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New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

radionz.co.nz

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Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#511

Post by sorenjan »

jliptzin wrote: post #233

This happened to me driving from the US into Canada with my significant other on a short vacation. After some routine questioning, the agent asked for our phones and passwords. Naturally, I hesitated and wanted to know why he needed to go through our phones. He didn't give a reason, but said if I refuse they'd hold us until their forensics team cracks the phone password anyway. I wanted to make a bigger deal about it…

Android supports multiple user profiles on the same device. Maybe being logged in to a stripped down dummy account when crossing the border would be enough? I'm guessing the storage is encrypted on a per user basis, so as long as the customs officer isn't aware of it it even a device clone should leave your actual data safe.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#512

Post by Kadin »

tobib wrote: post #387
jliptzin wrote: post #233

This happened to me driving from the US into Canada with my significant other on a short vacation. After some routine questioning, the agent asked for our phones and passwords. Naturally, I hesitated and wanted to know why he needed to go through our phones. He didn't give a reason, but said if I refuse they'd hold us until their forensics team cracks the phone password anyway. I wanted to make a bigger deal about it…

> He didn't give a reason, but said if I refuse they'd hold us until their forensics team cracks the phone password anyway Is that realistic? Would they actually be able to "crack" the encryption of a modern iPhone or Android phone?

Depends on when it happened. There have been times when there have been workable exploits that have been used by law enforcement agencies.

There's a fairly high-profile Israeli company that specializes in finding or buying zero-day exploits and reselling them in script-kiddie form to law enforcement agencies at high prices.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#513

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

keyme wrote: post #365
pavel_lishin wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread. And anyway, my understanding is that if you're rich enough to charter a private jet, or to own one, you skip a lot of the border formalities.

No you don't... It's just another agent. Granted, this one sees very little traffic each day, so probably less inclined to annoy you out of spite. Perhaps if you carry a diplomatic passport, that's a different story altogether.

that is not true. in a private jet you don't need to go through security or customs at least in the eurozone. check out the podcast: https://www.npr.org/2016/10/25/499213698/whats-it-like-to-be...

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#514

Post by flycaliguy »

ALittleLight wrote: post #488
patmcc wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>It ruined the vacation for me, and I've stopped visiting Canada because of how disgusted I felt afterwards. I don't blame you for this at all, but I will say this is bi-directional; as a Canadian, when I travel to the US, I get the same bullshit questioning and phone snooping on occasion. The current controversy on border crossing is that, despite marijuana becoming legalized in Canada shortly, if you admit to smok…

Now I want to go to Canada repeatedly just to get them to try to decrypt my phone. "You know, I don't recall the darn password. I'll just go have a seat while you do your thing." I'd be interested to know if they could!

It might be fun to include some variety . Hotel reservations all stored on Minidisc. Family photos on zip drives.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#515

Post by Nition »

flycaliguy wrote: post #514
ALittleLight wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I want to go to Canada repeatedly just to get them to try to decrypt my phone. "You know, I don't recall the darn password. I'll just go have a seat while you do your thing." I'd be interested to know if they could!

It might be fun to include some variety . Hotel reservations all stored on Minidisc. Family photos on zip drives.

A 5¼ inch floppy disk has gotta be pretty good "security" at the border in 2018.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#516

Post by bigiain »

dvcrn wrote: post #509
jliptzin wrote: post #233

This happened to me driving from the US into Canada with my significant other on a short vacation. After some routine questioning, the agent asked for our phones and passwords. Naturally, I hesitated and wanted to know why he needed to go through our phones. He didn't give a reason, but said if I refuse they'd hold us until their forensics team cracks the phone password anyway. I wanted to make a bigger deal about it…

This is terrifying, I had no idea this kind of practice is already in place! In Asia, so far I never got asked for my phone and equipment, but now I wonder what the best way is to handle this. Killing my phone and restoring after entering is one way, but for a laptop that's more annoying unless you live in the cloud. Might still be a good practice to have your devices in a state where you could easily wipe and restor…

Don't travel with your primary devices or any devices with sensitive or even personal information on them - to any country ruled by totalitarian regimes, like China, Iran, Turkey, New Zealand, Canada, or the US...

:sigh:

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#517

Post by bigiain »

Kadin wrote: post #512
tobib wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He didn't give a reason, but said if I refuse they'd hold us until their forensics team cracks the phone password anyway Is that realistic? Would they actually be able to "crack" the encryption of a modern iPhone or Android phone?

Depends on when it happened. There have been times when there have been workable exploits that have been used by law enforcement agencies. There's a fairly high-profile Israeli company that specializes in finding or buying zero-day exploits and reselling them in script-kiddie form to law enforcement agencies at high prices.

I wonder if random power tripping border security goons get to use zero day exploits just for kicks?

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#518

Post by aspett »

navs wrote: post #505

What if most of your information is online, in some cloud platform and you don't have the app installed on your phone? My iPhone isn't logged into any cloud services and the only apps I have installed are Google Maps and Gmail. I don't log into my Apple account and don't have the Dropbox app installed. Much of my data is stored in an S3 bucket. Simply giving an officer my phone means I'm surrendering my Gmail account…

The article mentions that the searches are done in flight mode - so no cloud snooping.

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#519

Post by bigiain »

hfdgiutdryg wrote: post #449
gruez wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as someone else mentioned, the only reason it works now is that very few people does this. if this starts getting popular, i guarentee that TSA is going to check for hidden partitions, patched kernels, suspiciously clean OS, etc.

i guarentee that TSA is going to check for hidden partitions, patched kernels, suspiciously clean OS, etc. How would they hire enough manpower smart enough to do that?

They'll just buy an eyewateringly expensive tool from Cellebrite (or their ilk), then let the minimum wage goons loose with it...

"Hey Hank, the machine says we've got another hidden encrypted partition, go get the rubber hose..."

Re: New Zealand travellers refusing digital search now face $5k Customs fine

#520

Post by bigiain »

nojvek wrote: post #405
DoreenMichele wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, the motive there was probably he found her hot, would hit that, was aggravated at reading her Tinder messages and finding her even more hot because of it and was pissed off that there was no way in hell he would ever get a shot at being with her, so he felt some need to piss all over her, blame her for making him hot and bothered with no immediate means to get relief, yadda. This is an essential element of sit…

That’s sexual harassment. But then who’s gonna police the police?

The Supreme Court judges? Oh, no. Hang on...
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