The concerning part of this is that he unlocked his phone. The Feds were certainly within their authority to stop someone they felt was involved in a crime, but I don’t believe you are obligated to unlock your phone for authorities unless they have a warrant. Kind of like when a cop pulls you over for speeding then asks to search your car, you don’t have to say yes, but a lot of people think it’s some sort of order, not a request. I’m no expert though.
Security researcher warns of chilling effect after feds search phone at airport | TechCrunch
Submitted 1 year ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to privacyguides@lemmy.one
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/27/sam-curry-chilling-effect-phone-search-airport/
Comments
TheMusicalFruit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Onii-Chan@kbin.social 1 year ago
Come to Australia if you want some dystopian surveillance state bullshit. The border force in the country have the legal right to force you to unlock your devices, or throw you in prison until you do. We have no rights in this country when it comes to privacy (just look into the recent legislation that was pushed through parliament during COVID.)
This country is just becoming more and more authoritarian, and I'm not sure how many Americans know just how many protections they have and take for granted. Australia is fucking suffocating to live in today if you value privacy and autonomy. There are almost no barriers at all between the individual and the government, and it's only getting worse. I wish I had moved stateside when I was young enough for it to be a possibility. I'm stuck here now.
Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Man that sounds horrendous. I’d heard it had gotten pretty bad there but hearing it first hand from someone who lives there makes me think how I would feel living there. Does the same apply to laptops? And is it just when entering the country?
SamuraiBeandog@lemmy.world 1 year ago
As an Australian I always take a burner phone when I travel and just reformat it after getting home.
Album@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
You’re not obligated to unlock your phone, they’re not obligated to let you cross the border. So you have a choice, turn around or unlock your phone.
TheMusicalFruit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If he was a US citizen he can’t be turned away at the border. Also still pretty sure a citizen has the right to refuse a search without a warrant.
redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I think it is self incriminating giving them your pin but they can force you to use biometrics.
I heard that one time so don’t quote me on that.
not_a_bot_i_swear@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Correct. You can also “forget” a pin or pattern but not your fingerprint or face. I usually delete everything that I don’t want them to see and then turn it off. So you don’t even have to disable it. After a restart a pattern/pin is always required.
jet@hackertalks.com 1 year ago
The most secure thing to do is not travel with personal data.
Or factory rest your phone, restore from backup when you reach your destination
peregus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Just out of curiosity: what info don’t you want the authority to see? If I think about myself, there is none.
jet@hackertalks.com 1 year ago
I don’t want anyone to see anything. Not because there is anything to hide, but there is no reason to show.
BlueBockser@programming.dev 1 year ago
Family photos, payslips, medical records, browser history…
Wander@yiffit.net 1 year ago
I’m planning on bringing a spare phone only on my trips to the US.
WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Many countries can and do image phones at the border. Better to bring a spare phone whenever you go through any customs.
CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Yeah plug my phone in and see what happens… There is totally no virus on it…
Uranium3006@kbin.social 1 year ago
Etherkiller feature on phone poet when
CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I want my phone to behave like a bomb when plugged into a unauthorized device :)
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 1 year ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A U.S. security researcher is warning of a chilling effect after he was detained on arrival at a U.S. airport, his phone was searched and he was ordered to testify to a grand jury, only to have prosecutors reverse course and drop the investigation later.
On Wednesday, Sam Curry, a security engineer at blockchain technology company Yuga Labs, said in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, that he was taken into secondary inspection by U.S. federal agents on September 15 after returning from a trip to Japan.
In a post, Curry said that in December 2022 he discovered that scammers had inadvertently exposed their Ethereum private key in the source code of a phishing website that had stolen millions of dollars’ worth of crypto.
It was widely shared that the private key was leaked and my background as a security researcher wasn’t enough to dissuade using immigrations and a grand jury to intimidate me,” Curry said in his post.
Curry was flying into Washington, DC to attend an election security research forum set up by U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA to audit U.S. voting machines.
It’s not unheard of for U.S. authorities to target security researchers or journalists with threats of prosecution or other kinds of legal process to compel testimony, like grand juries, which convene in secret to determine if formal criminal charges should be brought against a person.
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