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Customs officials forcing you to unlock your phone is not just an invasion of privacy - it's a pointless invasion of privacy. Customs agents don't even know whe

Customs officials forcing you to unlock your phone is not just an invasion of privacy - it's a pointless invasion of privacy. Customs agents don't even know where to start in finding data that a user wants hidden. Even if allowed access to personal devices, data is slippery enough that it could be stored in almost anything. Here's yet another example of taking away rights in a way that does nothing to deter actual crime. Hopefully the court understands technology enough to make the right call, but I'm not counting on it.

cpncrunch 12y ago
I suspect that the people they're trying to catch by doing these searches (pedophiles, illegal workers) are generally too stupid or lazy to bother hiding their data. At least, that seems to be the case when watching Border Security. They do actually catch a lot of people this way.
- malkia 12y ago
  So you would catch the lazy criminals, and maybe even victims of such act, where things were done on their devices without their knowledge... I've read recently about new kind of software, that encrypts your data without your knowledge and then asks you for money to unlock it - wondering how this would play in courts...
  - lightbritefight 12y ago
    It sounds like an encryption suite that had had an included "crytpolocker" gui element would be a hilarious method plausible deniability, and at least make this asinine habit harder. Just randomly generate the BT address so some strangers get paid if the border agents want to try to unlock something they have confiscated.
DanBC 12y ago
Like David Miranda? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner-detained-heathrow http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald...
- wil421 12y ago
  Now that was a political maneuver. The article about the guy in Canada didn't say what the reason was for searching him. >"Officers are trained in examination, investigative and questioning techniques. To divulge our approach may render our techniques ineffective. Officers are trained to look for indicators of deception and use a risk management approach in determining which goods may warrant a closer look" This statement makes it look like they noticed something about him that prompted the search.
  - Silhouette 12y ago
    That description seems awfully close to saying an officer can selectively interfere with someone's life just because the officer didn't like the look of him. I think we all know how that one turns out.
    - wil421 12y ago
      It just a way for them to justify searching anyone. He looked suspicious so the officer searched him. I'm certain they could say it about anyone.
    - mherdeg 12y ago
      Sure, it gets us the "Terry stop", a police tactic which the Supreme Court currently says is legal. In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), Terry was represented by Louis Stokes, who went on to become a luminary in local and national politics. Here's what Stokes said about the case, from http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/nypd-stop-and-frisk-2012-6/ http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/nypd-stop-and-frisk-2012... : > Stokes, chairman of the legal-redress committee of the Cleveland NAACP, believed the arrest was dubious. > Representing Terry in court, Stokes pressed [arresting officer Martin] McFadden on the stand, where he got him to admit that the men weren’t doing anything other than peering into store windows, and that he’d never busted anyone before for seeming to case a business. “What attracted you to them?” Stokes asked. > “Well, to tell the truth,” McFadden answered, “I didn’t like them.”
      - 12y ago
DanBC 12y ago
Like David Miranda? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner-detained-heathrow http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald...
spiritplumber 12y ago
I had this experience. My laptop wasn't locked, but I was asked to let someone look through it. That took about 20 minutes, which caused me to miss my coincidence. Since I now had time to waste, I asked to see the customs lady's supervisor, and then berated the person who inspected my laptop for not having any idea how to do this sort of search properly. So, I ended up sitting both the customs lady and her supervisor there for another hour or so while I taught them how to use undelete and some basic free forensic tools. I then handed them a bill for an hour of my time and left to wait for the next plane. I like to think it took them a while to process just what the hell had happened. Mindless securistas like that need to be humiliated at every turn, or they'll never stop. Society - the segment of society with which they interact - must make it clear that their job is not wanted, not needed, and not welcome. This was in Montreal in 2009, if anyone cares.
- rjbwork 12y ago
  Hilarious! Did you ever receive payment for services rendered?
  - spiritplumber 12y ago
    No. I am fairly sure that it all went in one ear and out the other... (I do this stuff a little too often, maybe twice a year. This probably makes me an asshole, but it gets the testosterone out in a nonviolent manner, so it's the lesser of two evils ,really).
- finnh 12y ago
  uh, thanks? I'd prefer they remain ignorant
- marinabercea 12y ago
  Hilarious and gutsy! I admire your commitment to anti half-assery, even if it could've turned on you. I'm assuming the bill remains unpaid?
- driverdan 12y ago
  Why didn't you refuse the search?

cpncrunch 12y ago

I suspect that the people they're trying to catch by doing these searches (pedophiles, illegal workers) are generally too stupid or lazy to bother hiding their data. At least, that seems to be the case when watching Border Security. They do actually catch a lot of people this way.

malkia 12y ago
So you would catch the lazy criminals, and maybe even victims of such act, where things were done on their devices without their knowledge... I've read recently about new kind of software, that encrypts your data without your knowledge and then asks you for money to unlock it - wondering how this would play in courts...
- lightbritefight 12y ago
  It sounds like an encryption suite that had had an included "crytpolocker" gui element would be a hilarious method plausible deniability, and at least make this asinine habit harder. Just randomly generate the BT address so some strangers get paid if the border agents want to try to unlock something they have confiscated.

DanBC 12y ago

Like David Miranda? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner-detained-heathrow http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald...

wil421 12y ago
Now that was a political maneuver. The article about the guy in Canada didn't say what the reason was for searching him. >"Officers are trained in examination, investigative and questioning techniques. To divulge our approach may render our techniques ineffective. Officers are trained to look for indicators of deception and use a risk management approach in determining which goods may warrant a closer look" This statement makes it look like they noticed something about him that prompted the search.
- Silhouette 12y ago
  That description seems awfully close to saying an officer can selectively interfere with someone's life just because the officer didn't like the look of him. I think we all know how that one turns out.
  - wil421 12y ago
    It just a way for them to justify searching anyone. He looked suspicious so the officer searched him. I'm certain they could say it about anyone.
  - mherdeg 12y ago
    Sure, it gets us the "Terry stop", a police tactic which the Supreme Court currently says is legal. In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), Terry was represented by Louis Stokes, who went on to become a luminary in local and national politics. Here's what Stokes said about the case, from http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/nypd-stop-and-frisk-2012-6/ http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/nypd-stop-and-frisk-2012... : > Stokes, chairman of the legal-redress committee of the Cleveland NAACP, believed the arrest was dubious. > Representing Terry in court, Stokes pressed [arresting officer Martin] McFadden on the stand, where he got him to admit that the men weren’t doing anything other than peering into store windows, and that he’d never busted anyone before for seeming to case a business. “What attracted you to them?” Stokes asked. > “Well, to tell the truth,” McFadden answered, “I didn’t like them.”
    - 12y ago

DanBC 12y ago

Like David Miranda? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner-detained-heathrow http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald...

spiritplumber 12y ago

I had this experience. My laptop wasn't locked, but I was asked to let someone look through it. That took about 20 minutes, which caused me to miss my coincidence. Since I now had time to waste, I asked to see the customs lady's supervisor, and then berated the person who inspected my laptop for not having any idea how to do this sort of search properly. So, I ended up sitting both the customs lady and her supervisor there for another hour or so while I taught them how to use undelete and some basic free forensic tools. I then handed them a bill for an hour of my time and left to wait for the next plane. I like to think it took them a while to process just what the hell had happened. Mindless securistas like that need to be humiliated at every turn, or they'll never stop. Society - the segment of society with which they interact - must make it clear that their job is not wanted, not needed, and not welcome. This was in Montreal in 2009, if anyone cares.

rjbwork 12y ago
Hilarious! Did you ever receive payment for services rendered?
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  No. I am fairly sure that it all went in one ear and out the other... (I do this stuff a little too often, maybe twice a year. This probably makes me an asshole, but it gets the testosterone out in a nonviolent manner, so it's the lesser of two evils ,really).
finnh 12y ago
uh, thanks? I'd prefer they remain ignorant
marinabercea 12y ago
Hilarious and gutsy! I admire your commitment to anti half-assery, even if it could've turned on you. I'm assuming the bill remains unpaid?
driverdan 12y ago
Why didn't you refuse the search?