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Border agents can search cellphones without a warrant or reasonable suspicion

235 points · 198 comments · mmh0000

  1. ramesh31 · · focus · HN ↗
    The best time to delete all social media accounts and never post anything online with your name attached ever again was 10 years ago. The second best time is right now. This stuff can and will be used against you out of context 10, 20, 30 years into the future.
    1. derwiki · · focus · HN ↗
      Completely agree.

      Does HN comply with CCPA requests?

    2. jjbinx007 · · focus · HN ↗
      Also consider the fact that if someone else makes accounts in your name (whether maliciously or simply because they share the same name) I imagine this could be used against you.
      1. esikich · · focus · HN ↗
        This has happened to multiple people I know who have deleted a Facebook account. Shortly after, a fake account with their picture and info popped up. I wonder if there are bots scanning for this waiting for people to delete accounts.
        1. calamari7063 · · focus · HN ↗
          I have a facebook extension that alerts when a friend vanishes from my friend list. It does a lot of other stuff too, like remove ads etc. But that's one of its features and it's super easy to detect apparently. Facebook doesn't notify you for obvious reasons, but if you simply maintain a list of friends between visits it's easy.
    3. LeBit · · focus · HN ↗
      I always thought it was bold for people to post anything using their real identity.

      You never know if a stance you have now will be frowned upon in 5 or 10 years from now.

      I’ve heard you can’t pass customs with a phone without your social network accounts.

      1. derwiki · · focus · HN ↗
        Maybe not all customs are created equally, but flying between Toronto and the states I have never had to show my phone let alone my social accounts. Also never seen that going up through customs.
        1. kmoser · · focus · HN ↗
          Sometimes people get searched randomly, and occasionally it correlates to their skin color.
      2. mywittyname · · focus · HN ↗
        You don't need to post under your real name to be IDed.

        It's trivial to acquire a list of real people tied to email addresses, phones, social media. And that's what's out there for "normal" businesses.

        Who knows what kind of tooling is available to people who serve on the boards of tech giants?

    4. chorizo · · focus · HN ↗
      I haven’t done that since around 2012. But it’s rough since you get cut off from family and friends who exclusively use social media to stay in touch. Because I don’t use Instagram or fb, there are so many local events and opportunities I keep missing out on.
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