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Comment by sidchilling | Hacker News Reader

Woah... this definitely seems over the board! If all of this is required, it's a recent thing, I guess.

I have been to the US multiple times with a B1-Business Visa and didn't do any of this stuff. I just showed up and the customs officer asked a bunch of questions about my purpose of visit and that's about it. I didn't need any invitation letter or hotel bookings, etc.

Hotel bookings and a LOT of other documentation is required when applying for a tourist / business visa for Europe or UK, but traveling to the US has always been fairly straightforward (except that you need to make two visits the US embassy or consulate twice for the visa formalities).

At all times, I had my company laptop with all the data + source code.

Is this something that has recently begun?

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Yes. Recent (this administration) policies allow for demanding passwords etc. at the border. There was an incident where a NASA engineer lost control of sensitive data as a result https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-nas...

It's not paranoia. Welcome to 2017.

Edit: It's not like they're scanning every cell phone that enters the country... but they reserve the right to.

what does customs need with a spaceship?

Nothing, he was just selected (based on who knows what criteria, they don't need warrants) to be scanned. Whether or not they actually cared about the sensitive data on the device, he still lost control of it long enough for it to be copied or compromised.

Please stop spreading lies. This happened long before this administration. E.g. articles from 2016:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/us-custom...

https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/22/14066082/us-customs-bord...

So it's even worse, because excessive border checks are an established trend rather than a new measure from the rather voluble Trump administration: returning USA airport to civilization is going to be a long and difficult process.

I stand deceived and now corrected. I'll do better next time.

I don't know why he didn't pull the security clearance card in regards to the phone.

If it's what it sounds like, the CBP agent unlocking and inspecting the phone may have been breaking the law themselves.

US Customs asserts the right to search (and if necessary, force you to unlock) any electronic device you bring with you, and to make copies of data found on those devices. A non-citizen who refuses search can be detained and/or denied entry to the US.

Examples:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/11/30...

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-nas...

I visited from Australia in 2009 and I was going to a law enforcement work conference- that was close enough to work for them to ask me for hotel details. I remember needing everything on that page. LA-X as point of entry. It was un-pleasant. I didn't go to a similar conference this May as a result of this experience. I imagine it is worse now.

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