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from the sudden-outbreak-of-common-sense? dept.
The US Customs and Border Protection agency has updated its guidelines for electronic border searches, clarifying what remain broad and potentially invasive procedures. The directive was published today [ January 5, 2018], and it adds new detail to border search rules that were last officially updated in 2009.
Officers can still request that people unlock electronic devices for inspection when they're entering the US, and they can still look through any files or apps on those devices. But consistent with a statement from acting commissioner Kevin McAleenan last summer, they're explicitly banned from accessing cloud data — per these guidelines, that means anything that can't be accessed while the phone's data connection is disabled.
The guidelines also draw a distinction between "basic" and "advanced" searches. If officers connect to the phone (through a wired or wireless connection) and copy or analyze anything on it using external devices, that's an advanced search, and it can only be carried out with reasonable suspicion of illegal activity or a national security concern. A supervisor can approve the search, and "many factors" might create reasonable suspicion, including a terrorist watchlist flag or "other articulable factors."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Justin Case on Monday January 08 2018, @07:11PM (16 children)
Your bits can travel at the speed of light. Why carry them with you?
Sure, you need a device you can boot and get online, but that software can all be open source. Not yours, not secret, nothing to be disclosed if they copy it all, nothing to lose if they take it (except the cost of hardware).
Get the least expensive device you can find with the default commodity OS on it. Then boot from a read-only or easily-reimaged SD card (usually hidden in your camera, with a few JPGs in /DCIM to entertain the extra thorough snoop) that you plug into a thumb drive adapter.
In short, look like a stupid normie and let them waste their time slurping down all the innocuous bits they want.
(Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Monday January 08 2018, @07:17PM (11 children)
Warm fuzzy feeling like a station wagon full of tapes, I guess.
But also, the "data" (os + programs + data + documents) combined with a piece of hardware form a "useful device" which I might take with me because I find might it "Useful."
And anyway, I heard that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
I have never resembled normal and I shudder at the thought of appearing normal. Though I acknowledge that seeming normal in many areas is kind of a lubricant.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday January 08 2018, @07:22PM (4 children)
That old paper's obsolete, like anything else not done on a computer, except for the Sacred Second ...
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Monday January 08 2018, @07:30PM (3 children)
Yeah, that one's been pretty much blown to shreds too.
Doubt me? Try bringing a cannon* with you next time you have to stop by City Hall to get permission to do something innocent with your own property.
* For personal protection, of course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @11:55PM
How about my pressure cooker, which needs to finish cooking by dinnertime, and my visit to City Hall is going to take all day, meaning I have to keep an eye on it so that I can make sure the pressure release valve isn't sticking such that it might blow up my house or any peoples within it!
:)
Seriously though, my grandparent's generation relied on pressure cookers for 3/4+ of their cooking, and in fact they had to hide then rid the house of pressure cookers when she started to get old and forget she'd left it on the stove. Wish I could have gotten it. Only needed a new pressure release valve to be safe for another 50 years of use.
(Score: 1) by doc_doofus on Tuesday January 09 2018, @03:51PM (1 child)
Common mistake.
A cannon is classified as "armament" vs a rifle which is "arms."
It is the right to keep and bear "arms."
Only the government can keep and bear "armaments."
Thanks for playing.
"Just because you're real, doesn't necessarily mean that you're intelligent." - Inspirobot
(Score: 2) by Justin Case on Tuesday January 09 2018, @04:17PM
Interesting perspective I had not heard before. I'm willing to learn more... but presently unconvinced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon [wikipedia.org]
The examples include nuclear weapons and even hypothetical anti-matter weapons.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/armament [wiktionary.org]
So what are large arms?
Of course, we need the archived pages from the late 1700s to determine what the meaning was at that time.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Justin Case on Monday January 08 2018, @07:26PM (1 child)
Very funny. Yeah, that may have existed a long time ago, in a fictional country, but clearly all vestiges of the document you quoted are nothing more than toilet paper to the authoritarian snoops with weapons.
You can either trust them to do the right thing, or remove the opportunity for them to do wrong against you. Your call, of course. Suit yourself.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Monday January 08 2018, @07:31PM
I acknowledge that this is 100% true; it's just that it still annoys me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @09:20PM
Though I acknowledge that seeming normal in many areas is kind of a lubricant.
Yes, it is less painful... and I really don't think I need to do it every year
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Monday January 08 2018, @09:36PM (1 child)
Better still, why is "Homeland Security" so terrified of them.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 08 2018, @09:41PM
Not terrified. A fishing expedition to contrive some kind of crime against you. The less information they have the less likely they can plausibly make up something because they don't like you or they wish they had some excitement in their boring minimum wage dead end long shifts.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday January 09 2018, @02:56AM
The thing is, that has never applied at the border.
It has always been held as REASONABLE to search the belongings of someone entering the country. (But every country).
It may not seem reasonable to you, but you are not the one empowered to make that decision.
The only good news, indeed the only news at all here, is that they promise not to reach back through the phone to stuff you left behind in another country when you showed up at the border asking to come in.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 08 2018, @08:30PM (3 children)
Because that puts your bits at the mercy of the ISP.
Some ISPs might do bad things to people's bits -- even cut them off completely from access.
If you keep your bits with you, you always have them accessible and can play with your bits at any time, any where. Even a remote location.
No matter how nice it may seem to put your bits in a cloud, it is a trap that can bite.
Hope that helps.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday January 08 2018, @09:29PM (2 children)
Do you keep all your money in the bank, or in your wallet? The point is that you should travel "light", especially when crossing borders, doesn't make any difference which ones. You forfeit all your rights when you want to reach your destination in a reasonable amount of time.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Monday January 08 2018, @09:37PM
Ideally, you should not travel to places where you're afraid to have money in your wallet. Basically the same for data devices.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 08 2018, @09:38PM
I do travel with a somewhat larger than normal, but not excessive amount of cash in my wallet. Certainly not enough to draw any attention. At the same time, when in a foreign country, you are at the mercy of the ISPs (eg, "banks", "atms") to get more cash. However, these days, some good credit cards make life easier without needing so much cash. Still, there are places where cash is simply easier. Unless you somewhere you need to convert currency, and it is difficult to do. It may be as easy to withdraw the local kind of currency from an ATM as to convert cash into the local currency at a bank or hotel concierge.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.