Loren Pechtel

This is a very un-American post.

Loren Pechtel

That one keeps half tempting me. The contents would be a fanciful plot to do exactly that--and the real contents would be a Whitespace program that spits out the master password for my password manager.

Loren Pechtel

Mostly the former.

GUWonder

The CBP's desire to access passenger email password is unlikely to be about the CBP's desire to find child pornography. It's also unlikely to have anything to do with terrorism.

It's more likely to do with CBP distrust about the work- or personal relationship-claims of the passenger as with regard to the purpose and duration of the trip.

chollie

Ah, yes. I always forget about the personal-relationship stuff. I knew it had next to nothing to do with terrorism and I think the hunt for child porn is largely triggered by pax demographics + travel patterns.

GUWonder

In the case of the CBP's hunt for child porn, it's pax demographics, travel pattern and sometimes some other governmental feedback that gets that ball rolling.

In the case of terrorism, if the CBP finds a terrorist at the US airport of entry after a flight to the U.S., then won't the DOJ/FBI, DNI, DHS and State have a lot more questions coming their way? Such questions wouldn't arise if CBP find someone with child porn or if they find someone who misrepresented -- willfully or not -- their personal/work relationships at a U.S. port of entry.

Once a passenger knows what is being sought and how it is sought, it becomes practically easier to set things up so as to minimize the chance of a show-stopping problem hitting when subject to secondary. Personally, I keep several different email accounts, and some are more interesting accounts than others.

cestmoi123

In this case, it certainly sounds like CBP believed that the OP was violating or planning on violating the terms of his/her work visa, and that the contents of the email account would bear that out.

Paul56

Just don't be carrying anyone else's documents... if I was a CBP officer
that might raise some questions with me too as to why you were in
possession of those.

I don't take my laptop with me crossing the border, but do take my phone
where I have access to personal/business email. If they want to look at it
I say have at it... at that point there are no passwords or security on it.

Just make sure there is nothing in your email that will cause you issues.

VelvetJones

Oh, here comes the good old false dichotomy. You're right. There is nothing in between. We either need to get down on our knees and beg the CBP not to kill us, or we just invite ISIS to roll across the border. You sure are a critical thinker. You would have made a good little Hitlerjugend.

jphripjah

I think it would be helpful if the OP described his or her horrifying two hour ordeal in more detail and gives us some background information about what happened before we can opine.

Like other posters have mentioned, the CBP officers can ask anyone, foreigner or Us citizen, for passwords to electronic devices. You don't have to give them the passwords. But when you are a foreigner seeking entry to the U.S., your refusal to give them the password to an electronic device you are carrying can be used as a basis for refusing entry.

I think we also know, anecdotally, that many thousands of foreigners enter the US every day with smart phones and computers that may be password protected and that very few of those travelers are asked for the password by CBP. So there was probably something very unusual or suspicious about the OP's situation for it to get to the point of the CBP wanting to examine his or electronic devices.

FlyIgglesFly

I don't think if the government was really interested in you as a threat they'd need your password. They'd just have the NSA hack in. When my passport was flagged (US citizen) the indeterminate security official in Doha didn't ask for my passwords. Just my email address, telephone number, etc. I assume everything was all run through some sort of PRISM during my 14 hr flight back.

exerda

E-mail password, not laptop password, FWIW. This goes well beyond inspecting the pax and his or her belongings IMHO.

(And though legally accepted, having to hand over even a laptop password is abhorrent.)

jphripjah

It's not legally accepted that anyone has to hand over a laptop password. Aliens have the right to refuse but they might be put on the next plane home. Citizens have a right to refuse and be admitted, but their laptop can be seized if CBP has reasonable suspicion that there is evidence of criminal activity on it. I don't find that abhorrent.

exerda

Well, when the choice is be refused entry or to have your laptop seized, that's IMHO forcing you to hand over the password (see "Rubber hose cryptanalysis").

And yes, I find that absolutely abhorrent. Why should a US citizen be forced to provide the key to enter their laptop, or to have that property stolen by CBP? That is a gross violation of the 4th and 5th Amendments IMHO.

nmh1204

A few of you have misread. The op said they asked for the email account password, he didn't mention the laptop password.

I would refuse, they can go get a warrant if they desperately need to read my emails.