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What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

arstechnica.com

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Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#21

Post by theandrewbailey »

xenophonf wrote: post #14
tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

CBP will begin asking everyone for Facebook logins. I don't understand how this doesn't run afoul of the Fourth Amendment. Surely one's social media qualifies as "papers" or "effects" even though they're digital artifacts and not physical. This just seems _incredibly_ invasive.

Silly things like laws and constitutions do not apply at the US border. Or anywhere near it.

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-governments-100-mile-b...

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#22

Post by tom_mellior »

voxic11 wrote: post #8
tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

Yet another reason never to sign up for Facebook.

That doesn't necessarily help. Many people have Facebook accounts with names that are not their "real name" as on their ID and plane ticket. If they want to, they'll just claim that you most likely do have an account and you're lying to them, and hold that against you.

If you're a foreigner, there is no way to win this if they are determined to make you lose. US visas as well as the documents for the Visa Waiver program make it clear that even if you do have all that is required, you are not guaranteed entry to the United States. The officer on the border can turn you back on a whim, and you have no legal recourse. Presumably they have some internal controls, but that won't help you in particular.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#23

Post by rurban »

tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

And you will be blocked from further entry into the US

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#25

Post by tptacek »

ivraatiems wrote: post #17
xenophonf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CBP will begin asking everyone for Facebook logins. I don't understand how this doesn't run afoul of the Fourth Amendment. Surely one's social media qualifies as "papers" or "effects" even though they're digital artifacts and not physical. This just seems _incredibly_ invasive.

It's possible (not guaranteed) that it does. There are exceptions in the law for immigration/customs stuff. The way to find out is to sue CBP and have the courts decide, or find existing precedent one way or the other. Or have Congress pass a law making it illegal or legal. Good luck with that one.

There's case law pushing the border search exception one way or another going back through the 20th century (for instance, it's a mid-1970s case that establishes that you cannot, in fact, be searched simply by dint of being within 100 miles from the border, but rather that the "100 miles" thing is a limit on the government for how far you can get a recent actual border crossing before the government remembers to search you).

Not that there's nothing worth challenging here, but the skeleton of legal principle these searches hang on is pretty strong.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#26

Post by interfixus »

transfire wrote: post #6

The idea that our constitutional rights end at the border is such a travesty, contrary to everything our forefathers fought for, that alone is worthy of renewed revolution.

Happily, to counterbalance that, US jurisdiction is often assumed to cover the farthest reaches of the planet.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#27

Post by tptacek »

rurban wrote: post #23
tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

And you will be blocked from further entry into the US

It gets worse, because if you're coming to the US hoping for permanent status, anything you do to slip stuff past a search that CBP does is potentially grounds for revocation of status later.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#28

Post by mirimir »

voxic11 wrote: post #8
tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

Yet another reason never to sign up for Facebook.

That's unworkable. OK, maybe Facebook. But going without social media is no longer workable. Too much depends on it: family, friends, education, work, etc.

However, what is workable is keeping your social media clean. Compartmentalize anything questionable, anything potentially embarrassing etc, using pseudonyms. And compartmentalize those pseudonyms on separate hardware, and avoid linkage through IP address, activities, interests, friends, etc.

Edit: It's cool to hear from itshoptx and gravypod that it's possible to go without mainstream social media.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#29

Post by maxerickson »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #21
xenophonf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CBP will begin asking everyone for Facebook logins. I don't understand how this doesn't run afoul of the Fourth Amendment. Surely one's social media qualifies as "papers" or "effects" even though they're digital artifacts and not physical. This just seems _incredibly_ invasive.

Silly things like laws and constitutions do not apply at the US border. Or anywhere near it. https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-governments-100-mile-b...

There's a statute that carves out the border search exemption:

https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-factsheet-customs-and-border...

So the argument to be made is that the application of the law or the law itself is not in keeping with the Constitution, not that law doesn't even apply.

Re: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

#30

Post by nkurz »

tptacek wrote: post #3

Worth remembering: US citizens can play chicken with CBP and lose nothing more than their computer/phone hardware (perhaps having it returned 6 months later). But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices con…

From the article:

The policy also states that CBP or Immigration and Customs Enforcement "may demand technical assistance, including translation or decryption," citing a federal law, 19 US Code Section 507. A related document says that "officers may seek such assistance with or without individualized suspicion." Refusing to comply with this statute is "guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than $1,000."

Are you confident that it's legal for a US citizen to refuse to provide a password when re-entering the country? I'm not familiar with the statute beyond what is mentioned in the article.

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