Hi all,
I am travelling soon to the US, for my vocation and as a long-time private person I will be taking some steps to maintain my privacy as I enter the country.
As this is an interesting area of the topic, I have decided to throw the question open to all of you.
What precautions (IT, physical, mental, otherwise) do you undertake when travelling internationally?
M.
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A lot of the comments here are straight up nuts. Do what you do at home. If that’s a VPN, go for it. If you rawdog it, whatevs.
Https is on almost everything at this point, so just be smart like normal.
I doubt anyone cares enough to bug you that much.
You weren’t kidding, holy shit. Like, I understand wanting to make sure that your privacy is protected at all costs, but at the same time some of these suggestions sound straight up tinfoil hat.
The US is not some fucked up dystopian police state where everyone is “out to get” the next person they see on the street (but I’ll wholeheartedly agree that some parts are absolute shit). No, there aren’t cities where if you blink all your shit’s gonna be stolen (parts of some, sure). In fact, most people will actually actively try to lend a hand, the worst that might happen is a total stranger ignores you when it’s obvious you may need help with something.
Idk, as an American who’s travelled the US quite a bit, I guess it kinda pisses me off when I see generalizing statements like those. Just like it would literally anyone else.
Edit: if you’re truly worried, why not just stay home or something?
What you can do is setup a VPN to your home at least. From their it is the same as you always would.
Here are some helpful links from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) on the topic:
https://www.eff.org/wp/defending-privacy-us-border-guide-travelers-carrying-digital-devices
https://www.eff.org/files/2017/03/10/digital-privacy-border-2017-guide3.10.17.pdf
https://www.eff.org/files/2018/01/11/border-pocket-guide-2.pdf
https://www.eff.org/issues/border-searches
I’m sure there’s more that I haven’t put here, feel free to sift through the search page
Having lived in the U.S. my whole life, (and this doesn’t speak for everyone), it’s not the dystopia people make it out to be all the time. In fact, people will likely judge you for wearing a face mask. If you care about hiding your face, sunglasses and a cap is enough. Remember to be reasonable with your threat model!
Don’t
Guessing you’ll take a burner phone? On arrival and Dep in Aus they can demand you open it and they can search anything. If you refuse they quarantine your phone for 14 days and prob use some Israeli software to access the contents
Last time I completely re-flashed my phone and only loaded it up with some “travel” accounts that were very basic. It was quite a lot of hassle, though.
This time I think I will just sign out of and delete any cloud services/accounts of concern (including my password safe) from the phone. I will sanitise it of anything I don’t want getting into anothers hands.
Once I am safely across the border I can re-download/install what I need.
and prob use some Israeli software to access the contents
wut?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)
Not quite how that one works, but I believe that was the intended reference.
Anything email or text related on your phone should be printed off. If you hand the border agent your phone they will take that opportunity to read your recent texts and emails.
I’ve never seen this, but I still get physical boarding passes every time. At most airports, you just scan your phone and the agent waves you on. However, if you hand a police officer of any variety your phone, they can attempt to access whatever they want w/o a warrant, which sucks, so it’s not really a risk worth taking when you can usually print a boarding pass at a kiosk.
They don’t have time to give a shit about each individual that goes through customs
You absolutely can opt out of facial recognition at the TSA! But you have to be on your guards and make sure you request it! They might fake not knowing so you should insist!
If I just would have known it earlier.
It was quite the surprise when boarding the return flight without having to show any baoarding passes.
if that’s true, you are probably opting out of them telling you they are using facial recognition… but they probably still use it… how else would they know how to exclude you?
I wore a proper N95 mask the whole time. Told people I have cancer and am immune compromised so I can’t take it off (ok that bit’s true). Never had any problem avoiding facial recognition; but it’s possible that their particular facial recognition works around masks.
Are you an ambassador or dignitary? No? Don’t worry about crap, take the same precautions you’d take when visiting any other place you’re not commonly in. The United States isn’t a hell hole, despite what libertarians like to fantasize.
Burner phone. Cheap laptop with nothing on it (like a Chromebook). Burner Gmail address and birbsite profile in case they ask you to log into your accounts. Remember the 100 mile border zone.
Soooo the data on your phone isn’t gone because you delete or reset the phone. You literally need to write a blob of zeros or random numbers to fill the space again.
And even that is questionable as there are areas of the storage you are not allowed to write too – and those areas could contain identifiable data like contacts, SMS, etc…
Just a FYI
Either bring a burner phone, or make sure you disable biometrics before you land. You could also consider wiping the phone and then restoring from a backup later on.
Also, learn about your constitutional rights and any relevant state laws (e.g. the CCPA in California). You probably won’t have to mention them, but they’re good to know.
Imagine you’re visiting a dystopian police state with ubiquitous surveillance and a non-zero chance to be thrown in jail without due process, because you are.
When dealing with the police, be very, very careful what you say to them directly. Be polite, be patient, but be pithy.
And don’t be black, make sure to generously apply white face
Doesn’t the US have the right to remain silent? Serious question—I thought it did. The advice here is to always stfu when cops try to speak to you, until you either get advice from a lawyer or very specific questions you can answer to expedite your release. If you have the right to remain silent I’d always suggest you exercise that right, and not even make “polite” small talk, just say nothing or “no comment”.
buy a burner phone when you get there and leave your phone at home… also use cash and not credit cards… it would help to know exactly where you are going to be able to give more tips…
Right. Going to Boise is a lot safer than going to Detroit.
exactly. each states, cities or even neighborhoods can be completely different…
Downtown Atlanta, moving just a few blocks can put you in a hell hole. Some stores need to have multiple cops guarding them at all times, for example.
You know those movies were the main character blinks and their stuff gets stolen? That’s pretty much true in some of the cities.
Also if someone is asking you for gas money, help at the atm, trying to sell you something random - leave.
lemmy.one/c/scams seems to have a lot of the common ones listed. It might be worth lurking on r/scams to see if there’s anything more current to watch out for.
Use burner devices with no access to personal stuff
Do not even bring your own electronics (phone, laptop) as it can be destroyed, stolen or lost by customs, TSA, and the airlines respectively.
