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Second Circuit allows government to search electronic devices at the border

131 points · 79 comments · HotGarbage

  1. k310 · · focus · HN ↗
    Everyone please read Surveillance Self Defense from EFF [0]

    My advice, take a burner phone to the airport (and elsewhere?), and since devices are subject to warrantless search anywhere and everywhere, via exceptions to the fourth amendment [1] (the constitution seems designed to be bent or outright ignored), keep your data at home and encrypted. The "cloud" is a government data supermarket.

    For example.

    > While the Fourth Amendment is the foundation, federal and state laws can add layers of complexity. For example, the Patriot Act expanded the government's ability to conduct surveillance and searches, particularly in national security cases, sometimes with a lower burden of proof than traditional criminal investigations.

    MUCH lower.

    [0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ssd.eff.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ssd.eff.org&#x2F;

    [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;uslawexplained.com&#x2F;warrantless_search" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;uslawexplained.com&#x2F;warrantless_search

    1. FuriouslyAdrift · · focus · HN ↗
      When I travel internationally, I do not take any electronics with me.

      If I need a cell phone, laptop, etc., then I will buy or rent something cheap at the destination.

      I got into the habit while traveling back and forth the mainland China as it was our corporate policy (and we never brought any electronics back, either).

      1. alyeska2 · · focus · HN ↗
        I tried that once.

        Then when I tried to log in to my Gmail account at my destination, it flagged it as a suspicious login attempt and wouldn&#x27;t let me in without entering a code they texted to my American phone number, which meant I was locked out of my email for the duration of the trip.

        Plus travel day realities often require your phone and accounts - plane tickets, Uber&#x2F;Lyft, hotel reservations or updates from Airbnb with check-in instructions, door codes, etc.

        It&#x27;s a tremendous challenge and hassle for any regular person. We really just need to push back on the government overreach. It&#x27;s tragic that half of the Trump voters proclaim to be &quot;small government&quot; and &quot;Don&#x27;t tread on me&quot; but then tolerate things like this. There&#x27;s certainly a bipartisan group of people opposed that are large enough to effect change if we work together.

        1. alexgieg · · focus · HN ↗
          It isn&#x27;t that they tolerate it, it simply doesn&#x27;t affect them, so they don&#x27;t care. Besides, it affects many they dislike, so that&#x27;s always a bonus.

          Remember, when ultra-partisans, of most political ideologies, demand rights and freedoms, there&#x27;s almost always an implied &quot;for me and mine&quot; in there. Exceptions to this are extraordinarily rare, even more so nowadays.

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