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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
In a victory for privacy rights at the border, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit today ruled that forensic searches of electronic devices carried out by border agents without any suspicion that the traveler has committed a crime violate the U.S. Constitution.
The ruling in U.S. v. Kolsuz is the first federal appellate case after the Supreme Court's seminal decision in Riley v. California (2014) to hold that certain border device searches require individualized suspicion that the traveler is involved in criminal wrongdoing. Two other federal appellate opinions this year—from the Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit—included strong analyses by judges who similarly questioned suspicionless border device searches.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by terrab0t on Monday May 14 2018, @11:40AM (1 child)
I’m thinking the same thing.
I’m not sure if it will make much difference in practice. They are used to
doing whatever they want to travellers. The police can always invent probably
cause and suffer little to no consequences for it later. Border security can do
the same. They may continue being jerks to foreign travellers. What they do at
the border has little to do with security. They are exercising power and
dominance. They have a strong, primitive drive do so. I’m sure Robin Hanson
would see right through their behaviour.
Unless I see clear evidence that US border security has stopped their usual
practice I will maintain my policy of carrying absolutely no personal
information on my person and no means that someone else could use to access it.
Want to travel with a laptop?
It has to have nothing but the base OS with not so much as a browser history entry
when you cross through customs.
Want to travel with a phone?
It has to have its data wiped and no SIM card in it when you cross the
border. Print out your boarding pass. Navigate to the airport and back without
a working phone (some people still do this routinely). Buy a temp SIM card at
your destination (you’d need to anyway). Throw out the temp SIM card and
wipe the phone’s data before you enter the airport to go home (newer phones
can self‐reset and wipe all of their data).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14 2018, @10:22PM
Here's the problem with that argument: Most people don't cross the border with a blank empty phone, and empty laptop, and especially one with no SIM in it.
That you don't have anything on your phone or laptop whatsoever will be more suspicious to them than if you did. A missing SIM especially is likely to get you lots of special attention. They might not do anything to you, but they can detain you for secondary screening and questioning and you will go into a database as someone to be watched, and not just when you're at the border.
Far better to have a temp SIM in it and a few meaningless contacts and a couple of games. You also will have the SAME SIM in it as you come back across the border as well. For bonus points, go ahead and use that phone at least once or twice / have it connected to their networks. Swap SIMs for anything you deem truly important, although then you run the risk of associating your IMEI with multiple SIMs - again a red flag if anyone is watching for that unless you must change SIMs with that phone. Then throw the phone away if you're not a frequent international traveler. Better to carry a dummy burner phone than to attract attention with "No I don't have no SIM because I'll buy one when I get there."