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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.

#221

Post by NoImmatureAdHom »

Hercuros wrote: post #189
NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #107

The situation at the U.S. border re phone privacy is exceptionally good . In most countries this isn't a live issue because you have no such rights and everyone would laugh at you for asserting them. There are exceptions, perhaps Germany? In Britain they'll throw you in prison for refusing to give them your phone password, and if you do they'll throw you in prison for the wrongthink tweets they find on your phone. Sh…

Exceptions, such as the entirety of Europe? This level of privacy violation is truly incomprehensible to most citizens of European countries.

I gave the example of the U.K., a dystopian privacy violator. The U.K. is in Europe.

The entirety of Europe would not come close to making a majority of countries. Even if I grant you the "entirety of Europe", I bet I'm still right that most (i.e., more than half) of countries reserve the right to search your device at the border, and will compel you to give the password.

For instances where the authorities wish to suspect you of a crime, looks like France was prepared to compel you to give a password in 2022: https://www.fairtrials.org/articles/news/french-court-rules-...

EU-wide, 2024: https://www.politico.eu/article/police-can-access-mobile-pho...

In the U.S., I believe you are covered by your 5th Amendment self-incrimination protections. I have some recollection that there are situations where authorities will compel you, like if you're not the one being accused of the crime.

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

#222

Post by mschuster91 »

jFriedensreich wrote: post #111

Ignoring the US political situation for a moment I want to point out how ridiculous modern phones and apps storage access given to their users is. You used to be able to mount a phone as a full hard drive and have access to all your files, do a real full backup without some encrypted databases that only facebook, google or apple hold the key for. The first tragedy is that we accepted that the US gives no rights to no…

> do a real full backup without some encrypted databases that only facebook, google or apple hold the key for

Game developers pushed really really hard for this, to combat cheaters or those wishing to skip on in-app purchases and ads.

And Netflix was the driver behind the anti-rooting measures, who in turn were pressured by the MAFIAA and other "rightsholders" (aka, parasites).

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

#223

Post by vuggamie »

dizhn wrote: post #121
kleiba wrote: post #113

> Before traveling, back up your devices so you don’t lose anything permanently. Then delete anything you’re worried about being misinterpreted or saved by the government. That can include conversations that compromise the privacy of the people on the other end. You might delete messages about politics, contact information for political dissidents, apps that save offline copies of sensitive documents like Google Docs…

[flagged]

dizhn is free, for example, to lick as many boots as he desires. No one can take that away.

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

#224

Post by fragmede »

Hercuros wrote: post #189
NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #107

The situation at the U.S. border re phone privacy is exceptionally good . In most countries this isn't a live issue because you have no such rights and everyone would laugh at you for asserting them. There are exceptions, perhaps Germany? In Britain they'll throw you in prison for refusing to give them your phone password, and if you do they'll throw you in prison for the wrongthink tweets they find on your phone. Sh…

Exceptions, such as the entirety of Europe? This level of privacy violation is truly incomprehensible to most citizens of European countries.

It's incomprehensible to most citizens of the US as well, which is why it's an important article by a major newspaper and we're discussing it.

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

#226

Post by nico »

wat10000 wrote: post #149
nico wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> might as well assert your rights I wonder what could happen to citizens who weren’t born in the US Given what we’ve seen recently. Could it be possible they would refer these people to the state department to revoke their citizenships?

As things currently stand, this wouldn't qualify for denaturalization. Even the Trump proposals have been to do it for fraudulently obtaining citizenship (e.g. lying about a criminal record), not general crimes, and certainly not for non-crimes like annoying CBP. But next week it could all be different.

> fraudulently obtaining citizenship

It seems like they are claiming that “not saying you intended to protest” is essentially lying on the initial visa application, thus fraud and grounds for revocation of residence and deportation

So, if CBP confiscated someone’s laptop or phone (because they don’t want to unlock it), then break into it, and find social media posts against genocide, and/or against the Trump administration… given how they’ve acted, who knows what they’d do

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

#227

Post by gruntbuggly »

flowerthoughts wrote: post #181
jncfhnb wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really feel like point number two weakens your overall point here

Service charge is a weird thing. Normally, I'd expect a volume discount if I create bigger business for someone. Restaurants decided that's not how it works. If someone with experience could explain why 1x6 people should be charged a higher price than 6x1 people, I am curious.

Big tables are way more work for back of house as they bottleneck the kitchen with a bunch of simultaneous tickets. A large table demands more attention, but then you also end up with a larger bill on which customers are then less to add a tip. They can also decrease margin on shared plates.

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

#228

Post by singleshot_ »

pretzellogician wrote: post #13

I've often wondered if there's a supported way to have a honeypot passcode, i.e., a secondary passcode that leads to a relatively empty account. (Although as per the article, a fully wiped account looks suspicious -- it would need some innocuous apps or apps with no login info, etc.)

It’s probably worth a review of 28 U.S.C. 1001 before you try this.

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

#229

Post by root_axis »

aeternum wrote: post #208
standeven wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s sad that the USA is becoming one of these countries. But yes, that’s what I’m doing - travelling to free countries and avoiding the backwards ones.

IMO the USA is not becoming one of those countries and people are just fearmongering. But legally they can do it so it's better to take precautions anyway.

Why do you say it's fearmongering? There have already been several examples of it in recent months.

Here's one example: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-f...

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

#230

Post by gruntbuggly »

xingped wrote: post #176
jncfhnb wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really feel like point number two weakens your overall point here

That businesses are allowed to surprise you with unexpected fees is a negative thing. How can you interpret it otherwise?

Don't you just go out to eat knowing the price is going to be 20% higher after tip? I can understand the desire for predictability, but menu prices are artificially low as they don't account for labor. If tipping were 'abolished' food service prices would have to rise 10-20% across the board to compensate.
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