Privacy

31798 readers

247 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

[Matrix/Element]Dead
Discord

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

Traveling to the US - How to prepare (startrek.website)

submitted 3 months ago by Firipu@startrek.website to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

53 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm traveling to the US mainland for the first time in my life in a few weeks.

I am not overly stressed about privacy, but I have read that US immigration can really overstep their boundaries. Are there any simple specific steps to take on my devices to protect my privace when going through US border control?

Remove my main accounts from my phone/tablet and use dummy accounts? Or just removing my biometrics?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (11 children)

Do not take your normal devices in case they are seized for random bullshit reasons. They can and will. They will often be returned to you destroyed and unusable.

Take a device you buy just for this trip. Maybe ditch the tablet instead of buying one for the trip. Do not set up biometrics on it. Do not connect it to your usual services.

Is it a gaurantee this kind of thing will happen? No.

Does this thing happen often enough to foreign travellers to make it worth leaving your main devices behind? Yes.

All that "freedom" is just for US citizens. They absolutely can and will fuck with any and all foreign people. Its stupid.

ITT: A lot of folks with way too much trust in the USA being "reasonable." I'm sorry, but when the TSA interrogates people with autism because they act different you're not convincing me they know what the fuck they're doing or won't harass random fucking people. This "act normal" shit is so stupid say to anyone who is neurodivergent, which is enough for USA security forces to choose to fuck with you.

[–] refalo@programming.dev 15 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Does this thing happen often enough to foreign travellers to make it worth leaving your main devices behind? Yes.

I think we have very different definitions of "often"

[–] TheSun@slrpnk.net 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Doesn't need to happen often, its a possibility for x number of people passing thru the borders any given day. They have the legal right to force your biometrics to unlock your device. Removing it ahead of time is prudent.

If you breeze thru no problems; no harm no foul, just add your thumb again.

[–] refalo@programming.dev 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I thought if the device was off, or just booted, or in lockdown mode, then biometrics could not be used without entering the password first?

[–] socphoenix@midwest.social 3 points 3 months ago

Yup! Holding power and volume up or down on an iPhone for a few seconds will lock it and require a password before it will unlock again.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (8 replies)