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Protecting Electronic Devices and Stored Information from Customs Searches

Protecting Electronic Devices and Stored Information from Customs Searches

Old Feb 15, 2017, 5:38 pm
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by SilverSpy57
Why did you disable that?
While it's unknown how it would apply to this particular type of situation, courts have ruled that you can be compelled via order to unlock your phone via bio-metrics. However, if it's only passcode protected, it falls under the 5th and you can refuse to provide it.
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Old Feb 15, 2017, 5:44 pm
  #47  
 
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Originally Posted by Randyk47
They can look at our Facebook pages I guess and would probably come back and say "You all are boring!"
I might have said the same until I read this article:
https://www.sott.net/article/342740-...her-should-you
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Old Feb 16, 2017, 1:41 am
  #48  
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SIM replacement -- and perhaps better yet with a number change -- may be something to do if the device was or may be removed from your custody while dealing with government agencies. Phone replacement/substitution is also something to consider.
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Old Feb 16, 2017, 6:58 am
  #49  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
SIM replacement -- and perhaps better yet with a number change -- may be something to do if the device was or may be removed from your custody while dealing with government agencies. Phone replacement/substitution is also something to consider.
My old flip phone allows you to store data in either the phone's memory or on the SIM. It's a good idea to remove all data (pictures, call logs, contacts, etc) from the phone and only store it on the SIM you use overseas. Then, while airborne back to the U.S., swap out the SIM with the data on it with another SIM that either has nothing on it or is inactive. I use my old T-Mobile SIM that became deactivated when I bought a smartphone. The phone boots up normally but there is absolutely nothing in it.
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Old Feb 16, 2017, 7:24 am
  #50  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
SIM replacement -- and perhaps better yet with a number change -- may be something to do if the device was or may be removed from your custody while dealing with government agencies. Phone replacement/substitution is also something to consider.
Which I did after the Canadians took my phone and did who knows what to it. Hard factory reset, followed by eventual SIM replacement. The phone itself is being physically replaced this week; might even have been my old phone that CBSA searched, then that was replaced shortly thereafter by my current phone, which is being replaced this week. Canada is allowed by their laws to deny entry to non-citizens (I am US citizen only) if you do not unlock your phone for them, unless one of the court cases involving this has been resolved in the other direction that I'm not aware of (Alain Philippon pleaded guilty so that one won't be rising the ladder of the Canadian court system).

Interestingly, I was approved for NEXUS a couple of years later, so even if they kept a copy of all of my information, there clearly wasn't anything so bad (in the phone contents if kept, or in whatever file CBSA has on me) as to prevent me from NEXUS approval. To be fair, I'm a pretty boring person with a very mundane job and a voluminous but mostly uninteresting travel history .
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Old Feb 16, 2017, 12:13 pm
  #51  
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Why not get a burner phone for when you travel?
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Old Feb 16, 2017, 6:14 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by Boggie Dog
Why not get a burner phone for when you travel?
Good point. Every non-U.S. airport I've ever transited always has at least one mobile phone booth right outside customs. You can simply rent a phone in-country and turn it in when you leave. I've never done it but I might try it out.
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Old Feb 16, 2017, 7:33 pm
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
I leave my personal iPhone at home and bring an unlocked GSM flip phone. I use a local prepaid SIM card for calling home. Like the NASA guy, I also travel with USG-supplied IT equipment. Everything except the operating system and Microsoft Office is in our encrypted cloud. I asked the question of our CIO the other day and they told us to not divulge passwords to our government IT. Instead, we were told to call the general counsel's office from the airport and seek advice.
Your CIO is an idiot. The chances of your being allowed to make a phone call when detained at a port of entry are effectively zero.
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 8:41 am
  #54  
 
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If you're American just never give CBP your passwords to electronic devices. They're not going to hold you forever until you do, that's a bluff.
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 8:46 am
  #55  
 
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Originally Posted by buylowsellhigh
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/13/us/cit...t-border-trnd/

I don't know about everyone else but having someone look thru personal electronics (computer/phone) feels worse than someone searching thru your home... I mean, all of our personal/financial details, including pictures, personal/work emails & files, social media, instant messages, phone logs, the whole 9 yards.

Our phones these days are basically encrypted and backed up to the cloud.. so if you get a new phone, mostly everything gets synched to it. However, after they force you to give up password to your phone, and take it away for 30 minutes, EVERYTHING gets copied off.

In light of this, does anyone think of possibly pre-planning what they would do to safeguard from this sort of intrusion into our personal lives?

Maybe we can start a list of the "practical" things we can protect ourselves with... Among the things I can think of...
  • Disconnect / uninstalling social media (fb/ig/twitter/linkedin/etc)
  • Disconnect / uninstalling work related stuffs (gmail)
  • Disconnect / uninstall / limit personal media (I would think that its fine to search thru 2-3 weeks worth of photos, but NOT cool to look thru 2-3 years)
  • Dropbox (Unsynch folders, uninstall from phone/notebook computer)

Me: US Citizen w/ Global Entry, Precheck, ABTC Card, int'l travel every 4-6 weeks (no Europe/middle east). I've earned my SSSS stripes coming back from Japan/Singapore/China trip so as I'm on the watchlist now, somewhat paranoid, lol.
If I were a CBP officer, before any search of a passenger's phone, I would ask the passenger "Have you deleted any data, apps, emails, or photos from this phone in anticipation of your arrival in the USA?"

Consider what you would do if asked that. Lie to the officer? That's a felony.
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 10:34 am
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by jphripjah
If I were a CBP officer, before any search of a passenger's phone, I would ask the passenger "Have you deleted any data, apps, emails, or photos from this phone in anticipation of your arrival in the USA?"

Consider what you would do if asked that. Lie to the officer? That's a felony.
Even if someone deletes something from a phone in anticipation of arrival, I don't think that it's really deleted. My understanding is that phones use flash memory, so deleted things can still be retrieved from a phone.

One question that I have had--if one has a used phone, is one responsible for the contents of the phone that were "deleted" by the previous owner/seller but may still be retrievable with the right software and devices? In theory, selling a phone deletes the information, but in practice, it seems that many only use factory restore settings which does not make the data irretrievable.
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 10:52 am
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by jphripjah
If I were a CBP officer, before any search of a passenger's phone, I would ask the passenger "Have you deleted any data, apps, emails, or photos from this phone in anticipation of your arrival in the USA?"

Consider what you would do if asked that. Lie to the officer? That's a felony.
Even just a decent liar-, er, lawyer, will slaughter that on cross. In an anticipation of arrival in the USA? Nope. In an effort to prevent or minimize unwarranted government intrusion and harassment? Sure. and that's just for starters.

Of course, if it's gotten that far the passenger has already lost....
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 11:33 am
  #58  
 
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Or CBP could ask "Have you deleted anything from the phone in the last week?" There are a bunch of ways to ask it, and it can put a deleter in a real bind, and raise the 'ole blood pressure if you have to choose between lying or admitting what you've deleted.

I would suggest, as I always do, that you just don't answer any questions in secondary inspection if you're American, including questions about the contents of your electronic devices.
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 12:30 pm
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by guflyer
Even if someone deletes something from a phone in anticipation of arrival, I don't think that it's really deleted. My understanding is that phones use flash memory, so deleted things can still be retrieved from a phone.

One question that I have had--if one has a used phone, is one responsible for the contents of the phone that were "deleted" by the previous owner/seller but may still be retrievable with the right software and devices? In theory, selling a phone deletes the information, but in practice, it seems that many only use factory restore settings which does not make the data irretrievable.
If it is an iPhone - if you delete it, it's gone forever.
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Old Feb 17, 2017, 1:01 pm
  #60  
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Originally Posted by jphripjah
I would suggest, as I always do, that you just don't answer any questions in secondary inspection if you're American, including questions about the contents of your electronic devices.
CBP can't deny you entry to the USA as an American citizen by law, but in theory they could detain you about as long as they want. And there's almost any number of things they can (and will) pull if they don't want you here (see here: https://papersplease.org/wp/2014/01/...urn-to-the-us/) that can significantly delay your entry. And, they could simply seize all of your electronic devices and not return them to you for weeks/months (which might be the best actual pragmatic reason to have a burner phone when travelling). And this all presumes they accept that your USA passport is legitimate and not a fake, which opens up a whole different can of worms. And, of course, this only really applies to when one is entering a country where one is a citizen; had I not unlocked my phone for the agent at CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) during secondary inspection, I presume they would have simply denied me entry, which would have likely caused significant issues on any later attempts to enter Canada in my lifetime, as well as have been something I would have had to list elsewhere if entering other countries (some countries ask if you've ever been denied entry to any country), potentially causing issues there.

It's one thing for people to talk tough, but for many (not all) a full-out tinfoil hat approach is less than desirable.

Last edited by TheBOSman; Feb 17, 2017 at 1:07 pm
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