Know your rights, but also minimize your risk.
  • normalexit@lemmy.world
    17·
    27 days ago

    Get a burner. Browse some boring content with it: few business websites, maybe some sports scores, maybe snap some photos of landscapes and dogs on the camera roll.

    Then you have a functional phone and piece of mind. Making the phone feel “lived in” probably isn’t all that important, but I think it’d be easier to explain than a factory stock pay as you go phone.

    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      27 days ago

      I’ve had colleagues just play the “I don’t fucking care if you’re sending me back because my papers have a spelling mistake, this is just a business trip” method when US customs/immigration starts acting up. Not sure I’d have the balls to do that now that the US is sending people to KZ camp light for pretty much nothing.

  • krashmo@lemmy.world
    16·
    27 days ago

    I don’t have time to read this currently but I will try to later. In the meantime, does anyone know how they are coercing access to these devices? I’ve done a fair amount of international travel and no one has ever asked about any of my devices, much less attempted to gain access to them. It’s my understanding that if you refuse them there’s no legal reason they could refuse you entry.

    Obviously, legality is of less concern to this administration but these people should have legal recourse, at least until the facade of civility is completely cast aside.

  • ReverendIrreverence@lemmy.mlEnglish
    14·
    26 days ago

    I carry a second phone with nothing on it but pictures taken with my “real” phone and some GPS/Travel apps to look “legit.” Some might think it a bit of a PITA but I bulk edit the EXIF data of photos to say they were taken with the “decoy” phone before transferring them over. Granted, I only cross the border between US/Canada and US/Mexico and turn off and hide my “real” phone before entering the border queue. It has only been an issue once and they took the decoy away for all of 15 minutes while I waited in my truck and then brought it back and said “Thank you for your cooperation, have a nice day” and then I immediately factory reset then wiped it again and installed LineageOS to clear any spyware they might have put on it.

    • Ferk@lemmy.ml
      4·
      26 days ago

      Thanks. I wasn’t planning to go there anyway…

      It’s annoying how the title throws such a general open question and then they don’t clarify this at all… there isn’t even a single match for “USA” or “America” in the whole article, you have to sort of guess.

  • ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml
    111·
    27 days ago

    This won’t stop the cops from hacking into your phone with celebrite, but android has a feature called lockdown mode that will disable facial recognition, fingerprints, and voice ID until your phone is unlocked via PIN. I need to unlock my phone quickly throughout the day, so I use fingerprint - but I use lockdown if I get pulled over or am going through security, etc. It isn’t perfect, but it’s better (for me) than having to enter a long PIN every time I need to unlock my phone.

    Once you enable it in settings, you can take your phone to the power off/restart menu and enable lockdown.

    Using Tasker, you could probably disable quick unlock when outside of your house, etc.

    • AtariDump@lemmy.world
      7·
      27 days ago

      iOS has the same thing; press the lock button 5 times to disable biometrics.

      You can also ask “Hey Siri, whose phone is this!”

      You can also press and hold the lock and volume up buttons like you’re going to power off the phone.

      Out of the three, IMHO, the five click of the lock button is the easiest.

  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    27 days ago

    I was concerned about this while crossing the border from mexico this past weekend and pleased that they didn’t even ask any questions just to see passport then through.

  • uxellodunum@lemmy.mlEnglish
    52·
    26 days ago

    Use GrapheneOS and switch to PIN authentication didabling fingerprint auth, especially when travelling abroad.

    • Alas Poor Erinaceus@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      5·
      26 days ago

      If I had a phone set up like that, and, say, ICE or TSA took it, what would they be able to get from it? And I know that legally they can’t make you give up your PIN, but what’s to keep them from just beating it out of you? Cops of any stripe rarely if ever face consequences for their actions, especially in the US.

    • jacksilver@lemmy.world
      4·
      26 days ago

      I’ve seen this a lot recently. This isn’t about what police can do, it’s about border crossings. You can be required to unlock your device when entering the country or be denied entry (or possibly worse).

      The best route is to have a phone specifically for travel.