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Returning from vacation? The government can search your phone without a warrant

411 points · 378 comments · rbanffy

Tangurena2 · 1790856629 · focus · HN ↗
> “In [Fiscal Year] 2025, out of the over 419 million travelers CBP processed at ports of entry, CBP only searched the electronic devices of 55,318 international travelers,” the agency wrote, or 0.0013%.
The harassment is targeted at critics & opponents of the current regime. The message is very clear: Be afraid of us. Be very afraid
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1. petcat · 1790857424 · focus · HN ↗
  I will be curious to see statistics from past years. I'm wondering if this is a new thing. I'm pretty sure US customs and border patrol have always had this power. I think basically every country exercises this power
  1. franga2000 · 1790862024 · focus · HN ↗
    I've been hearing about the US searching phones for many years, but not a single time for any other (non-dictatorship) country. The advice for travelling to the US in my circles is "wipe your device, install some believable bullshit, restore from backup when you're through". Not for any other "normal" country.
    machomaster · 1790863673 · focus · HN ↗
    37signals has been having border crossing guidance at least since 2020. <a href="https://github.com/kspr9/basecamp-37signals-handbook/blob/master/international-travel-guide.md" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/kspr9/basecamp-37signals-handbook/blob/ma...
    The USA is definitely not thevonly one. Great Britain has also an extensive history of tyranical privacy-violating border crossing.
    As is Israel and Russia.
    The point is, the deeper you look, the better you understand how wide-spread the practice is.
    usrbinbash · 1790868956 · focus · HN ↗
    > The advice for travelling to the US in my circles is
    There's a much simpler advice:
    "Don't."

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