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This is a political statement highlighting the current legal uncertainty of refusing to unlock your devices at the US border[0]. By default iphones and macs ar
by shpx 9y ago
This is a political statement highlighting the current legal uncertainty of refusing to unlock your devices at the US border[0].
By default iphones and macs are encrypted when you completely power them down, so the right way (assuming you have a good password) is to shut down your computers at the airport and only turn them back on when you've passed the border.
Nothing interesting here tech-wise, effectively just a checklist of files to manually delete or encrypt. I'm not a lawyer, but to me this seems like just plugging holes until someone puts up the money and time to rule the whole thing unconstitutional.
[0] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/what-could-happen-if-you-refuse-to-unlock-your-phone-at-the-us-border/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/what-could-happe...
- DanBC 9y agoWhen they ask you to power on your device, and unlock it, and you refuse they don't say "that's ok, in you go", they deny you entry.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- plandis 9y agoIf you're not a US citizen. CBP cannot legally deny entry to the US for US citizens.
- kalleboo 9y agoIf you're a US citizen they have to let you in, but if you're a visitor they'll probably just turn you back at the border. The article says a South Korean man won a lawsuit against an unreasonable search, but you're not going to be able to do that from your home country.
- rurban 9y agoThey closed this loophole a couple of years ago, by explicitly demanding that your devices need to be powered on and have enough battery power when entring the country. So powering off your device, putting out the battery or encrypting it is all forbidden.
- zeveb 9y agoDo you have any source for your assertion that one is required to have a powered battery when entering the country? On the face of it, that seems absurd.
- doubleunplussed 9y agoI've heard announcements to this effect during takeoff on-route to the US: "Ensure you don't use your devices too much during flight if you can't charge them—they are required to be powered on during entry to the United States".
- wdb 9y agoSo they expect you to have your phone and devices charged after a 21 hours of flying to the US? Guess you need to charge your phone before you can queue up at immigration? :)