By Kelvin Chan, AP business writer
London (AP) – planning an international trip? Travelers must prepare for the possibility of additional scrutiny of their phones when crossing borders, especially when they enter the United States.
The Canadian government warned travelers in a recent travel warning that the border agents of the United States have the right to search their electronic devices and “do not need to provide a reason when requesting a password to open their device.”
Some recent cases have made travelers nervous about their privacy, as a professor at Brown University with an American visa he was deported to Lebanon after the border agents found a photo of Hezbollah’s leader on his phone.
“While 100% privacy can be impossible in these situations, there are some things that can easily do that they make it much more difficult for someone to see their private data even with physical access to their device,” said Patricia Egger, Security Director of Service Proton Mail.
Here are tips to protect the privacy of your device while traveling:
What should I do before leaving?
Experts say that the best strategy is to reduce the amount of information it carries while traveling.
If possible, leave your phone at home. If you need one on your trip, ask a tactic used by corporate executives who seek to avoid hackers: get a temporary or “burner” device. You can contain only the information you need for your trip. Download anything else from the cloud when you need it.
If you have to carry your portable phone or computer, load confidential information to a cloud storage service that uses end -to -end encryption, then remove the originals from your device.
In addition, the storage unit of your telephone or laptop and protect it with a safe password. Keep in mind that this is different from having a single blocking of access code, which is fierce more easily or end -to -end encryption on its favorite communication platforms.
Turn off the functions of fingerprints or facial recognition and use the pin or password code.
What child or search will be on borders?
There are two types of searches, according to the US Customs and Protection website. UU.
In a basic search, an officer moves through the photos, emails, applications and files of his phone. You don’t need to suspect irregularities to perform this type of search.
In an advanced search, the content of your device could be copied for analysis. But a senior manager must sign and there must be a “reasonable suspicion” or a legal violation, wait if there is any concern for national security, chordination to electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Who is at risk of being registered and what are they looking for?
“It’s hard to say,” says Sophia Cope, EFF senior personnel lawyer, who sacrifices an extensive online guide of border privacy. Arrest orders are not needed to inspect devices that belong to anyone entering the country.
Customs agents and border protection of the USA. UU. They made a total of more than 47,000 searches for electronic devices last year, more than a decade ago.
Basic searches “can be without any reason, totally random or based on a simple hnech about anyone, perhaps depending on whether they seem or an answer, they face a preliminary question,” Cope said.
Travel history can also be relevant, for example, if a traveler originates from somewhere where terrorism, drug trafficking or child sex tourism is common, he said. Border agents can also look for devices “in the BEEST” of other agencies such as the FBI or if they are associated with some other place of interest, such as the source of a journalist, a commercial partner or a family member.
What should I do when I get to the border?
The best thing is to turn off your devices when it lands.
According to the current policy, US border agents can only look at the information stored on the device, and not nothing in the cloud. So, if you have to leave your phone on, make sure it stays on the plane or disconnect from the Internet by Wi-Fi or cellular data.
“Before crossing the edge, place your airplane mode device to ensure that remote files are not accidentally discharged,” warns the Canadian government.
But keep in mind that there may be data stored in cache that are still on your phone, such as archives in the garbage that have been emptied.
What happens if I refuse?
American citizens can be denied entry to the United States for refusing to consent to device searches. The same should be applied to permanent legal residents, such as green card holders, says the American Union of Civil Libertads.
But agents can hinder things if they are rejected. Travelers could be interrogated, temporarily detained or that their devices are seized and not return for days or even week, the rights groups say.
Foreign travelers could be returned if they say no.
If you are forced to unlock your device, Egger advises that “where you can, log in instead of disseminating any pin or password, and if you are forced to share passwords, change them as soon as I can.”
Experts say that the reason you should not use the digital footprint of your device or the facial recognition function is that it is easy to force it to unlock your device with biometry. A border agent could simply keep his phone to his face, force him to press his finger on his device. There are also their fears that the police can use digital footprints stored in government databases.
Vaining its devices is another way to protect against sophisticated attacks in case you do not consent to a search.
Most modern phones and some laptops encrypt their data using strong accessible cryptographic keys when the user unlocks it with the password code, said Will Greenberg, EFF main personnel technology.
If the device is blocked but not off, the key remains loaded in the device’s memory. The powerful piracy tools made by companies such as Cellebrite can recover the key and decipher the data.
But if the device is off, the key is downloaded and cannot be accessed until it is turned on again and unlocks with the pass code.
“That is why a border agent cannot simply turn on a device to use a tool like Cellebrite,” Greenberg said.
What about social networks?
To be sure, eliminate your social networks applications and reinstall them later. Although the content bothers mainly on the servers of social media companies, COPE says that some publications or images can remain in the memory cache of their phone and, therefore, can be seen in plane mode.
What else can you look for?
They are not just phones and laptops. You can look for digital cameras, smart watches, tablets, external hard drives and other electronic devices.
What not to do?
Some tactics can be counterproductive. If you are tempted to complete your phone or hard drive from the laptop before traveling, experts warn that the scrutiny could increase.
“If it is detected by a border agent, the fact that your hard drive is cleaned can ask why it did,” says the EFF guide. “Simply travel without devices or data that most travelers usually have could attract suspicions and questions.”
Nor do you try to hide information on your device, because border agents could find out, says the group. “Lying border agents can be a serious crime, and agents can have a very wide vision of what constitutes lying,” he says.
What about other destinations?
See the local laws of your destination before traveling. For example, the Law on Terrorism of Great Britain allows the police to demand that people pass through the country’s border hand on devices together with passwords and pins. If they refuse, they can be accused of terrorism.
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