop for the trip who's only job is to act as a remote terminal to a system that doesn't travel with you.

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#308
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy a 2nd-hand $40 scrap phone, erase it, save a few panorama pictures and a couple of selfies on it and put your SIM card in it every time you are about to cross a border. Then put the card back in your regular phone after that.

Can’t wait to post my holiday pics taken with my $40 potato online! Ultimately the underlying privacy violation is what needs to change here cause all work arounds are problematic in some way

Why not use an actual camera?

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you've been asked to unlock your phone, and refused, but were eventually released and allowed to enter? Which country?

Yes, it's happened to me twice, both times crossing from Canada to the US on a land border entry. There was a short period of time where the CBP was doing this in droves on Canada land border entries. The way it's generally structured is they ask permission, and if you refuse, they can't really do anything without a court order and can only hold you at most 72 hours. The time I was held up for 2 days was because they…

That sounds dreadful. Do you suppose there was any particular reason for this treatment, or was it pure random chance?

Re: US border forces are seizing Americans' phone data and storing it for 15 years

#310

On 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.

BOS got unstaffed camera kiosks some years back, and being the wise-ass I am, I made a funny face for the camera, figuring the picture would end up stored for all eternity on a computer, never having been seen by human eyes.

At that point in time, they were still having humans in the loop, and I got a different kind of funny look from the customs or immigration person I spoke to some minutes later.

I got a third kind of funny look once we were allowed back into the country from my highly unamused wife...

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