PrivacyAn Appeals Court panel has ruled that federal agents can legally search through travelers' cell phones without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or a warrant when they cross an international border.
So bits are considered a controlled substance now?
Turn it off before crossing. They may ask you to power it on, which you may comply with. In my experience, biometrics don't work after a fresh boot and the device password must be entered before biometric unlocking works.
Just create a fake profile with pictures of diseased cocks.
They can already snatch your phone beat you the fuck up and slam your bloodied face into the face recognition until they've got your device unlocked. I mean whatcha gonna do when they're peeling your fingernaips apart and screaming at you to blurt all your secrets. No shitty amendment gonna protect your fragile meat ass.
They can have the duress pin.
Just budget for a cheap ass phone for when you cross the border and don't take your actual device with you. Or if you do take it with you when you cross, make sure that it is off during the entire transit.
make sure that it is off during the entire transit
I've never had them insist that I can recall, but I do remember reading, I believe in the TSA docs, that any devices are supposed to be powered on and able to be demonstrated to be working or something to that effect ... I guess to make sure it's not just a phone-shaped bomb or whatever.
They just ask you tonpiwer it on. Did it for a laptop once.
Even if they have you powered on, the fact that it's in the before-first unlock state means that the file-based encryption still holds and it cannot be unlocked with biometrics.
Only time I've ever had an "electronic" device checked like that was at an airport in Europe about 15 years ago (if memory serves me right, I think it was CDG in France). I had a DSLR with a couple extra lenses and they asked me to turn on the camera and take a picture with each lense attached. They also asked to view through the viewfinder with each.
Makes a little more sense when you consider Israel's pager bombs.
and when you consider the surveillance state. security from "terrorists" is a great excuse, up there with protecting the children.
I held on to my old phone when I last upgraded just for this reason. If I ever need to travel internationally in the next few years, that's the one that's coming with me. And as much as I'd like to bring my steam deck for travel entertainment, that's staying home too.
Tbh I'm shocked it wasn't already. Like I thought the border has been a "no rights zone" for as long as I've been alive.
it seems like this a re-affirmation of it -- guaranteeing that it'll stay in the books for the rest of our lives
Yah I thought SCOTUS ok'd that within 100 miles of a boarder.
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Seems not! Just lots of circut courts have affirmed the general idea. This is the first at an appellate court.
Regarding the 100 mile zone around the border:
and that number goes up significantly if you consider an international airport a "border"
I saw someone also mention "waterways" in another thread as being subject to this. If that means navigable rivers like the Mississippi, etc., then between coasts, land borders, airports, and waterways, it's probably most of the US.
Anyway I prefer to suck at my ellbow before visiting the US.
My personal life is pretty damn boring, but regardless, every time I fly (even domestic) I wipe my phone beforehand and only keep emergency contacts.
Registration walled. Anyone happen to have the full text?
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