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

411 points · 378 comments · rbanffy

  1. TrackerFF · · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah, people are unfortunately not informed on just how much power border agents wield. Not only in the US, but in many (most I'd believe) other countries, too. I've worked on cases (intel side) where the law-enforcement side would just wait for the surveillance objects to cross the border, as that's where they could do most data collection with the least hassle.

    If for whatever reason you think you're being investigated or surveilled (who knows for what these days, could be enough to just associate with the various protest groups / orgs), you can just assume that the border will be where they'll try to clone / download your data (phones, laptops, whatever)

    1. kypro · · focus · HN ↗
      UK is crazy for this. Border police can detain anyone they like for literally no reason and if they do you have no right to lawyer or no right to silence. Your devices can also be taken and you must hand over any passwords.

      I know the UK is an authoritarian state and not really comparable to the US, but as a Brit it's kinda weird hearing Americans complain about flock cameras and arbitrary border searches – these are common place things in the UK and no one cares (well, apart from me and maybe one or two others).

      1. stronglikedan · · focus · HN ↗
        > Americans complain about flock cameras and arbitrary border searches – these are common place things in the UK

        We complain about those things because we can clearly see that "the UK is an authoritarian state" because they are common place in the UK.

        > no one cares

        More like people pretend to not care for fear of being locked up for seemly arbitrary reasons, which seems to happen quite a lot over there based on the news reports, because "the UK is an authoritarian state".

        1. someonebaggy · · focus · HN ↗
          It's not illegal in the UK to say you don't like the cameras everywhere. But if you ask UK people, they seem to actually like them. It's a different culture I guess.
          1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

            [deleted]

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