I’ll be making two trips to Canada next month, and I’ve heard stories about government officials at borders demanding to search, and sometimes even download, the content of travelers’ phones or computers.
Is this something I need to be concerned about? I’m a U. S. citizen, no criminal record, 64 years old, white, and I have a Global Entry card and TSA Pre-Check.
I’ve read that some people, before crossing a border, will back their devices up and then do a factory reset. Does this work? ISTM that really suspicious officials would recognize this tactic and might demand you do the restore in front of them. Can they tell, and can they force you to do this?
I presume I should be more concerned about U. S. officials than Canadian?
I realize this sounds paranoid, and I probably have nothing to worry about. I have nothing to hide on my devices, no terrorist plots or criminal activity or even porn. But in the current political climate paranoia often seems justified.
I can’t imagine any law that would allow them to detain you for that reason (i.e., suspected factory reset of phone) or that would allow them to demand you re-install in front of them. Just deny you ever backed it up, and claim you like to factory reset your phone from time to time to delete malware. Deny deny deny. They can’t detain you.
Yeah, the stats seem to be in my favor: hundreds of millions of people entering each year, and “only” tens of thousands (but growing) having their devices searched.
I’m not a lawyer, activist, or political figure, who might spark the government’s interest (according to the ACLU), but I am a journalist covering a small niche business with no overt political overtones. My job title of “editor/publisher” is probably on record somewhere and could conceivably raise questions.
I have no secret data or sources to protect, and I’d prefer not to be detained and possibly miss a flight home. But I’d also hate the idea of giving up all my privacy to the government.
You are a old, white US citizen with Global Entry. They will just do a cursory look at the receipt that the Global Entry kiosk gives you and send you on your way.
Eight or so years ago my brother was returning to the US after a trip to Turkey. He texted me when his plane touched down, telling me he was going to shut off his phone since he had to go through Immigration/Customs. I quickly replied, “JIHAD JIHAD JIHAD!”.
Nothing happened, but he was mildly annoyed by my behavior.
I would advise against lying to border officers. You can say nothing (and probably should) but I bet lying is a crime of some sort.
I don’t see a problem with saying “I wiped my laptop computer clean because I value my privacy. Everything I need is on my desktop at my office, which isn’t crossing any borders.”
Follow whatever direction they give you and FFS relax. You are a middle aged white guy. The “extra screening” is not for you. Unless you have been randomly selected to be one of the few white skinned fellows to accompany us swarthy complexioned bunch in being checked, so they can avoid claims of discrimination, in which case, yeah it’ll suck, but will consist mostly of sitting around for 20-30 minutes, and then a couple of minutes of questions from an uncomfortable and apologetic secondary screener.
I’m a late-middle-aged white guy, and I’ve crossed the US/Canada border many times over the last few years, with my laptop and my cellphone. Neither set of authorities has cared to check my technology, or even asked about it.
What are you saying doesn’t “legitimately happen”? Because it’s not just one anonymous web poster. The government’s own reports state that tens of thousands of people have been had their devices searched at the border, and many have been detained and missed their flights for refusing to unlock them. Here are more reports:
The government asserts the right not only to examine the device, but to copy it or even keep it for more thorough “forensic” examination. There are numerous reports of reporters and people with foreign names being detained for examination of their devices. And the numbers are increasing under Trump.
The percentages are low, but as I mentioned, I am a professional journalist (although about as far you can get from the Woodward and Bernstein model) and therefore potentially more of a target than the average person. And this will be the first time I cross an international border since November 2016. I will probably trust in my white privilege and not take any extreme measures, but I don’t think I have zero cause for concern.
If you were so concerned about them seeing something on your phone that you’d consider doing a factory reset and then restoring it, I think you’d be better off just using Fedex Overnight and sending it the day before. Then you wouldn’t even have a phone to search.
Also, and I don’t know how this holds up in a situation like this, but I heard someone mentioning that people going to protests in places they know they’re likely to be arrested should remove any biometric security from their phone. The idea being that you can remain silent and not give up your password, but it would be trivial for them to force you to touch or look at the screen.