Along with lawlessly abducting international students and resisting court orders to return a Maryland man mistakenly shipped off to an El Salvador prison, the Trump administration has also unleashed a surge in phone searches for anyone traveling into the country. And by "anyone," that includes U.S. citizens.
For example, in early April, Customs and Border Protection officers detained an American lawyer in Detroit and "demanded to see his mobile phone," reports Tampa Bay Times, "presumably because he represented a University of Michigan student who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest on campus." And this authoritarian overreach is just one of too many recent examples of baseless border searches into travelers' personal data under the guise of "security."
But there are ways to block Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents from your personal data, as Wired explains in todays article, "How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border."
For example, either travel with an alternate phone, or "modify your primary smartphone before travel," writers Lily Hay Newman and Matt Burgess explain, describing both of these options in detail.
Other tips include bringing a paper boarding pass and removing apps you don't need. And finally, if you're a U.S. citizen, you can ignore Wired's advice and deny the search (at least for now) — just realize that will allow border goons to detain and interrogate you. And if you go this route, the writers still strongly suggest you "make sure to disable biometrics used to unlock your device, like face or fingerprint scanners," and "use only a PIN or an alphanumeric code (if available on your device)."
Welcome to Trump 2.0.
From Wired:
There are two ways to approach device privacy for border crossings. One is to start with a clean slate, purchasing a phone for the purpose of traveling or wiping and repurposing your old phone—if it still receives software updates.
The device doesn't need to be a true "burner" phone …The idea, though, is to build a sanitized version of your digital life on the travel phone, ideally with separate communication and social media accounts created specifically for travel. …
The other approach you can take to protecting your device during border crossings is to modify your primary smartphone before travel. This involves removing old photos and messages and storing them somewhere else, cleaning out nonessential apps, and either removing some apps altogether or logging out of them with your main accounts and logging back in with travel accounts.
Mohammed Al-Maskati, digital security helpline director at the rights group Access Now, says that people should consider this type of clean-out before they travel. "I will look at my device and see what apps I need," he says. "If I don't need the app, I just remove it."
Previously: Oops. DHS orders American lawyer to self-deport: "It's time for you to leave"
