US border cops told to stop copying people's files just for the hell of it With device searches at American border crossings reaching an all-time high, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) this week tightened its rules for when agents can pull data from phones and computers. The updated directive [PDF] amends the 2009 CBP border search guidelines to require that agents at least have "reasonable …
I'm not sure anything in the article or the linked PDF differentiate between USAians or Aliens.
I might be wrong, it's late and my parsing may be sub par.
But it is nice to see the quote:
"It is my view that Americans will be safer when time and resources are spent on searching people with an actual cause."
Some common sense there, maybe one day the UK will wake up to the fact that trawling everybody's data for every detail is an ideal not worth pursuing. Let me watch my pr0n in peace guys.
I'm not sure anything in the article or the linked PDF differentiate between USAians or Aliens.
The language. Read carefully. Whenever CBP or any american authority refers to civil liberties it is strictly cittizens and sometimes (after they have been beaten with the lawyer stick) permanent residents. Everyone else is a subhuman who has no rights.
"nowhere on earth does any 'foreigner' approach even the rights+status of 'second-class citizen'"
you may want to re-check that claim, I'm quite sure that Americans on EU soil have more rights then they do on US soil, they only can't vote, every other law doesn't differentiate between alien and autochthons in EU
but I stand by what I wrote ... "Everyone else is a subhuman who has no rights." ... sorry, but this is the truth - nowhere on earth does any 'foreigner' approach even the rights+status of 'second-class citizen' ... we get used to it"
and if you don't believe it, you should try experiencing the wider world as a worker / resident and not just on holiday ... having said that, even the life of a poor foreigner is better than for some of the much poorer locals, and then there's the advantages of no Brexit too ...
"Clearly you are not familiar with the middle east...", no, thank goodness - I hear they treat 'foreigners' really badly there .... (women reporting rape, for instance)
I can't help feeling some of the down-voters misread me, somehow ... half the posters in this thread seem to agree with me, maybe those down-voters need to get out more ...
Yeah - the half that agree with you are probably expats, (I certainly do, as a British Expat myself) the downvoters are probably Europeans who think that their own countries treat foreigners with the same respect & rights that EU citizens get, just because they heard about a Cleric in the mail who wasn't deported as he'd face the death penalty. How little they actually know...
The man on the street might respect you if you're "forrin", but government bureaucrats (the ones who define said "rights") go out of their way to make life as difficult as possible and will treat forrin types like chewing gum stuck to their shoe, regardless of where you are in the world. The only exception to that rule that I've personally experienced (living in 4 different countries in the last 6 years) is Singapore, where the government seem to like foreigners. Or maybe because chewing gum is banned, they don't know how to treat them 'properly.' Regardless, a Singaporean Citizen has more rights than a foreigner so your point still stands...
Rule 1 of being a foreigner - the answer to the question of "how do you like it here?" is "Love it, best place in the world." (and that includes the slums in downtown Mogadishu)
Rule 2 is any time a bureaucrat asks, you bend over if you need to remain in said country for any reason whatsoever.
Anon because this is a banned opinion and I could be deported for voicing dissent. Luckily I'm behind a VPN and over 12 proxies, and not in a 5-eyes country. And besides the place I live is a lovely place, best place in the world*.
Thank you, Sir ! If I could upvote you more than once, I certainly would ...
"Rule 1 of being a foreigner - the answer to the question of "how do you like it here?" is "Love it, best place in the world." (and that includes the slums in downtown Mogadishu)
"Rule 2 is any time a bureaucrat asks, you bend over if you need to remain in said country for any reason whatsoever.
"Anon because this is a banned opinion and I could be deported for voicing dissent. Luckily I'm behind a VPN and over 12 proxies, and not in a 5-eyes country. And besides the place I live is a lovely place, best place in the world*."
Couldn't have put it better myself ....
There was a supreme court case on that. US constitutional rights apply to everyone in the US according to the supreme court. Of course the CBP argues that it doesn't apply to non-citizens at airports because they haven't actually been allowed into the US yet and nobody's challenged that in court yet.
While it is not as obvious as it might be if you follow the media, the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution does not limit itself to US "citizens." The BoR limits are placed on the government, asserting certain behaviours that the government, democratic or not, is not allowed to indulge in: limiting freedom of speech, denying the right to self defense, unreasonable searches and seizures, questioning to deliberately incriminate, ... Constutitionally, those rights are independent of citizenship. The constitution does have things to say about citizen's duties and rights, but those things are not in the BoR. However, CBP actions and other chunks of the government do tend to ignore constitutional rights and the courts schizoid views do not necessarily clarify things.
Some common sense there, maybe one day the WORLD will wake up to the fact that trawling everybody's data for every detail is an ideal not worth pursuing.
There fixed it for you.
The statement above is the opposite to the SOP for the likes of Google, Faecebook, Amazon and the rest.
They pride themselves in knowing more about each and everyone of us than we can remember about ourselves. They naturally sell that information to the highest bidder. F**k the lot of you is all I can say.
The data that the US Border copy from us goes where exactly? To some vast computer system in Langley?
Some common sense there, maybe one day the WORLD will wake up to the fact that trawling everybody's data for every detail is an ideal not worth pursuing.
It won't achieve the stated objective of protecting us from terrorists. But that's only the story used to sell it to us.
What it will achieve (and this was always its true purpose) is to ferret out any signs of internal dissent, allowing it to be quashed. It works very well for that. The Stasi (back when it existed) could only have dreamed of the day when everyone would carry around their own surveillance devices, voluntarily. Of course, the Stasi were quite open about surveilling people to pick up signs of dissent (obviously caused by mental illness, which had to be rooted out for the individual's own good) whereas our governments have to invent stories about protecting us from paedo-terrorists.
What the world has to wake up to is why these cunts really want full access to our phones and computers. Maybe it's not too late for at least a few countries to avoid letting their governments do this, and the rest will just have to learn to conduct their lives more carefully.
"Some common sense there, maybe one day the WORLD will wake up to the fact that trawling everybody's data for every detail is an ideal not worth pursuing."
Trawling everybody's data? Quick check on statistics indicatre number of people visiting US annual is ~70 milliion with info here saying number of devices searched increasing from 20,000 to 30,000 - so tha's an increase from 1 person in every 8 or 9 747s to 1 in every 5 or 6 747s (possibly less as I'd expect its likel that a proportion of these will be multiple devices - e.g. phone and laptop - from same person). So its a 50% increase but nowhere near "everybody"
Actually, at all borders non-citizens have very limited rights before entry into any country. As a non-citizen of Canada and the UK, they can put just about any rules they want on me (US citizen) prior to entry and there is very little I can say about it. This is mitigated by treaties and the fact excessive jackassery will provoke a retaliation.
Also, citizens reentering have to declare what they are bringing back and are subject to search if the agent gets suspicious. One time, when I was young, I was go through US customs in JFK and the person immediately before me was nailed for trying to smuggle chocolates into the US. All I had to do was answer a few questions and I was waived through.
Ahhh, yes, the classic trick question US border put into your declaration: answering yes or no:
are you a terrorist?
are you a former nazi?
have you ever plotted to overthrow a democratic government?
are you bringing in firearms, explosives or communist material?
do you hate America?
are you bringing any foodstuffs into the US?
Guess how many jet-lagged foreginers running for 36 hours with no sleep don't spot that last one is often a "yes?"
They mean it too about the foodstuffs. One of their sniffer dogs had obviously never encountered quorn salad sandwiches before and went quite crazy on my bag. No harm done in the end though, apart from getting the brown stains out.
@ a_yank_lurker
Given what passes for chocolate in the US, I could see why someone might smuggle in some proper choc.
...Sadly the US chocolate blight has now reached the UK with Cadburys (UK biggest mass purveyor of cheap & cheerful low quality chocolate) now part of Mondelez and quality has dropped massively - quite an achievement given the very low level it started from
In all fairness, there is plenty of top quality, real chocolate available in the US. You're just not going to get it from national names such as Hershey's. It's made by small regional chocolatiers and it isn't cheap. This, by the way, is the same as the situation with American beer.
they don't consort with ferrinners. Any trustworthy American would never leave the country except to invade, I mean liberate a future ally. Traveling Americans must be investigated for the security of the republic. Non Russian ferrinners must not have any privacy.
tightened its rules for when agents can pull data from phones and computers.
Translation: We're running out HDD disk space. So stop copying those porn, OK.
Americans will be safer when time and resources are spent on searching people with an actual cause.
CBP: Hey, you with a rag around your head. Yes, you. Come over here to be searched.
Donald Trump: I have a bandage around my head, you moron.
I've just turned down a lucrative senior job over in the US, it's just too dodgy and I don't trust the US authorities.
I can just picture myself trying to get through customs without a smartphone/computer/ social media accounts etc. I'd probably never see the light of day again.
I don't even know why they bother, nobody is going to be stupid enough to enter America with anything incriminating anyway, at least not what they claim to be looking for.
"reasonable suspicion" can be translated as not white or foreign.
I suppose it's a step in the right direction though.
This post has been deleted by its author
Not malware as such, but if you could install a compressed file overlay on the device (or a special device file that algorithmically generates huge pseudo-random files), you could create a file that expands to hundreds, if not thousands of times the on-disk representation. Sprinkle hard-links to the same file around the disk and watch as either the target device runs out of memory for the copy or the copy time becomes a practical problem for the inspectors.
If you had very descriptive names of random number data. Put in a directory/folder labeled "encrypted".
I really don't want to try this though. I like being "free". I leave it to those who are suitably endowed with lawyer like skills on tap, as well as time to spare.
With Cloud services, what is to stop a traveller from wiping their device before travelling and then restoring it from cloud backups once through Customs (e.g. iCloud)?
Size of backup MIGHT be a limiting factor, but anyone who really has anything to hide would not be picked up by this sort of check.
Or just create a dummy user account and make your main account hidden. This is easier on some phones than others. Samsung locks their phone down pretty hard and needs 3rd party apps to do it, while Sony stays quite close to the original OS and can do it through settings.
42.zip is small ZIP compressed files that only takes up a few KB of space when compressed but when you uncompress it, it inflates to petabytes worth of data and usually causes the system to crash or grind to a halt while it tries to scan it.
A copy of that on your hard drive should cause them a bit of a headache, just make sure your AV is set not to scan them or your own PC will suffer when your AV tries to check inside the archive.
It use to be Police needed probable cause to search your car. Then it became reasonable suspicion. Now they just ask you a few questions and say you seem nervous and that is reasonable suspicion. If you don't answer the questions then they say you are evasive and search your car anyway. I see the same thing here.
AFAIK, the reasons for car searches in the US were widened a lot in the '20s (or '30s) of the last century because of gangsters and alcohol smuggling. A century later, they are still in effect...
The problem is that when you give law enforcement agencies such privileges, it's very hard to get them back.
I thought they just arrested you, which allows for "Hot Pursuit" statutes to kick in allowing them to search the car you were driving/the residence you were in pursuant to the arrest. And if they find anything interesting, they secure it while someone else gets the search warrant just to be safe.
It would be interesting to know how often inspected devices actually turns anything up? Personally I always travel with a clean laptop and a burner phone - although I'm more concerned with theft and accidental damage than the CBP.
If you have a mind to meddle in anything that might raise flags it would be much better stored on a server somewhere else and just accessed when necessary via public Wi-Fi. So essentially the only people CBP are likely to catch in their net are amateurs.
This isn't about catching anyone. This is about fear of and control by an authoritarian state.
Look at how people are now willing to accept that the US govt can pass non-constitutional laws if they apply to non-citizens or outside of the borders. As a poster above pointed out probable cause becomes reasonable suspicion. Then it becomes a hunch followed by whatever the officer feels like stealing under local forfeiture conventions. All the while in the land of the over medicated anyone opposing this becomes a conspiracy theorist. A population already conditioned to live in its own faeces with the UK and Oz half a step behind. You have got to admire the social engineering that has gone into this.
Having had the pleasure of trying to get into the US from the UK recently and being subject to a "You have been randomly selected for a bag search" everything about CBP working practices is a joke.
They are totally paranoid about drugs being brought in yet at the point of searching you are at the mercy of multiple belligerent jobs-worth type throwing their weight around. I had to watch my stuff being rummaged through and swabbed by an official who had not changed his gloves from the previous search as a minimum and dump stuff onto a filthy working area.
How the hell you are supposed to then get out of that if a swab comes up positive I don't know. As with any US officialdom the wisest option is to just do what the ask (order) and try not to piss them off any more, bearing in mind that the starting point appears to be pissed off with everyone.
It's pretty easy to detect tampering (including just powering up the machine). But, honestly, I do trust the shipper and customs to avoid being very invasive without good cause (and neither have given me any cause to think differently). I certainly don't trust the border cops to act the same way.
I disagree. The problem comes from up top, so it's going to affect all aspects of the bureau. Plus, drug shipping's still relatively fresh on their minds, so cargo entries tend to get scrutinized just as if not more thoroughly than people. At least cargo can be put through scanners similar to those used for checked baggage.
Put it this way. If it's coming into the country, regardless of the legitimate means, customs is going to want a look. Might as well have it on your person so it stays under your eye for as long as possible.
will of course automatically take steps to protect the integrity of their important data. Just as we always ensure our data always exists in at least three separate locations, so we ensure that should we 'lose control' of the device we are currently depending on for access to our data, either temporarily or permanently, that our data remains uncompromised.
Performance below this basic standard, whilst perfectly understandable, is naive and is to be pitied.
IOW, given the reality of the world why would anyone in their right mind assume that their data is 'safe' when crossing national boundaries, entering foreign jurisdictions, and is in any way exposed to parties beyond the control of the data's 'owner' - at home or abroad?
In France, at one point, they defined "border" to include anywhere within a certain distance of an international airport, allowing goon squads officially designated as "customs" to kidnap people when they unwittingly came within the requisite distance from an airport. Have the US officials caught onto this ruse yet?
Nobody is opposed to the US protecting itself, and nobody is saying that the US doesn't have the right to. But this particular action, like so much of what the DHS does, is not really about protecting the US. Or, if it is, then it's simply idiotic, since it does nothing to protect anything.
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