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Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

nytimes.com

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Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#162

Why American authorities are always attacking their citizens freedom?

i think it's just that the American population is the last bunch who gives a damn about it, and the pockets of resistance still makes the news... the same happens mostly everywhere else, just without much complaints.

e.g. in Hungary the authorities treat it as a felony to possess an equipment that can record video or sound and it's not obvious when looking at it. 2-8 years in prison for mere posession, i.e. even if it's turned off in your backpack. random nonsense that if it can also make phone calls then it doesn't qualify (the above is the law paraphrased).

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#163
U.S. citizens are going to need obtain a burner phone before returning, and load it with the absolute minimum to load boarding passes, etc., perhaps some reading material or a movie to watch on the plane, and be prepared to share full credentials for thing at the border.

(I used to do some travel patterns where taking a certain client laptop wasn’t an option. It was an absolute gigantic pain for the type of work I did, but it was just too risky to have a laptop seized and be expected to input credentials.)

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He was charged for destroying evidence, not refusing a search Evidence with regard to which investigation?

Border agents are entitled to investigate anything for any reason more or less

If you are a US citizen, they are not entitled to your unlocked phone. They need a judicial warrant if they want you to unlock your phone with a PIN/password. It is settled case law that that falls under your protections under the 14th Amendment.

They can take it for a "reasonable amount of time" (inconvenience you for a few hours and make you miss your connecting flight) while they copy an encrypted image. They then must return it to you.

Re: Felony charges for citizen deleting phone data at US Border

#169
post #99

So the part of this that feels like it triggers the government issue here is that in effect you have a locally stored encryption key which gates access to the device, which was removed from the device due to duress password. What if we flipped this to instead be something that's explicitly not on the device? The border search stuff only applies to information on the device. It cannot compel you to provide access to e…

> or maybe this functionality is available already Basically already exists depending on specific trade offs and risk profile. You already can encrypt your data and store the encryption key offsite. But then you couldn’t use your phone during travel, if you toss the key locally. You can encrypt the data at rest and leave the decryption key in RAM and just turn off your phone. But they can still take the phone and cop…

I'm talking specifically about the graphene OS ability for that approach, not the ability to add an external key to some generalized encryption. The threat model here is that the traveler was required to provide a passcode unlocking a key they had with them on their phone. If that threat is not there, then this bypasses problem.
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