this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025

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What to do if border police ask to search your phone (reason.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Another consideration is what happens on the other side of the journey. Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, which all share intelligence with the U.S. government under the Five Eyes program, have different border privacy policies. Under Australian law, travelers do not have to unlock their phones. Canadian authorities, like U.S. authorities, say they will seize a phone if a traveler refuses to unlock it. New Zealand imposes a $5,000 fine for failing to unlock a phone, and Britain considers refusing to unlock a phone for police to be a counterterrorism offense.

Quite insane. Seems like the only real answer is a burner phone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

The real answer is not travelling there ever again.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Make sure you've got a lock screen not based on biometrics and hand them your phone. They can't compel you to open it.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

They can, however, refuse entry.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

And just steal your phone!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Not to a US citizen.

For others, may as well bring a phone that's specific for traveling that doesn't have anything on it. Maybe even a dumb phone.

Article has more useful info.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Tell that to the US citizens that were deported recently for the heinous crime of....having a tattoo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Even assuming they recognize you citizenship and doesn't outright try to (unlawfully) deport you, they could still seize your belongings, detain you for 48 hours, and potentially add you on a no-fly list. The executive branch actually has the authority to do those things, its just that past administrations weren't this insane.

Better to just get a burner phone for traveling.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm so old, I remember a time when people left home without a phone at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I still do that sometimes.

Well, I usually bring a cheap dumbphone in case of emergency, but I didn't give the number to anyone, if it's even turned on to begin with.

I don't always need it.

Unfortunately, recently they added enormous fees for paper train tickets over here in Slovakia.
€1 for one-way purchased in station
€2 for two-way purchased in station
€3 if purchased in train (this purchase was always something used in a case when tickets weren't sold on departure station/stop, otherwise there is/was a €5 fine for that purchase)

So you kind of need a phone, again.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Not to a US citizen.

Good luck arguing THAT point from the El Salvador concentration camp.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

I guess the narrative is that the US (the most powerful country in the world) cannot compel El Salvador (the country they are paying) to release the prisoners they sent there.

In other news, up is down

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That's a separate problem, as far as I'm aware.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

Technically it is separate, but I would suggest it is very related.

Due process is not getting provided to deportees. We already know for a fact one of the people sent shouldn't have been, and no attempts to rectify the issue are being made.

The message that was being sent even before that, but more so now, seems clear to me. That message is that anyone can be disappeared, for any reason, and it doesn't matter if the person in question did anything wrong.

That's why I was suggesting poking this particular badger is unwise, citizen or not.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Uh wow. Last time I traveled outside of Europe, it was still pretty safe. Seems one good option would be to make a cloud backup, wipe the phone before the flight and restore everything using the first hotel wifi. I wonder if creating a second (empty) user account on the phone and unlocking that one at the border is enough to comply with the law.