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You don't get that option. The first thing that happens to everybody who is attempting to enter the US and flagged is that they give you a form to w

You don't get that option. The first thing that happens to everybody who is attempting to enter the US and flagged is that they give you a form to write down all keys and passwords you might have, they will then unlock your phone and attempt to find anything... Actually, I have all the time in the world before my next flight, so I do get that option. You see, even if I'm forced to write down a password, if that password decrypts a 3TB file filled with shit data that LOOKS like it's still encrypted somehow, and then throws errors on further attempts to decrypt, the goal is achieved. I have old laptops I'm ready to throw in the garbage. I have old, dying hard drives I can partition with nonsense. If that's all I'm carrying, then border patrol can merrily spin their wheels on it, and it will never contain anything valuable, despite appearances, because it is junk and contains junk by design. For phones? Well, if all I'm carrying is a 1990's candybar phone with a 4 digit pin, and I "unlock" it for someone, and it shows "NO SERVICE" because I never paid money to activate service on that phone, even though it's the only phone I'm carrying, the goal is achieved. If I'm carrying a trashy 2008 edition smartphone, and I unlock the bootloader, and reflash with a custom ROM that contains 500 garbage contacts with (555) 555-5555 numbers and John Doe as the name, and then encrypt an SD card with a FAT partition that contains a single 4BG encrypted file that's really just random data, or maybe 9000 files with misleading file names, but all contain junk when decrypted, the goal is achieved. If I jail break an old iPhone C that I bought refurbished, second-hand for $50 and then I activate it's password protection as the number 1234, but never place a SIM card in the slot, and load it with thounsands of random images from the internet, and tons of fake notes that look like Base64 data, and that's the only phone I'm carrying, the goal is achieved. Your tangent about drugs is an unrelated digression. Staging junk devices with garbage data, for the purpose of sacrifice to security theater, is fun, easy, and anyone can do it if they've got the next week or two to pack their bags.

hueving 10y ago
You do realize you're wasting your time as well. It's not like you're allowed to get a coffee from Starbucks and visit the brothel while the agents search your things.
- tritosomal 10y ago
  For some people, their time seems to be already wasted, no matter their actions. No need to waste their expensive devices AND their time. Retrieving confiscated devices can ruin time as well. A device you can safely discard, in lieu of bureacratic form signing, waiting-in-line retrieval queues, is also time saved. Now they've confiscated what amounts to used toilet paper. Did you read TFA?
  - hueving 10y ago
    Choosing to bring devices full of encrypted noise vs choosing not to being devices is deliberately choosing to waste your time in addition to the CBP officers'. Maybe that's your goal, but they get paid to do that so you aren't exactly teaching them a lesson. If anything, you are just being rude to other people who want to cross the border since you've impacted the throughput. It's sort of like "teaching the cops a lesson" by loitering around the local school in an ice cream truck implying something might happen.
    - tritosomal 10y ago
      Well, gee whiz. Don't I feel terrible now. Like, wow man. It really makes you think. It makes me think about illegal search and seizure, and how I guess that only matters for special people. It makes me think that, hey, maybe some inalienable rights are actually kind of alienable, depending on who you decide to alienate, right? They get paid money to do their jobs. Well wowee! That means they're correct in fucking people up arbitrarily right? Special person on a blacklist? Fuck 'em up! Don't like the looks of those guys? Fuck 'em up! Hate your job and need to take it out on somebody? Fuck 'em up! Sure, I get that. But where does the black list come from? Can I vote on who gets listed? You know, I got some people I'd like to fuck up, myself. Would that be okay? What if I decide to hire someone to fuck someone else up for me? I got some money to pay them. At that point, they'd be doing their job. Hmmm. Maybe I should pick a career that let's me fuck people up, just so's I can help write those lists. It'd be my job, after all.
    - laptopHoovering 10y ago

hueving 10y ago

You do realize you're wasting your time as well. It's not like you're allowed to get a coffee from Starbucks and visit the brothel while the agents search your things.

tritosomal 10y ago
For some people, their time seems to be already wasted, no matter their actions. No need to waste their expensive devices AND their time. Retrieving confiscated devices can ruin time as well. A device you can safely discard, in lieu of bureacratic form signing, waiting-in-line retrieval queues, is also time saved. Now they've confiscated what amounts to used toilet paper. Did you read TFA?
- hueving 10y ago
  Choosing to bring devices full of encrypted noise vs choosing not to being devices is deliberately choosing to waste your time in addition to the CBP officers'. Maybe that's your goal, but they get paid to do that so you aren't exactly teaching them a lesson. If anything, you are just being rude to other people who want to cross the border since you've impacted the throughput. It's sort of like "teaching the cops a lesson" by loitering around the local school in an ice cream truck implying something might happen.
  - tritosomal 10y ago
    Well, gee whiz. Don't I feel terrible now. Like, wow man. It really makes you think. It makes me think about illegal search and seizure, and how I guess that only matters for special people. It makes me think that, hey, maybe some inalienable rights are actually kind of alienable, depending on who you decide to alienate, right? They get paid money to do their jobs. Well wowee! That means they're correct in fucking people up arbitrarily right? Special person on a blacklist? Fuck 'em up! Don't like the looks of those guys? Fuck 'em up! Hate your job and need to take it out on somebody? Fuck 'em up! Sure, I get that. But where does the black list come from? Can I vote on who gets listed? You know, I got some people I'd like to fuck up, myself. Would that be okay? What if I decide to hire someone to fuck someone else up for me? I got some money to pay them. At that point, they'd be doing their job. Hmmm. Maybe I should pick a career that let's me fuck people up, just so's I can help write those lists. It'd be my job, after all.
  - laptopHoovering 10y ago