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

411 points · 378 comments · rbanffy

  1. Tangurena2 · · 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

    There are 33 days remaining until election day. Vote out all the incumbents.

    1. geye1234 · · focus · HN ↗
      Do border guards in most countries require a warrant to search you? Rhetorical question.

      In the UK, HMRC can search your house without a warrant if they have 'reasonable suspicion' that goods that are 'liable to forfeiture' are likely to be moved or destroyed. See Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, section 161. Anything seized can be used against you in court. In 2014, HMRC described this power as 'frequently used'.[0] CBP doesn't have that power and it's unthinkable they'd be given it.

      Why is the far more limited CBP power (which it shares with almost every border force in the world) mentioned here every 2 weeks or so, while HMRC's very broad power to search your house is ignored?

      [0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;assets.publishing.service.gov.uk&#x2F;media&#x2F;5a7e1bbae5274a2e87daf98e&#x2F;HMRC_Powers_of_Entry_Review_Report__Final_-_Nov_2014.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;assets.publishing.service.gov.uk&#x2F;media&#x2F;5a7e1bbae5274...

      1. gib444 · · focus · HN ↗
        Yup. In the UK you can be arrested for almost anything, have silence used against you, subject to warrant-less search of your home, compelled to decrypt devices, stopped in your vehicle for any reason etc. They have an angle for everything. Our legal system has accumulated a ton of narrowly defined powers

        But then again we don&#x27;t fear police and ICE shooting us dead and our government wasn&#x27;t subject to a coup in 2021, so there is that. Swings and roundabouts

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