
EFF's Fight to End Warrantless Device Searches at the Border - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/01/round-effs-advocacy-against-border-device-searches
======
confounded
From the linked description of the plaintiff's accounts, a US citizen:

> _.. A few days later, while returning from a day trip to Canada, I was once
> again detained and told to hand over my phone. When I refused, three agents
> used force against me. One agent grabbed my neck and began to choke me while
> another wrapped up my arms and legs. The third agent reached into my pants’
> pocket and took my phone, all while I was in severe pain and fearing for my
> life.

Agents once more took my phone out of my sight, only to later return it
without any explanation for what they did with my phone._

I had not heard this account before, and it's pretty shocking. I had assumed
that while migrants/permanent-residents could be denied entry, US citizens
could have their time-wasted/device-confiscated at worst.

I didn't realize that the government had given itself the power to literally
beat physical access to personal computing devices out of people without a
warrant.

~~~
TallGuyShort
Generally speaking, law enforcement can do whatever they want as long as they
can give their superiors a reasonable explanation of their side of the story
and there isn't overwhelming evidence. Most people can't get the EFF to file
lawsuits. Many jurisdictions can just charge you with resisting arrest, even
if they can't file other charges that justify the arrest in the first place.

As a far less dramatic example, this morning I had a TSA agent called me
"stupid" because I left my toothpaste in my luggage, which I did because the
last time I took it out of my suit case, I got yelled at for following the
sign instead of heeding shouted instructions to the contrary. 10 feet away a
different agent also called me "stupid" because I had removed the toothpaste
from my luggage instead of the small Kindle which is obviously bigger than a
small iPhone. I guess that's the new threshold for devices that must be
removed. And what recourse do I have against verbal abuse over arbitrary
judgments? Well if I want to keep flying without excessive effort, none.

edit: I should add, generally speaking I've found American LEOs to be very
polite and pleasant, ESPECIALLY compared to some other places I've lived. They
have to deal with some truly shitty situations and I'm not anti-police at all
- but systemically there is large potential for abuse and some places where
that abuse is clearly happening.

~~~
djsumdog
I've stopped flying in the US simply because I can't go through the line
without being molested in some way. It's only in the US.

No other security agents in the world require you to take off your shoes, or
do anything more than a standard leg pat down (if they do one at all. Most
places just make you turn your pockets inside out).

The TSA is absolutely beyond horrible and Americans have just stopped fighting
them and accept this as the new normal. You can get past it if you pay the
extortion price for pre-flight checks and have them finger print and
background check you.

~~~
dnzm
> No other security agents in the world require you to take off your shoes, or
> do anything more than a standard leg pat down

False. At least when flying from Schiphol (Amsterdam) you'll be taking off
your shoes and you'll go through an X-ray. Not sure about other airports but
it wouldn't surprise me if this was a European thing instead of just a Dutch
thing - I can't recall if they required it in Spain as well.

~~~
knz42
This is factually incorrect. I fly through Schiphol 10+ times a year and never
had to take off my shoes. Neither did I in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, London,
Copenhagen, so "it's not a European thing" either.

I _did_ see officers asking _specific_ individuals to take off their shoes,
with a specific justification: when either the shoes obviously contain metal,
or the individuals go through the X ray machine and it complains and there is
no obvious other metallic item.

------
phoneRecycler
Once again: Use the TSA as an electronic waste recycling program, and donate
your old phones to them by carrying them through checkpoints.

When they confiscate them, tell the TSA to keep it because it’s garbage, and
make it clear, your intent is to waste as much of their time, energy and
resources as possible.

~~~
furyg3
I don't know if I'd play that game. They can waste your time much more
effectively and get paid while doing it.

------
wnoise
> It’s as if our First and Fourth Amendment rights don’t exist at the border.

Take out the "It's as if" \-- that's precisely the government's position.

~~~
yorby
and the "border" spans 100 miles inland of US border ... entire states, like
Florida, are pretty much considered part of the border...
[https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-
zone](https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone)

------
kakkun
I'll be visiting the US in April this year, and I'm worried about the border
crossing.

I'm guessing the best I can do as a non-US citizen is to have my previous
phone on me with convincing-enough amount of dummy data in it. Is there any
better way?

I will be entering the US via car from Canada by the way.

~~~
klondike_
It's unlikely you'll be searched if you're entering by car via Canada. These
searches seem mostly targeted at airports. I can't imagine the border patrol
having enough time to search every one of the thousands of cars crossing from
Canada every day.

~~~
abusoufiyan
There were a lot of things people couldn't imagine happening in America that
have sadly come to bear...

------
joering2
Canada continues to be the worst of airports I ever visited. I went back and
forth thru the whole place and haven't seen a single information booth. This
is my flight in 2017. No wonder people can lose their marbles.

If you think the sky fell because this guys' neck was grabbed, here is some
_bit more shocking_ news for you:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dzieka%C5%84ski_Taser_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dzieka%C5%84ski_Taser_incident)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IJqdL40lvU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IJqdL40lvU)

