4 ms·

This is the reason that when I travel I carry two phones. One is the phone I actually use, and the other is the one I give to authorities when they ask for my

by lisper 4y ago

This is the reason that when I travel I carry two phones. One is the phone I actually use, and the other is the one I give to authorities when they ask for my phone. It is astonishing to me that not once have I ever been asked if I have a second phone. (It will be an interesting experiment to see if that happens now that I have posted this here.)

worstestes 4y ago
Where do authorities ask for your phone? Just curious
- nixcraft 4y ago
  It happens everywhere, from the developed countries to the far east. You have zero rights when crossing the border at immigration control, especially when your passport is weak or they believe you will not leave the country. They log into your IG and WhatsApp and check everything. Otherwise, they will deny entry. They made it legal. Sometimes a person has nothing to hide but nerves first time traveller and gets sucked into that void too. Do you know the worst part? Once you unlock your phone and give them your passcode, they take it away and tell you to wait. So now have no idea what they are doing with your phone. Would you trust that device? That is why a burner phone is needed, I guess.
  - truemotive 4y ago
    I carry two phones just in case Nobody asks me for my second phone because nobody cares about brief interactions that distract them It happens everywhere from the developed countries to the far east (makes large sweeping gesture representing entire planet) you have zero rights crossing the border at immigration control in these awful countries I am continuing to not mention for some reason. Tell us where this happens.
  - nl 4y ago
    > It happens everywhere, from the developed countries to the far east. It can happen everywhere, but I don't think it is frequent. I travel fairly frequently and I've never had it happen to me, or seen it happen to anyone around me, or personally know anyone it has happened to. It's true it happens, and you do read about it on the internet. But I think in every case I've read the person was already being questioned by immigration at a heightened level when it occurred.
  - hakfoo 4y ago
    I can recall getting a surprisingly intrusive investigation coming into Montreal as a tourist on an American passport in 2017. Taking everything out of my luggage while I'm desperately trying to warn them that some of the socks are wrapped around a DSLR and lens I'm trying to protect from damage, fiddling through my phone camera (since there was nothing good on the new DSLR with like 40 photos of local insects). Evidently they were trying to find background evidence that my claimed objective-- visiting the Exporail museum-- was plausible. Who doesn't like trains (and it is, indeed, an excellent museum)? Fortunately, I had a photo of the Acela I took last year on my phone, and that seemed to satisfy them. After all that, the agent chastised me because I followed my grandmother's advice and left CAD40 in the pocket of my suitcase in case I got my wallet stolen-- "It's very safe here". Is it safe here because you make random tourists feel like terrorists?
- tluyben2 4y ago
  On border patrol shows, I have seen it in US, AU and UK. Usually to identify if people come there for work without a work permit.
- fhaldridge7 4y ago
  I went to the US for tourism and the immigration asked for my phone. They checked the contacts and asked me about random people (who they are, how I met them etc.)
- lisper 4y ago
  Airport security mainly. Also immigration, though that has never actually happened to me (yet). It's more of an insurance policy than a defense against an actual threat that I experience. But people do have their phones seized. This way I don't have to worry about it as much.
- potamic 4y ago
  It's a huge problem in India at the moment. Police in several cities have caught on to this idea of searching for incriminating content and harassing people into paying bribe. https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/03/29/are-bengaluru-cops-forcing-locals-to-hand-over-phones-to-check-whatsapp-photos https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/03/29/are-bengaluru-cops-fo...
mongol 4y ago
What do you use the "authorities phone" for? Is it set up with a mock account? What kind of emails are associated with it?
- lisper 4y ago
  Yes, it has its own email account, which at this point is basically a spam honeypot. I don't think anyone has ever actually tried to unlock the phone. Every time I've been asked for it, it looked to me like they were checking it for explosive residue. But this way I don't have to worry about it, I just hand it over and smile. It also has some apps installed, mainly games. I sometimes use it for casual internet browsing, especially if I want to visit a website with a bunch of Javascript of questionable provenance. But all my real stuff is on the other phone.
kybernetikos 4y ago
This probably gives you much better privacy than someone with just one phone, but I have read of people doing analysis where they identify phones that move together. As always, it's a question of threat model, but if your opponent is a state, they definitely do this kind of thing.
- lisper 4y ago
  Sure. This is mainly protection against being asked for my phone at airport security or immigration. If a state actor really wants to fuck with me there is probably very little I can do about it.

by lisper 4y ago

worstestes 4y ago

Where do authorities ask for your phone? Just curious

nixcraft 4y ago
It happens everywhere, from the developed countries to the far east. You have zero rights when crossing the border at immigration control, especially when your passport is weak or they believe you will not leave the country. They log into your IG and WhatsApp and check everything. Otherwise, they will deny entry. They made it legal. Sometimes a person has nothing to hide but nerves first time traveller and gets sucked into that void too. Do you know the worst part? Once you unlock your phone and give them your passcode, they take it away and tell you to wait. So now have no idea what they are doing with your phone. Would you trust that device? That is why a burner phone is needed, I guess.
- truemotive 4y ago
  I carry two phones just in case Nobody asks me for my second phone because nobody cares about brief interactions that distract them It happens everywhere from the developed countries to the far east (makes large sweeping gesture representing entire planet) you have zero rights crossing the border at immigration control in these awful countries I am continuing to not mention for some reason. Tell us where this happens.
- nl 4y ago
  > It happens everywhere, from the developed countries to the far east. It can happen everywhere, but I don't think it is frequent. I travel fairly frequently and I've never had it happen to me, or seen it happen to anyone around me, or personally know anyone it has happened to. It's true it happens, and you do read about it on the internet. But I think in every case I've read the person was already being questioned by immigration at a heightened level when it occurred.
- hakfoo 4y ago
  I can recall getting a surprisingly intrusive investigation coming into Montreal as a tourist on an American passport in 2017. Taking everything out of my luggage while I'm desperately trying to warn them that some of the socks are wrapped around a DSLR and lens I'm trying to protect from damage, fiddling through my phone camera (since there was nothing good on the new DSLR with like 40 photos of local insects). Evidently they were trying to find background evidence that my claimed objective-- visiting the Exporail museum-- was plausible. Who doesn't like trains (and it is, indeed, an excellent museum)? Fortunately, I had a photo of the Acela I took last year on my phone, and that seemed to satisfy them. After all that, the agent chastised me because I followed my grandmother's advice and left CAD40 in the pocket of my suitcase in case I got my wallet stolen-- "It's very safe here". Is it safe here because you make random tourists feel like terrorists?
tluyben2 4y ago
On border patrol shows, I have seen it in US, AU and UK. Usually to identify if people come there for work without a work permit.
fhaldridge7 4y ago
I went to the US for tourism and the immigration asked for my phone. They checked the contacts and asked me about random people (who they are, how I met them etc.)
lisper 4y ago
Airport security mainly. Also immigration, though that has never actually happened to me (yet). It's more of an insurance policy than a defense against an actual threat that I experience. But people do have their phones seized. This way I don't have to worry about it as much.
potamic 4y ago
It's a huge problem in India at the moment. Police in several cities have caught on to this idea of searching for incriminating content and harassing people into paying bribe. https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/03/29/are-bengaluru-cops-forcing-locals-to-hand-over-phones-to-check-whatsapp-photos https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/03/29/are-bengaluru-cops-fo...

mongol 4y ago

What do you use the "authorities phone" for? Is it set up with a mock account? What kind of emails are associated with it?

lisper 4y ago
Yes, it has its own email account, which at this point is basically a spam honeypot. I don't think anyone has ever actually tried to unlock the phone. Every time I've been asked for it, it looked to me like they were checking it for explosive residue. But this way I don't have to worry about it, I just hand it over and smile. It also has some apps installed, mainly games. I sometimes use it for casual internet browsing, especially if I want to visit a website with a bunch of Javascript of questionable provenance. But all my real stuff is on the other phone.

kybernetikos 4y ago

This probably gives you much better privacy than someone with just one phone, but I have read of people doing analysis where they identify phones that move together. As always, it's a question of threat model, but if your opponent is a state, they definitely do this kind of thing.

lisper 4y ago
Sure. This is mainly protection against being asked for my phone at airport security or immigration. If a state actor really wants to fuck with me there is probably very little I can do about it.