
Phone and laptop searches at US border 'quadruple' - pseudolus
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48118558
======
iliketosleep
What this means is that any element of surprise which may have occasionally
caught out criminals will be lost. Instead, it will simply violate the privacy
of normal citizens on a grand scale.

If they were smart, they would use such powers sparingly and on those who
appear to be a genuine threat. In fact, I really cannot understand their
strategy. It makes no sense unless mass data collection from normal citizens
is the goal.

~~~
pjc50
Mass intimidation is the goal. Fascism 101: the point of the boot is not to
actually achieve order, but to ensure that those below know it is on their
neck _and that those above know they wear the boot_.

Remember there are people out there who think that increased border searches,
walls, etc, are a good thing. This is for them.

~~~
raxxorrax
People "against walls" supported and implemented this too.

~~~
8note
can you elaborate? I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean.

some fascists don't like wasting money?

~~~
raxxorrax
You wanting to make the point that whoever was in charge the last decade,
these policies were driven forward no matter what.

edit: You = Just

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arkadiyt
EFF has a detailed "Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border" guide:

[https://www.eff.org/files/2018/01/11/digital-privacy-
border-...](https://www.eff.org/files/2018/01/11/digital-privacy-
border-12-2017.pdf)

~~~
rouvax
Thanks for pointing out to this guide which looks exhaustive.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw EFF's 1-page "pocket guide" which IMO does
not provide real advice while at the border:
[https://www.eff.org/document/eff-border-search-pocket-
guide](https://www.eff.org/document/eff-border-search-pocket-guide)

~~~
giobox
What advice do you feel is missing? I read both and the pocket guide seems a
fair high level summary to me. Given the nature of the problem all one can
arguably do is point out consequences and provide a channel for reporting to
the eff; real practical choices are thin on the ground for travellers today
beyond travelling with wiped devices and restoring at destination.

I think the issue is maybe that today, there are no good options for
travellers to the US concerned about data security, and that any form of non-
compliance is likely going to ruin your day. Doubly so for non-citizens. The
border agents have enormous amount of discretion today.

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nmstoker
Perhaps Google, Apple or others have a product opportunity here: build a pre-
border crossing full phone archive process. You pump literally everything
personal to the cloud before you go, leaving a limited core of anonymous
functions working, and then when you're back on a network in the arrival
county the phone recovers the content.

It's not that much of a leap beyond current capabilities as switching to a new
phone is quite like this when most of your files are cloud based, it would
just need to take all the local files/settings and figure a reliable secure
way to ensure only you got access to restore the content (preferably in a way
that you can't easily be forced to apply at the border, so maybe a geo fenced
reactivation element to it?) Keeping certain large files as "home country
only" and not restoring them when "in country" could mitigate the volume of
data needed to transfer.

Obviously is not going to appeal to people who don't trust those companies
either but would be less easily abused than an in-person search of your phone
by a dodgy border guard.

~~~
systemtest
I already do this. Wipe my iPhone just before landing. Hand over the phone at
customs. When they see the welcome/configuration screen they know that there
isn't anything on the phone so they don't have to investigate. When I arrive
at the hotel I connect to WiFi and restore an iCloud backup.

~~~
snazz
You could fake the welcome/configuration screen too (maybe with a jailbreak
tweak) if they completely overlook phones that display it.

~~~
codetrotter
Don’t do that. Just wipe it and restore it properly. “Faking” the welcome
screen first of all means your data is accessible if they _do_ decide to look
closer. And secondly it’ll probably lead to some additional questions meaning
that more of your time is wasted at the airport.

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reallydontask
So last time I visited the US I was fingerprinted and this time I guess I'll
have my phone searched.

Nothing says _Welcome to our Country_ like being treated like a criminal.

~~~
dekrg
EU citizens have to give their biometric data to the government to get a
passport.

Does that mean EU treats it's citizens like criminals?

~~~
mtgx
Yes. I don't like having to give my fingerprint data, which no doubt will be
stolen from their databases especially now that they intend to unify them and
allow all sorts of agencies to have access to it, just to be allowed to travel
in what's supposed to be a an almost border-free region.

[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.zdnet.com/google-
amp/article/eu-votes-to-create-gigantic-biometrics-database/)

~~~
rietta
Not saying its right, but they have so many fingerprints of non-criminals.
Anyone who has served in the US military has their biometrics and fingerprints
on file. Jobs with children (teachers, daycare workers, church child care
people) can and do require fingerprint-based background checks. Gun carry
licensees in most states also require a fingerprint-based FBI background check
as part of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System pre-screen.

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swarnie_
My company already issues burner devices to executives when they travel to
certain parts of the world, maybe its time we start lumping the USA in with
China in this regard....

~~~
jillesvangurp
If you have any data that might be of interest from the point of view of
industrial espionage (i.e. you work for a company that competes with big US
corporations that are donating to political parties), that's a very good idea.

Industrial espionage is the only goal of this program. After Snowden revealed
that the CIA was eavesdropping on allied political leaders like Angela Merkel,
stuff like this is the new normal. Assume the worst and don't carry anything
through airport security that you are not comfortable with sharing with
foreign governments and your competitors.

This is not about child pornography or terrorism. Honestly, who is stupid
enough to engage in that kind of stuff and walk through airport security with
incriminating evidence. This is not a thing and hasn't been for decades.
Anybody that stupid would be effectively harmless owing to the fact that they
would be complete morons.

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madisfun
Might be a good idea to have a throwaway SIM and a phone for travelling, not
logged in into any cloud or social network services, and not tied to your main
google account. Maybe just a couple of chat apps to stay in touch with your
friends/relatives. Switch SIM back to your main number and reset phone once
you're beyond the border... It seems exactly what EFF recommends by the way.
With a laptop it's more complicated.

~~~
r_singh
I would actually be more afraid doing something like this, since having no
data on me could raise unwarranted suspicion from border security.

~~~
primroot
10 years ago I was attending a US college with a Student Visa. The few times I
was returning from my home country I would bring only a backpack with barely
anything inside it (all the clothes I needed were already in my dorm). This
was cause for suspicion and further questioning each time.

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cascom
While the increase is alarming the scale of this program seems pretty limited
~30,000.

This seems like another program where only the stupid “criminals” are affected
but the harm to all the innocent people caught up in it is massive

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Smithalicious
So how does this work? I don't think they could thoroughly search my devices
in any reasonable amount of time.

~~~
fredsted
From what I gather, they're primarily interested in chats and photos. So they
can browse those through pretty quickly on a phone, and then they can just
image your laptop and store it forever.

~~~
Proof
Always use Encryption. This news is disturbing but understandable since
Americans hardly batted an Eye when it was revealed to them they were being
spied on.

~~~
fredsted
You definitely should, but the border agent will also ask for your passwords.
If you don't comply, and you're not a citizen, you will be sent back.

~~~
pimeys
The saddest thing is this will be the sole reason to not travel to US. Sad,
because I have family there now and I do love the people and the culture.

~~~
dTal
The way to travel to the US will be to never physically bring personal data
with you. They can't search what's not there.

~~~
fredsted
You can't win here. It will be suspicious to bring no devices, or devices that
look like they've just been restored.

~~~
anticensor
Not if you are poor enough.

~~~
jkaplowitz
That used to be true. Poor people can often afford a smartphone now, even in
really poor countries like Ethiopia, not just the US. It may be a crappy old
or limited model, but it doesn't have to be a feature phone.

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makecheck
This continues to make no sense. If hypothetically a device _could_ contain
something harmful, that content could be downloaded after crossing the border.
Even planes have WiFi. There is quite simply no possible way to prevent
anything with a device search so _why the hell are they doing it_!?

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maherbeg
Apple should let a user disable physical backups / exports of data from a
phone. If you hand over a device and there is no way to image it, is there
really a problem?

This doesn’t solve the “this is messed up and shouldn’t happen at all” issue,
but does give you a way out. Realistically this will happen more frequently in
other jurisdictions as it stands.

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qwerty456127
WTF are they looking for and why do they believe they should?

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kmlx
if the US border police plug in these devices can’t we just infect and bring
down their network?

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TheOperator
Is this REALLY cost efficient?

