Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
The problem is the attitude and abusive nature of their conduct. I have had this experience a couple times and one time with my mother and I am a citizen. Plenty of other countries have customs/border agents that quiz you without attacking or belittling you.
I went through the TSA checkpoint at the United Premier Access this last Tuesday. They have the new automated bin return system. Some of the people who travel less frequently were leaving the bins behind instead of putting them in the machine to be returned to the front. The TSA agent shouted at them repeatedly, "do any of you read English? Can't you read the damn sign?" While he pointed at the instructions. He did this for the entire time I was near the checkpoint.
This is belittling. Not everyone flys frequently and knows this process. How about respecting them and teaching them the new way?
I wanted to say something to one of the other agents, but why risk ending up on a list especially when it's this hard to get through now.
"Hey idiot, get your goddamn bags off the (expletive) belt! Hurry the hell up!"
At which point another passenger decided to take advantage of the confusion and tried to steal my phone...
"God (expletive) damn you! Are you trying to make my (expletive) life hard?! Just take your bags and go, you're holding up my line!"
Approached the airport, "we do not comment on security matters".
"How can I take this complaint further?"
"You'll need to ask your solicitor to contact our legal department."
And then there was Stockholm Arlanda...
(On the way in) "Good morning Sir. Welcome to Stockholm."
And on the way out...
"Sir, is this your bag? Can you please turn the laptop on for me?"
'Do you need me to log in, it's for work...'
"Oh no, I just need to see it turn on."
Confirming the functionality of laptops (especially larger or older ones) is within the guidelines Just making sure it's not a bomb.
Easy to bypass though, just like all security theatre.
I've never been treated so well while being searched. The guy was kind and polite and smiled a little. I also learned that in his opinion, Americans were usually pretty easy to deal with, but more nervous in general. He thought it was because we (Americans) were used to a more authoritarian-acting police.
I’ve never had to go through an extended customs search in another country, however.
The last time they searched my car, stripped searched me, threw all my stuff on the ground, and after finding nothing told me to "pick up my garbage."
The bright side is, I was only held for 5 hours that time, but I did have a gun pointed at me. The first time was 9 hours, so maybe next time it will only be 3 hours.
Some people are just pathetic humans who get off on being above anyone else.
/I never had anything illegal any of those times and tried to be very respectful. I worked with law enforcement for many years, and know the type of people that they can deal with.
Also, everyone involved was white, so at least there wasn't racism...? I don't know, it's all dumb. None of my complaints went anywhere, and last time I called they said I "had nothing on file anywhere."
I’ve never experienced that either way across the Vancouver area border crossings.
Every time I went from Canada to America, they looked in my trunk, moved some stuff around back there, and said I could leave.
I still haven't been given any reasons why that happens to me, but my name must be somewhere important.
I just learned to get used to video chatting instead of seeing relatives up there. Much less of a headache.
> and must have looked suspicious or something
Can it not be that you were coming from Beijing?
Fuck this authoritan border shit.
I know the courts don't recognize it; I will be dammed before I let laws determine justice.
But they do have managed to vastly improve my mood, via a different sort of mechanism: when I'm being treated rudely, I tend to linger at the machine, usually waiting for fellow passengers to clear security. During that minute or two (or five), I train my Nintendo skill on the :( face. My high score must be in the thousands.
They probably filter out such data. But maybe not–I kind of prefer not to know.
I get lots of cheeky smiles from other travellers noticing me, so the happiness even spreads. Only got yelled at by security once.
>"Hey idiot, get your goddamn bags off the (expletive) belt! Hurry the hell up!"
>"God (expletive) damn you! Are you trying to make my (expletive) life hard?! Just take your bags and go, you're holding up my line!"
That all sounds so un-british I can't imagine this playing out. Which part of security were you in?
I've flown through heathrow, gatwick and other uk airports loads of times and never seen anything approaching that level of rudeness.
British security/police seem to take their power a bit too far very often, in my experience. They have absolutely no problem with a little shouting. Of the first-world immigration officials I've had to interact with I'd rank them perhaps second worst, for general cluelessness and authoritarian behavior.
The typical British "don't say or do anything, just tut" behavior does apply often: Public displays of racism? Civil liberties being taken away? A simple tut will do. But if you're British immigration, then shouting incorrect or confusing instructions is just part of the job.
The number of times I've seen this is too high, and that's not even including the number of patronizing and wrong instructions I've gotten, either. For example, getting shouted at that I should have presented my American passport when I presented my Dutch passport (...what?)
And that is the actual problem here as well. At the airport you end up in a "your rights end here" zone. According to the original story, the questioned person had no right to a laywer as he was not arrested. But he was also not free to go. So there you are: stuck between a rock and a hard place... Sure, you have every right not to unlock your phone. But you will go nowhere, miss your flight, your connecting flight, etc. And all the officers just go home when their shift is over and forget your case ever happened...
Consider in your calculations that a queue was being endangered by the behavior they were complaining about.
Heathrow terminal 4 staff is one of the rudest I have encountered. They have not been rude to me personally but every time I have been through that terminal I have seen staff being rude and racist to travellers. I have seen folks being physically pushed around to form queues, to make them hurry. This is not a one time experience. Dont recall if they were British Airways staff or airport staff.
regarding TSA, since I don't have facebook, snapchat, instagram it's always scary talking to them.
In Helsinki, and in a lot of European countries, there's a little gadget in the security check which will randomly select someone for a manual search. It takes the security officer out of the equation.
The probability is set according to the risk factor of the store, anywhere between "nobody gets searched, this is just to scare you" and "everyone gets searched, no buts".
In my experience, it usually gets set to about 15% probability. Just enough that a few people get searched every week, not enough that everyone has to stay behind for an hour waiting for bag searches.
why?
So, probably a better answer would be "I had seen accounts in facefook/twitter/whatever with my name but aren't mine. As you can see, are mostly inactive or is clear that I'm not the same person shown in those party photos".
A solution is not forcing yourself to pass by this cattle-treatment if the country is so unfriendly to foreigners.
That might actually be the intent - make people feel uncomfortable so they get more uncomfortable if they're up to no good.
The overt function, employing in many cases the exact same people, existed before it was federalized, so, no, that doesn't really explain what was new about TSA vs the status quo ante.
I agree. I am Canadian, but I went to school in the US. After school I returned to Canada. A couple years later I had a US work visa to train Americans on a particular technology that my company specialized in, and I was maybe the foremost expert in (outside of the manufacturer). I wasn't taking anyone's job, I was literally helping Americans keep their jobs instead of being replaced by me or someone like me.
Anyway, on one particular trip I was called to secondary inspection and the CBP officer who received me there went on a long tirade about how I should work in my own country for a change. I mean, I did work in my country most of the time (I was still well within the 183 day/year tax treaty limit). He got so mad he actually walked away before he even asked me any questions. I was just standing there, confused, embarrassed and left feeling guilty even though I had done nothing illegal or immoral.
But, there are good people in the CBP too... one saw what happened and came over and profusely apologized. He asked a few questions, apologized again, and sent me on my way. On the flip side, I've had my computers and phones searched by Canadian Customs and they've done so with tact and compassion, which seems to be much more effective -- it's amazing how much more cooperative people are when you treat them with compassion.
But that's not just CBP, that's true for every industry that I've worked in... there are a few assholes everywhere and everyone else who is cool is a lot more effective because they approach people like they're working together rather than against each other.
The US doesn’t have a monopoly on thinking foreigners are coming for “our” jobs.
It doesn't even have to be compassion. Just get some people who either have compassion or can act as if they have compassion. Both work.
Judging by the stories I read here and elsewhere, the TSA seems to be some kind of organisation where losers end up, allowing them to vent their frustration about X or Y towards helpless, dependent people.
And Gesh, I know of some people that cross the border a lot but don’t have nexus or global entry... it’s so worth getting.
I am sorry, not a native speaker. What is "nexus or global entry"?
An airport person asked me if I have a Nexus. Somewhat absentminded while texting, I said yes I do (my phone was from the Google Nexus line).
"Right this way Sir!", and I followed him for 10 meters.
And then at that gate entry eventually I pieced it together that my phone was not the Nexus they were looking for, excused myself and went away wondering why air travel seems to make me hypoxic.
After passing verification, they give you a card, and reentry to the country is much easier (go to a kiosk, get a receipt, show it to a border guard, get through in <5 minutes).
Nexus is $50 for five years (and includes Global Entry and TSA pre-check.
Global Entry is $100 for five years (and includes TSA Pre-check)
TSA Pre-check alone is $85 for five years.
If you’re near a Canadian border, Nexus is the best financial deal. None of them are “few hundred dollars per year”.
Agreed, I can't imagine not having it these days.
First time they held me for 9 hours before forcing us to go back. They rejected my friend because of an "expunged" disorderly he got when he was 13.
Ok fine, it's their country.
Next time I was held for 5 hours, strip searched, had my car searched (they did a garbage job of it), threw all my stuff on the ground even after knowing there's a $2000+ piece of hardware, then once they were done they told me to "pick up your garbage."
I've also had a gun pulled on me that time, but I could tell that the second CBP that was there saw no reason for any of searches, gun, or anything and he talked her down.
Still not sure why the hell she wouldn't tell me why she wanted to search everything. She said I couldn't leave until she was 100% certain. Certain of what? she wouldn't say.
About a year ago, I went through TSA and asked to opt out of the body scans in place of a pat down.
Another agent on the side watched the whole thing and made kissing faces my way the whole time while making gay jokes.
It was extremely belittling. Fuck TSA.
They need badge numbers and names prominently displayed on their uniforms, written in inch-high characters.
Had a really similar experience until I said that “this is the cheapest rub job I’ve ever gotten” and winked at him. He didn’t appreciate that.
Tbh I seem to be making it my life’s work to be a little shit at airport security. I will _never_ use the millimetre scanner which seems to be a huge point of contentenion. And, while not TSA, the Gatwick airport security were trying very hard to convince me that I didn’t have a solid reason not to use this thing. Almost calling me silly or implying I’m stupid.
On the same trip I tried flying with half a tub of hair créme (layrite) and, while I managed to fly in from Copenhagen with the tub, apparently Gatwick has different rules, so if the container has the potential of fitting more than 100ml it’s disallowed.
Empty bottles are fine, but even a single drop of water makes it forbidden.
It’s. Ludicrous.
Thanks for informing me, I will (with a heavy heart) strike Australia off my list of available working/visiting places.
The new laws surrounding encryption should have tipped me off.
Thanks for letting me know. :)
Gov't guidance states that ‘...the individual must either be screened by an alternative method which includes at least an enhanced hand search in private...’ [0]. Is that just a standard pat-down, or is it more ‘eeny meeny miney mo, I wonder where my glove will go?’
[0] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...
Same as a normal in-public patdown tbh.
These days I aim for London City or Leeds-Bradford if I can, Heathrow is my second choice, and I'll actively avoid Gatwick and Manchester unless there's no other alternative.
I keep meaning to try Glasgow or Edinburgh for departures... I've flown into Edinburgh due to a KLM screw-up but never departed from there.
You can even see by the passive aggressive (and consistent device) signs in security "All electronic devices must be taken out. Small electronic devices are excluded. Failure may result in delays of up to 2 hours" that it's an institutional problem. iirc they had some distinction where being battery powered meant it was a small electronic device, unless it was an iPad.
Add to that usual airport inconsistencies like "do I need to remove an 8inch tablet?" from my bag. A 10 inch tablet is pretty universally required to be removed, but I've been instructed both to return my 8 inch tablet to my bag or to remove it from my bag and sneered at for getting it wrong, sometimes at the same airport.
Or let's talk shoes + TSA in the US: Some airports require them through the scanner, others will look at you like your crazy. This will often not be reflected in local signage.
But then threatening a 2 hour delay for not reading their mind is just dumb.
In my final visit to Manchester airport, apparently an 8inch tablet does count as a small electronic device but a PS4 controller does not. Therefore I was supposed to conclude from the passive aggressive sign that the tablet must be in my bag and the PS4 controller must not be in my bag.
I had no idea it was usually like this.
Basically, constantly rushed by the security staff, and another passenger tried to make off with my phone (the guy next to me stopped him by asking "Hey, are you with this guy (me)? I think that's his...").
Genuinely curious, is there a reason for this, or are you just fucking with the security?
I also have clearly labeled liquids (for medical reasons) which by law I am allowed to carry. At SLC the TSA meticulously opened each one, ruining sterility so I had to discard the lot. Fortunately I got home safely.
The search went from touching every point for "weapons" to immediately letting me through. Didn't even finish the pat down. So if you want to get through quicker, eat some taco bell I guess.
Maybe they thought I shit myself, but whatever, some of those bastards are scum. Not all, but enough of them are.
According to your own rules you only really have to demonstrate citizenship. Whereas in this case that was already established and the person was still being harassed. I'm not a US citizen but did study in the US for a while. I've decided against going back to the US for almost a decade now because of this. Your own officers don't follow your own rules about your own citizens. I'm not chancing it as a foreigner.
This shit is totally illegal inside of the country. Some legal and mental gymnastics allow them to throw due process out of the window at the border. It’s inhuman.
CBP has sexually assaulted my travel companions simply for traveling with me; when I travel with people now we go through US customs separately to avoid any women in the party being finger-raped by America’s Finest. (I am singled out for harassment for consistently exercising my 5th amendment rights at all US border entries for 3-4 years in the early 2000s.)
Land of the free.
About 20 mins of bomb testing and pat downs later and making us and our daughter drink the explosive water... To be fair most of the people working that day were fine, it was just one complete moron calling the shots that made it 100 times more difficult than it needed to be.
When the guy turned up (R. Torres on the badge) he was visibly drunk.
At most airports when they ask questions they don't care about the answer because they are trained to observe you while you answer.
What gets me is an Officer can say to your face "You are not under arrest" but then handcuff you, take you someplace against your will, and detain you there without access to a lawyer.
How can that possibly be the conduct of Officers in a free country?
I could even understand if the Officer just plainly said "we can not let you board this flight, you must leave the airport" or something similar. But handcuffs and detention even though you are not under arrest is insanity.
Edit: changed words around to make it more clear.
I can guarantee that most any officer will charge you with 'resisting' or 'non-compliance' or some other fuzzy, indefensible legal charge just because you pissed them off by 'challenging their authority'. And now you missed your flight and have legal problems for what, to prove a point?
Here's some advice on what pretty much any officer will think in these kinds of situations: 'Oh, you want to make my life harder? I'll make YOUR life harder'. I know, it's bullshit, unprofessional childish behavior, but it's real. And believe me, he/she will win.
Be practical. Changing this stuff comes from legislation, not some brave grandstanding power-move that literally not even the rest of your fellow travelers will give a damn about.
The actual changes come from some judge who's had a bad day telling the prosecution "no, screw you, the officer's actions were in violation of the defendant's Nth amendment rights, you have no case when you act like this" and then that percolating up through the various appellate courts.
No, it's kidnapping. Let the courts deal with it.
Law enforcement don’t have to record their interactions with you, and it’s their word (a respected public official) against yours (a suspected criminal).
You may have heard of Mirandizing a suspect, but there’s an emerging phenomenon called Behelerizing. Tell the suspect they’re not under arrest (or claim you told them), even though you’re restraining them, and anything they say (or anything you claim they said) is ruled voluntary and admissible.
3rd world ain’t got nothing on Uncle Sam.
How long was this guy detained?
Props to him for filing a lawsuit I would’ve just caved to pressure and complained heavily.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/pacific/nz-to-fi...
So, the selfish question then is: How do I protect myself from such unwarranted searches? Is there a way I can present my phone such that it drops into a mode that contains no data? Do I need to back my phone up before traveling, wipe it for the border crossing, and then restore once I feel safe?
It feels crazy to ask this question, as an American citizen, but HN, what do you do to protect your data at the American border?
Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the Data On Your Devices
https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017
EFF Border search pocket guide (printable PDF)
https://www.eff.org/document/eff-border-search-pocket-guide
Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border - EFF’s guide to your Constitutional rights at the border
https://www.eff.org/document/digital-privacy-us-border
It has all the information you need to deal with it.
Save your encrypted system configuration/data on a service. Leave all your devices behind. Buy new devices on the other side of the border, and restore from the encrypted backup. This is really the only way to completely sidestep the risk.
This isn’t a technical problem, it’s a political one, which means it demands a political solution.
Or you just have none, and they detain you indefinitely because you can't prove otherwise… though if you fear that, you probably shouldn't cross the border ever again.
I was wondering what they'd do if they ask for my Facebook account credentials, and I explain to them I have no Facebook account. Will I be detained for lying to an officer of the law? I don't have a Facebook account, but they might not believe me.
Is there legal precedence for this though? I thought the law (and precedence) was that they can only search what you are carrying with you at the point of entry?
> How do I protect myself from such unwarranted searches
knows plenty of technical solutions.
The question which needs to be answered in political terms is about the conditions under which it is lawful to put pressure on individuals to warrant such a search.
Didn't half speed up border crossings when your itinerary is a week and all you have are your clothes, your passport, some travel money and your tickets.
[0]: https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone
How does that impact that map ?
If you happen to be non-white or non-christian or have such as family or who live in a majority Muslim country, then you probably do want to protect yourself against this eventuality. In that case, either bring a dumb/brick phone for them to search, or bring a smartphone which has data on it, but nothing you care about. Don't jump through a lot of hoops to try to fool them, because it'll look suspicious, and then you really aren't going to make your flight.
I'm not saying you should live in fear, just that these kind of checks are not good for anyone. Not even if you carry your sweater over your shoulders.
However, until that happens (which might be never), it's prudent to protect yourself, and telling people that they must take precautions for their own safety and well-being is not "blaming the victim".
AFAIK companies are the exception, unsurprisingly. Some companies require laptop and phone wiping before travel, and if you can prove you are following company policy it might be OK.
Don't carry any passwords with you so you can not login any service or device even if you wanted to. Leave them at home. A good reason to wipe your stuff prior your journey would be to minimise trouble if your equipment got stolen or lost (a plausible threat when travelling).
I would tend to think there's nothing you can do to prevent them getting suspicious if they choose to do so. It's a bit unfair because it's a situation where you can't count on anything even if you have nothing to hide but that's, to my knowledge, just how it is.
For laptops, you can install multiple operating systems and simply set the BIOS or EFI bootloader to boot the dummy one by default when going to the airport and make sure the dummy hides the partitions of the real one. Once again, this will fool manual inspection, but not computerized. Fooling computerized inspection would require placing the real encrypted file system within the dummy one, without any headers indicating that it's a file system: much more complicated and can lead to data loss if the dummy system writes over it.
Either way, you don't want to simply wipe everything and restore once you're across borders if you actually want to cross. For one, there's the chance they'll just confiscate your device, but if you're not a citizen of the country you're entering, they'll just deny you entry on suspicion. You want something that's fake, but convincing, which takes effort.
That's what I plan to do.
In reality you can't without (potentially) causing yourself massive problems. Missing flights, detained for longer because you are hiding something because of wiped drives, encryption etc. etc. Oh, and they might add your name to lists that make your life miserable every-time you fly. So, unless a court rules in our favor, we're screwed.
Somehow the only horror stories I read (or experience) is about US or five eyes (NZ being exception).
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-citizens-ice-20180...
They can also make up imaginary charges against you to have you jailed, as cops in the US love to do. Any time an innocent person is gunned down, there's inevitably a story about how they 'charged the officer' or had a weapon or whatever, and then when evidence appears to contradict that, the lie is quietly retracted.
You might say 'well, I have my ID while traveling, so it's fine', but ID is not always considered proof of citizenship. They could drag you aside at security (or elsewhere), decide they don't like the look of you, and decide that your ID isn't proof that you're a citizen. Spend a week or two in jail.
Yes: don't have a phone. If they press you, it broke last night and you didn't have time to fix or replace it before traveling internationally.
(Officer opens his laptop, searches your name on Facebook and finds someone with your name from the city you live in and your mug as their profile picture).
“Sir, you’re under arrest for the felony crime of lying to a Federal law enforcement agent. You have the right to remain silent...”
"Everyone has a Facebook sir, even my grandma and my boss. And I'm pressing buttons on your cellphone and it's asking me to set things up, so it's obvious you wiped it and have something to hide. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you start being honest with me, or you're not catching that flight, or any flight. Ever."
And no, I don't have Facebook, and I'm definitely not alone. It's not something that I would feel problematic to defend.
I guess the real (rhetorical) question is, are you doing this for the principle of the thing or because you have something illegal? If the latter, then the only foolproof way is to travel without a phone, purchase a burner when you get wherever you're going, then destroy it when you leave - it's cheap enough these days to do so for every trip.
If the former, then (as much as I hate this) just accept that it's all theatre and nobody really cares what's on your phone, and just unlock it and let them nose through your happy snaps for a minute on the way through.
Just so you know, that's not how it has worked since 2013. Now they take your phone to the back room and image your phone. Then they upload that image to a service that searches your data. Then, and there is recent evidence of this, they don't always destroy the local copy of your data in the field office which would allow agents to browse your data at any time. Remember, they require you to unlock (decrypt) your phone before doing this.
While the stories that hit the press are negative (and hence newsworthy), millions travel in and out without incident.
If you look at this statistically, you have a one in a million chance of having your phone searched at the border
Say what you will about the US and the fact that you can get shot for looking at the wrong guy at the wrong time, but the mere fact that this happening and so easy to follow is quite interesting. In Germany you'd be laughed out of the room and I've had my fair share of racism to deal with from the authorities despite having grown up here.
[1] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/8168712/haisam-elsharka...
[2] https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.727665...
Also I found it interesting that Germans perceive the US as overly litigious but I found an article that said Germany has more lawsuits (per capita? In absolute totals?), funny how perception takes a long time to catch up to various forms of reality
https://www.clements.com/sites/default/files/resources/The-M...
was it this one?
https://ideas.repec.org/p/iuk/wpaper/2010-18.html
which curiously says that US has 5806 lawsuits per 100k people compared to 3681 in the UK (second highest) and immediately adds that it's not special
Sending one of these requires you also to clearly show how the recipient infringed on your rights or a law that affects you or your business in a negative way and lay out the costs you want reimbursed for sending the letter (up to 1000€). If you're wrong about it you'll have to pay all and any attorney fees of the other party.
If someone refuses to pay or sign the Abmahnung you have to go to court, in which case you'll need agreement from the party you're representing.
To file an actual lawsuit you still need to be wronged or damaged by the actions of another party, you can't just sue in the name of someone else without them agreeing to it. This is also limited to civil law, criminal law is handled by the state prosecutor via the police, not you yourself.
I’ll take “Semantical distinctions I dont have to care about” for $200, Alex
- If the defending party ever decides to fight and you don't have the approval of the wronged party, you can't even defend yourself (read the point above again);
- It's only for small values, and there is no upwards negotiation (you must lay the costs down at the letter).
That's the government not requiring a judicial process for small values, while keeping all the rights of the defending party (I wish my country had something like that). You may not care about the difference, but that only speaks about you, because there's a huge difference there.
My rehearsed line is “you in the <distinctive clothes> I’ll split the settlement with you if you record this and call a lawyer!”
Gotta disrupt the bystander syndrome by calling out a particular person
And provide the financial incentive
In addition to calling several high profile agencies like ACLU and EFF, I would call one or two local lawyers and say,
"Hi, my name is FirstLast, at 2:05 PM I was at LAX Terminal 2. A man wearing XYZ was being led away by CBP agents and was pleading for someone to call a lawyer. Is this something you can handle? I imagine you can get in contact with LAX authorities if you are interested in taking this case."
I guess it's different at the federal level because they can detain people longer and with less cause, but eventually I believe they have to be offered the right to legal representation and being hauled in front of a judge publically.
Unless of course the US Govt wants to extradite you from LAX to Guantanamo, at which point a lawyer is the least of your worries.
Ive never made it to the nightly news with a video of me shouting that line
Or on a talk show about the lawsuit for that recorder to get their share of a settlement
So not sure why to tell you
Question: Why do they ask all these question about kids, schools, wife etc? Identity is established, the passport is legit because they can check it, WTH do they want?
So it's not to prove that you're John Doe but to see if you have anything suspicious with you or if you're up to no good.
edit: adding quotes to help signal the sarcasm
[0]: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
[1]: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/as... (PDF)
However last time I checked (few years ago) there was also a wattage limitation to that, batteries below 99watt/hour could be checked in. A phone battery is about 10watt/hour, laptop 100-200wh.
What do all of these anecdotal stories mean?
Be compliant with the border control people and offer up your decoy without complaint. You win if they don't search your stuff at all, and you win if they're satisfied with your faux compliance with the decoy. You only need to start to resist and demand your rights once they've shown an unusual interest in you and thoroughly search your stuff, but if they're doing that they probably had it in for you anyway.
It also only covered the people standing in line... so I sat there, waited for my boarding group to go, and followed behind them.
This would need some work on the app side, like being able to push anything I want from nonsecure to secure partition with a swipe or similar gesture. once pushed to another partition the only way to return it to the open partition would be swap to secure and copy it back.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%E2%80%93LaPadula_model
This case also highlights the massive gap between civilized rule of law and what actually happens in these interactions, the dehumanization and arbitrary intimidation is not compatible with a democratic civilized society, and this culture of enforcement and lack of accountability is akin to a police state.
Not akin, the US is a police state. If you have ever been in a real police-state (Brazil, Israel, Cuba) you will immediately spot the similarities. And the US is not alone, just the most advanced state of a former democracy...
It may sound as if I'm asking out of doubt, but rather, I'm asking to see if my hunch that CBP is equally as reckless and uncaring in front of a camera as e.g. other law enforcement agencies.
Being physically detained by law enforcement and having your Constitutional rights denied seems way worse than FB data leaks, at least to me.
And maybe I'm wrong but I can't help but wonder if race is a factor, that this and other stories like it would be bigger news if white U.S. citizens were the ones being subjected to this treatment.
This is more or less a form of intimidation at the border.