6 ms·

Phone's should have a travel mode, where it backs up all your data to the cloud and wipes the phone clean.

by admax88q 10y ago

eridius 10y ago
Why does that need a special mode? Just back up your phone and factory reset it.
- jazoom 10y ago
  That's not the same thing, and nowhere near as helpful. Why would I want to wipe my phone every border cross if I don't have to?
  - eridius 10y ago
    admax88q said they wanted a mode where it wipes your phone. That mode is called "factory reset". If what you want is a mode that wipes your phone only when a CBP agent looks at it, as other people have stated in the comments here, you'd probably be committing some sort of crime (e.g. destruction of evidence or lying to a federal agent). The only truly safe way to cross is to not actually have your data when you cross, not to try and throw it away once you get singled out by agents.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - jazoom 10y ago
      I assume you're thinking about USA, which is a country I have no desire to visit.
      - khedoros1 10y ago
        If you aren't planning on going to the US or to whichever other countries might try something similar, then I suppose it's a moot point for you, and you don't need to worry about your phone at all. But if your home government started treating you unreasonably, you might also be interested in having a discussion about possible reactions to the new policies, right?
        jazoom 10y ago
        Maybe, but I don't know when I might need it in the future, and when the time comes it's already too late. That is why I'm interested in this topic now. That is also why I'm not dismissing the idea because of some possible charges that might be laid against me by some possible border control person some time in the future. I have nothing to hide personally. I'm more concerned about business secrets and SSH keys.
        type0 10y ago
        > I have nothing to hide personally. I'm more concerned about business secrets and SSH keys. If you have nothing to hide you should have nothing to fear. Because you know that US is never involved in industrial espionage and Snowden NSA leaks have allegedly never happened.
        oAlbe 10y ago
        > I have nothing to hide personally. You do. And even if you don't, you should hide it anyway. Please stop using that sentence at all. “Never say anything in an electronic message that you wouldn’t want appearing, and attributed to you, in tomorrow morning’s front-page headline in the New York Times.” — Colonel David Russell, former head of DARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office
        jazoom 10y ago
        You probably shouldn't assume you know people you've never met. Besides, I don't think my data is any more likely to end up in some newspaper if a government agent gets it than if (when) Google gets hacked.
        khedoros1 10y ago
        > You probably shouldn't assume you know people you've never met. Good advice, in general. I've never met anyone that didn't have something to hide from someone, though. But you're making an even stronger claim: That nothing that you've said or done will ever be something that you'd want to keep private. When data gets out, you don't get to call it back, even when circumstances in the world change.
    - admax88q 10y ago
      Yes factory reset is pretty much the same thing I was proposing. The only missing piece is a easy way to restore the phone once I reach my destination.
      - eridius 10y ago
        iCloud backup. It's pretty darn easy to restore an iPhone after factory reset (as long as you have a decent internet connection and are willing to wait for however long it takes to reinstall all your apps and download all your data from the backup).
- dingaling 10y ago
  I am reminded of a check-box proforma that circulated in the 1990s, pointing-out the flaws any time someone proposed a 'clever' solution to spam: '[X] You are proposing a technical solution to a non-technical problem' The border agent of ${COUNTRY} doesn't care if you wiped your phone accidentally or deliberately; his flowchart says 'access subject's chat history on phone'. If that's not possible, goto 'reject'.
  - eridius 10y ago
    The border agent of ${COUNTRY} cannot reasonably deny you access because you aren't in possession of a smartphone with personal data on it. What they can do is get you in trouble for deliberately wiping said personal data after they ask for it, but it's perfectly legal to choose to travel without carrying your personal data.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
vatotemking 10y ago
What if the agent forces you to give them the password for "untravel mode", which restores data to your phone from the cloud?
- jazoom 10y ago
  Good point
- khedoros1 10y ago
  What if doing so requires a key stored on a computer at home? Or if the system has a duress password that restores plausible-seeming crap? Or if you did just factory-wipe it with no cloud-based backup? You can keep going back and forth with "what if" scenarios, but I'm not sure what the point would be.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - vatotemking 10y ago
    > What if doing so requires a key stored on a computer at home? Or if the system has a duress password that restores plausible-seeming crap? All that sounds like a UX nightmare. The point is its all moot solving this at a technological level.
    - khedoros1 10y ago
      > All that sounds like a UX nightmare. It does, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. > The point is its all moot solving this at a technological level. If I'm reading that right, it's closer to what I was thinking when I wrote my comment. We can come up with a bunch of clever solutions, someone else can shoot them down with plausible scenarios, but regardless, some asshole at the border can still say "I don't believe your phone's blank, and I don't believe you don't have a Twitter/Facebook/etc account. So, you'll need to restore your phone and give us your social media passwords to get out of here"
- admax88q 10y ago

Phone's should have a travel mode, where it backs up all your data to the cloud and wipes the phone clean.

eridius 10y ago

Why does that need a special mode? Just back up your phone and factory reset it.

jazoom 10y ago
That's not the same thing, and nowhere near as helpful. Why would I want to wipe my phone every border cross if I don't have to?
- eridius 10y ago
  admax88q said they wanted a mode where it wipes your phone. That mode is called "factory reset". If what you want is a mode that wipes your phone only when a CBP agent looks at it, as other people have stated in the comments here, you'd probably be committing some sort of crime (e.g. destruction of evidence or lying to a federal agent). The only truly safe way to cross is to not actually have your data when you cross, not to try and throw it away once you get singled out by agents.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - jazoom 10y ago
    I assume you're thinking about USA, which is a country I have no desire to visit.
    - khedoros1 10y ago
      If you aren't planning on going to the US or to whichever other countries might try something similar, then I suppose it's a moot point for you, and you don't need to worry about your phone at all. But if your home government started treating you unreasonably, you might also be interested in having a discussion about possible reactions to the new policies, right?
      - jazoom 10y ago
        Maybe, but I don't know when I might need it in the future, and when the time comes it's already too late. That is why I'm interested in this topic now. That is also why I'm not dismissing the idea because of some possible charges that might be laid against me by some possible border control person some time in the future. I have nothing to hide personally. I'm more concerned about business secrets and SSH keys.
        type0 10y ago
        > I have nothing to hide personally. I'm more concerned about business secrets and SSH keys. If you have nothing to hide you should have nothing to fear. Because you know that US is never involved in industrial espionage and Snowden NSA leaks have allegedly never happened.
        oAlbe 10y ago
        > I have nothing to hide personally. You do. And even if you don't, you should hide it anyway. Please stop using that sentence at all. “Never say anything in an electronic message that you wouldn’t want appearing, and attributed to you, in tomorrow morning’s front-page headline in the New York Times.” — Colonel David Russell, former head of DARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office
        jazoom 10y ago
        You probably shouldn't assume you know people you've never met. Besides, I don't think my data is any more likely to end up in some newspaper if a government agent gets it than if (when) Google gets hacked.
        khedoros1 10y ago
        > You probably shouldn't assume you know people you've never met. Good advice, in general. I've never met anyone that didn't have something to hide from someone, though. But you're making an even stronger claim: That nothing that you've said or done will ever be something that you'd want to keep private. When data gets out, you don't get to call it back, even when circumstances in the world change.
  - admax88q 10y ago
    Yes factory reset is pretty much the same thing I was proposing. The only missing piece is a easy way to restore the phone once I reach my destination.
    - eridius 10y ago
      iCloud backup. It's pretty darn easy to restore an iPhone after factory reset (as long as you have a decent internet connection and are willing to wait for however long it takes to reinstall all your apps and download all your data from the backup).
dingaling 10y ago
I am reminded of a check-box proforma that circulated in the 1990s, pointing-out the flaws any time someone proposed a 'clever' solution to spam: '[X] You are proposing a technical solution to a non-technical problem' The border agent of ${COUNTRY} doesn't care if you wiped your phone accidentally or deliberately; his flowchart says 'access subject's chat history on phone'. If that's not possible, goto 'reject'.
- eridius 10y ago
  The border agent of ${COUNTRY} cannot reasonably deny you access because you aren't in possession of a smartphone with personal data on it. What they can do is get you in trouble for deliberately wiping said personal data after they ask for it, but it's perfectly legal to choose to travel without carrying your personal data.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

vatotemking 10y ago

What if the agent forces you to give them the password for "untravel mode", which restores data to your phone from the cloud?

jazoom 10y ago
Good point
khedoros1 10y ago
What if doing so requires a key stored on a computer at home? Or if the system has a duress password that restores plausible-seeming crap? Or if you did just factory-wipe it with no cloud-based backup? You can keep going back and forth with "what if" scenarios, but I'm not sure what the point would be.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- vatotemking 10y ago
  > What if doing so requires a key stored on a computer at home? Or if the system has a duress password that restores plausible-seeming crap? All that sounds like a UX nightmare. The point is its all moot solving this at a technological level.
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    > All that sounds like a UX nightmare. It does, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. > The point is its all moot solving this at a technological level. If I'm reading that right, it's closer to what I was thinking when I wrote my comment. We can come up with a bunch of clever solutions, someone else can shoot them down with plausible scenarios, but regardless, some asshole at the border can still say "I don't believe your phone's blank, and I don't believe you don't have a Twitter/Facebook/etc account. So, you'll need to restore your phone and give us your social media passwords to get out of here"
admax88q 10y ago