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How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

washingtonpost.com

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Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#71

Post by eastbound »

gruez wrote: post #4

"Locking down" is almost always a bad approach when it comes to border crossings. You have very little rights at the border, so keeping your phone locked and refusing to divulge the 20 characters password isn't really an option. Even without the threat of detaining you, they can refuse entry (if you're not a citizen/permanent resident), or seize your $1000 phone/laptop. Far better to wipe your phone and restore from…

> Far better to wipe your phone and restore from backup after you've crossed the border.

It’s a mantra but it’s incorrect: You’re supposed to list your “online accounts” to the border agent in the US.

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#72

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

tengwar2 wrote: post #22
Havoc wrote: post #5

I'm just not going to go to the US frankly. Only reason I would is tourism, and I like my vacations harassment & risk of detainment free

I stopped going when they introduced fingerprinting. This is not just a point of principle. While it is not known whether fingerprints are unique (as is often claimed), it is known that the information that is stored about fingerprints and which is used as the basis for matching records is not unique. The equivalent of hash collisions exist. Fingerprints are great as corroborative evidence, but if they are used as th…

Fingerprints are known to not be unique. Matches have been found between two people.

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#73

Post by hiddencost »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #70
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

Who came for you? You want to go to the US (or any other country) and therefore you align with their rules. Nobody forces you to go there, and especially play secret agent. If you go, you know that what you have can be searched so have nothing, or have something that is not controversial. The same applies to all the countries in the world.

[flagged]

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#74

Post by mystifyingpoi »

gorgoiler wrote: post #41
gruez wrote: post #4

"Locking down" is almost always a bad approach when it comes to border crossings. You have very little rights at the border, so keeping your phone locked and refusing to divulge the 20 characters password isn't really an option. Even without the threat of detaining you, they can refuse entry (if you're not a citizen/permanent resident), or seize your $1000 phone/laptop. Far better to wipe your phone and restore from…

I used to do this but these days I’m petrified of the restore being imperfect in some way. I use the he.net app for TOTP. Will I get those back in working order? I have a billion photos I want to keep — were they properly backed up to iCloud? My mail settings are a pita to recreate. Will those come back? Are passwords stored in the Secure Enclave? Could I lose those? When I sign back into iCloud am I going to be able…

IMO if you are so concerned about it, then just buy a second phone, and leave the "first" phone at a family member, or at least someone that you trust. If something fails to restore, just call them to read you the OTP code or whatever.

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#75

Post by lawlessone »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #57

Also known as "how to visit detention centers". The amount of bad advice here is staggering. You are not James Bond or some kind of ninja Seals secret agent. You are a nobody attempting to enter a country, and you will be pissing off the border police. Have some common sense.

>Have some common sense.

The common sense would be don't go to countries where you risk being immediately sent home or to a slave colony in El Salvador for writing something mean about its president.

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#76

Post by BrandoElFollito »

lawlessone wrote: post #75
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #57

Also known as "how to visit detention centers". The amount of bad advice here is staggering. You are not James Bond or some kind of ninja Seals secret agent. You are a nobody attempting to enter a country, and you will be pissing off the border police. Have some common sense.

>Have some common sense. The common sense would be don't go to countries where you risk being immediately sent home or to a slave colony in El Salvador for writing something mean about its president.

Oh yes, this is one of the possible solutions with common sense. This is what I decided to do BTW.

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#77

Post by antris »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #70
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

Who came for you? You want to go to the US (or any other country) and therefore you align with their rules. Nobody forces you to go there, and especially play secret agent. If you go, you know that what you have can be searched so have nothing, or have something that is not controversial. The same applies to all the countries in the world.

US has been "coming for us" for decades. What the US does does not fit neatly into its own borders.

Extraordinary rendition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition

Coups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...

Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni...

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#78

Post by mystifyingpoi »

dijit wrote: post #56
jeroenhd wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, restoring a phone takes a seriously long time (8-10hrs?) and some things might not restore 2FA is a pain to recover, but it shouldn't that _that_ long to restore a backup unless you don't have decent internet access. All of my important data and apps usually take maybe 2 hours to get back (including flashing the OS), 3 if you include 2FA recovery. Local backups is kind of an interesting risk/reward situation.…

> but it shouldn't that _that_ long to restore a backup unless you don't have decent internet access. 1) We're talking about people who are most likely going to be using 4/5G and Hotel Wifi. The US anyway is far behind on bandwidth, I get symmetrical 1G for "free" in Sweden, last time I was in the US it was $60/mo for 60MBit. 2) Phones have as much as 1TiB of storage, even at the speed of storage that'll take a hot m…

> is going to be interesting

It all depends on the security pyramid you have, and how much risk are you okay with. I store all my passwords in Dropbox .kdbx file, but I need these always in case of emergency, even from a different device. So I must not enable 2FA on Dropbox. The password to it (and the .kdbx file) lives only in my memory. I hope not to get hit in the head.

Re: How to lock down your phone if you're traveling to the U.S.

#80

Post by BrandoElFollito »

antris wrote: post #77
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who came for you? You want to go to the US (or any other country) and therefore you align with their rules. Nobody forces you to go there, and especially play secret agent. If you go, you know that what you have can be searched so have nothing, or have something that is not controversial. The same applies to all the countries in the world.

US has been "coming for us" for decades. What the US does does not fit neatly into its own borders. Extraordinary rendition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition Coups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r... Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni...

What does this has to do with the topic of trying to be clever with the border police with some tricks to conceal information? (as opposed to not having it in the first place)

Otherwise yes, you are right - they are bullies.

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