How to Keep ICE Agents Out of Your Devices at Airports

mothballed

I treat all items on an international trip as disposable. Been robbed by thieves, police (Mexico lol), and brutalized by US CBP enough to know it's not worth it to try and take anything across borders besides the shirt on your back. Anything carried is a liability for them to claim you filled some customs form wrong or to fake a drug dog hit on it.

righthand

Burner phones for all! Defund, disband, destroy DHS, ICE, CBP, TSA.

seethishat

Don't carry them with you. I'm old and I can tell you from experience... you can live life without holding a cellphone all the time. It's not as hard as you think.

zouhair

Don't go to America is the best alternative.

comrade1234

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement have already started targeting travelers, with agents in plain clothes forcefully detaining a mother in front of her young daughter at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday after a tip from the Transportation Security Administration." I don't think the tsa is at sfo. They use a private contractor for tsa functions. Is the quote made-up?

chasil

https://archive.ph/4U0YX

nequals30

For Linux users, you could try disabling the desktop environment when going through the airport (or using termux-launcher on your phone). It'd be fun to see how they'd handle a CLI. Might result in getting detained, though.

nine_k

The usual fare: log out, disable biometrics, use long pins and passwords, power off. Prefer a burner device, or clean your device and restore when you arrive. I remember how Google's internal guidelines for travel circa 2011 required to remove any material under NDA from your laptop when traveling to China or Russia; you had to restore it over the VPN after a safe arrival. Funny that now the same precautions apply to the US :((

chasil

Apple devices allow biometrics to be disabled for unlocking the phone. They are still active for accessing anything in the wallet, however.

g947o

Airlines like Alaska Airlines make it very difficult to board a plane without a phone. It's still possible, but you need to prepare early and get your boarding pass printed at home, provided that you have a printer, apparently.

Sophira

Additionally: If you have adb access turned on, turn it off before travelling!

novaRom

Another method many don't know is to have 2 synchronized phones while traveling, so if one is out of you, you still have full control. Enable self-destruction mode caused by a special unlock PIN on each of them.

charles_f

It's an interesting state that you can force someone to unlock their phone with biometrics, but you can't force them to reveal a pin. Anecdotally, I have been to the US a few times in the past year, and seen no change myself - where are you going and why? Thanks have a good trip. It was for short business trips, and I'm white with a number of documented entries/departures, so my experience might be very different from the next person though.

abc123abc123

Ditch the phone. The liability, tracking and mental health problems created due to modern phones has made owning one unsustainable. Email works, at worst, voip providers exist. Do you need a map? Print one. Do you need directions? Ask someone. Does the restaurant only offer app or qr, ask someone, or go somewhere else. I have never encountered a phone-related problem that could not be solved with: 1. A print out. 2. Asking someone. 3. Using your web browser on your computer. 4. Using some kind of voip if audio communication is needed. Yes, it is not as convenient as the surveillance and privacy nightmares of today, but if your life is only about convenience, then send your money to the government, and let them just decide for you how much money you need, and you don't even have to think about that. A minor inconvenience is a price well paid for freedom from surveillance and excellent mental health. The ones who complain about inconvenience don't really care about privacy, democracy and freedom, so should not complain when these things are attacked.

gos9

iPhone: clicking power button five times in quick succession locks down to password access only.

anotherevan

"Unlock your phone." "No, I don't have to." Detained in a room for twelve hours. "Okay, okay, here's my phone."