I don't understand the point of traveling with clean burner devices and keeping your data encrypted in the cloud. Yes, it protects for threats where the devices are stolen or compromised when out of sight, but not for cases where government authorities are targeting you, as described in the article. What happens when govt. goons tell you to write down a list of your cloud accounts (email, storage etc.) and their corresponding security credentials and threaten you to not leave any out? Or, when you are asked to log in to your cloud accounts with the threat actors hovering around you? How many of us would refuse and/or roll the dice on not revealing certain accounts and risk them being discovered later (along with implications of not having revealed them earlier when specifically told to do so)?
Wouldn't it be more rational and reasonable (for everyday folk, not journalists, activists, dissidents, etc.) to never travel with or keep on cloud storage any data that they would rather authorities never, ever see, if at all they have such data?I think the vast variety of business and personal data does not fall into this category.
Note that, in principle, I am all for privacy and resisting govt. intrusions into private lives by crafting appropriate legal frameworks and strong technical mechanisms. In practice, as an average Joe, I don't know how much I should resist if/when I am personally targeted and threatened with dire consequences while traveling in a foreign country. It is easy to think that in such a situation, my priority would be to get out of that situation asap and folding completely may be seen as the fastest way to achieve that.
> What happens when govt. goons tell you to write down a list of your cloud accounts (email, storage etc.) and their corresponding security credentials and threaten you to not leave any out?
That's why you uninstall all apps and delete your browsing history. They have no way to know how accounts you have, or where they are. Unless you leave those traces on your devices.
If you're super paranoid about it, you can create a few cloud accounts and seed them with innocuous or otherwise fake data. That way you have something to provide, but it's nothing of interest.
> They have no way to know how accounts you have, or where they are.
Hahahahahahaha. Data brokers are happy to sell them a list of all your accounts, cell-phone location history, your credit card purchases going back 10 years, and much more.
> What happens when govt. goons tell you to write down a list of your cloud accounts (email, storage etc.) and their corresponding security credentials and threaten you to not leave any out?
Since I have no such accounts, nor social media accounts, I wonder what would happen if I were ever asked for them?
Wouldn't it be more rational and reasonable (for everyday folk, not journalists, activists, dissidents, etc.) to never travel with or keep on cloud storage any data that they would rather authorities never, ever see, if at all they have such data?I think the vast variety of business and personal data does not fall into this category.
Note that, in principle, I am all for privacy and resisting govt. intrusions into private lives by crafting appropriate legal frameworks and strong technical mechanisms. In practice, as an average Joe, I don't know how much I should resist if/when I am personally targeted and threatened with dire consequences while traveling in a foreign country. It is easy to think that in such a situation, my priority would be to get out of that situation asap and folding completely may be seen as the fastest way to achieve that.