Burner phones are now mandatory when traveling to the US.
Burner phones are now mandatory when traveling to the US.
164 comments
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Don't keep anything incriminating on your phone, yeah american border guards but also the fucking RCMP likes to grab phones.
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Wondering when my publishing record qualifies me for asylum.
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Just like going to china.
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Ngl China didn’t touch my phone upon entry. Think my iris got scanned though and certainly got full palm printed.
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It's not that uncommon for border patrol to go through your phone. I went to Canada 6-7 years ago and they went through my sister's phone because she told them she wanted to meet a Canadian friend she had made online. Border patrol read their conversations while we waited in a confinement room. It was the last time I went to Canada
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Easy fix for me I just won't go.
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Who said anything about traveling to the US?
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Not interesting in traveling to States. I am poor. Americans don't need my euros.
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We DO need them, but we don't deserve them. Canada is pretty. I honeymooned in Quebec City.
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Breaking: Trump justice dept to define eating brie as Domestic Terrorism.
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New executive order just dropped: from now on only “easy cheese”
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US FDA announces easy cheese as the healthiest option for kids everywhere!
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This would send my wife off the deep end. Don't do this, Orange Fat Man.
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Why even visit a hostile country?
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They're a scientist. Science is pretty international and often involves travelling to all sorts of countries for conferences with other researchers in your field.
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not to US now, that is became pretty anti-science. stems is already suffering in many areas before trump was elected, he just made things worst.
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His job sent him
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This. I personally have no plan going to usa now and in the future. Unfortunately some Canadians may still have to go for work related trips. Just be aware that you may or may not need to register in the new "Alien Registration Requirement".
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Just be aware that you may or may not need to register in the new "Alien Registration Requirement".
And if you choose wrong, they might lock you up in a
detention centerconcentration camp.
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There's something ironic about reading this with a Home Depot (huge Trump supporter) ad embedded in it.
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I actually live in the US and am considering a burner for when I travel.
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I have a question for you, do you actually need REAL ID to travel domestically?
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Soon, you'll need it to fly domestically.
They actually set this up pretty far in advance though. For instance, I'm from Texas, where any IDs issued since October 2016 are complaint. It's impossible for me to have a current ID that's non-compliant.
So from my perspective there won't really have been any changes since 2001 in my flying experience.
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Starting May 7, yes you’ll need a REAL or Passport to board US domestic flights.
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Afaik, your state Id or driver license is your legal identification. And states honor the IDs of other states.
I refused to use id.me to get unemployment insurance because I don't want a private 3rd party having that info plus a face scan.
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not in the lower 48, yet. but I haven't taken amtrak recently. no idea for alaska, hawaii, or the colonies.
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That's not news. The US has for a long time reading/copying contents of electric devices at the border
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They never asked to see my phone at the border. But the last time I crossed they were getting a hell of a lot more aggressive. They got less aggressive when I became a Canadian citizen, but when I only had my Lebanese passport they almost always brought me in for more questioning. It was kinda bizarre. They probably aggressively searched my luggage, but I can't be sure of that.
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probably had to do with your country of origin.
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While technically true, they weren't kicking out foreign visitors for being critical if the president.
I used to train people in a specific culinary technique, and i had clients from all over the world, including Muslim clients from the Middle East and India. Most had no problem visiting, but one was stopped at the border and heavily grilled.
His visa said he was here for vacation and educational purposes, but when they went through his texts, they determined that he was here for business purposes, and threatened to confiscate his cash, and reject him from entering the country.
After a few hours, he eventually convinced them that he had considered his training with me to be educational rather than business for his visa, and it just an honest mistake, with no nefarious purpose, and was finally released so he could visit me, and get his training.
This was about 10 years ago, and I don't remember who was president. It was either Trump or Obama.
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Bingo. If anything, use of a burner phone will be purposely misconstrued as "suspicious", and used as justification for more thorough screening.
"You just got it last week? That's weird, we usually only hear drug smugglers using new phones. You're not smuggling fentanyl, are you? OK, so you won't mind if I take a look through your luggage to be sure, right? Maybe I should send you to secondary screening for an x-ray."
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Lol free speech amirite
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FWIW the US is claiming that the researcher had confidential information from Los Alamos National Labs against the terms of his NDA. They claim the researcher admitted to taking the information and attempting to conceal it.
I honestly hope this is the explanation. If we're starting to deny entry to the country simply due to criticisms of domestic policy decisions, we're going down yet another dark path.
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How is that a problem when the president is out there storing confidential docs in his golf course, and when they fire off the cybersecurity teams?
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Or when private citizens are freely given the details of U.S. plans to respond militarily to China?
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I was at the conference he was supposed to attend - the Lunar and Planetary Science conference. There were a lot of people showing Los Alamos data there.
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That doesn't mean anything, at all. Just because "a lot of people [were] showing Los Alamos data" doesn't mean all Los Alamos data can be publicized.
Ex: a guy named Robert who led a very particular research effort in New Mexico
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Thats why you should use a Google Pixel with GraphineOS and a unique 20+ digit password (along with a secure VPN like Mullvad)
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No avg person is doing this. Get a second phone with alias accounts.
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That is a good option. I am actually quite careful about what I use my phone for. I still on occasion use Google maps, but i turn location history off and I always delete previous searches.
I am aware that this does not remove them from google's database, but it does make your movements not immediately obvious.
Also i would delete browser history and log out of all social media accounts (and disable remembering usernames/passwords) and even uninstall some apps in order to make who you interact eith less immediately obvious. Once you clear the border fully you can reinstall everything at your earliest convenience.
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Would Private Internet Access work? That is my VPN.
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They have mossad ties. Their CEO or something is a former spy. It's owned by Israel.
https://hackread.com/private-internet-access-pia-vpn-sold-israel-privacy-concerns/
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If they know your name and address its not secure
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LOL they changed the headlines to "hateful towards U.S. Policy" now? I thought it was "critical of Trump".
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Travel to the US and it’s your own fault. We have been warned.
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My partner is a scientist and has to travel to the US for work later this year. We're both dreading it, given all these stories of people being detained at the border.
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Are they in private or public sector? Because I can't imagine a university or other government institution continuing to send people to America if hostilities keep increasing over the course of the year.
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I'm not saying there won't be financial consequences, but they are well within their right to refuse. I would.
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Don't.
Be safe.
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What the actual fuck is going on with my country?!? For fuck sake, not all of us are fascist bellends.
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Things are still gonna get worse, we're not gonna get through this until their actions hurt so many people that enough of them get fed up and it leads to one of those belgrade or hungary sized protests
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You’re talking about a country that largely lives with its head in the sand. America is notorious for avoiding the news, especially world news. The fact that any is ingested as all is likely thanks to social media. (Im talking large strokes, middle of the bell curve behaviors). As long as the family unit is ok, people generally think they’re ok, and live with blinders for anything outside of that. This life approach has existed long before Trump was even a blip in politics.
Remember, inertia is a seismic, global driving force of action for much of humanity.
I think it would likely take everyone’s personal house burning down in tandem to inspire mass action and those who still had houses would still function via the force of inertia propelling them through their daily habits, ignoring everyone else.
I say that as an American. I don’t like it, but it’s true. That and liberals a very un unified and tend not to like each other. A lot of gatekeeping takes place there rather than uniting and doing, always has. It’s a scattered, messy, un unified party.
In addition, there was another post made in response to a “do something” rant that I think sums up the other piece in play.
“I don’t know how to start a riot.”
Which is a fair point. How? Seriously. And where do you find people when your full personal circle is 2-7 individuals (if you have friends at all, it’s a major problem people seek therapy for these days). and half of the people who are friends with are either MAGA or a dissociated young man who spends all their free time behind a screen engaged in escapism.
We’re kinda screwed on the psychology side over here.
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Don't carry digital data across any border, even if encrypted. Many countries have totally different standards over search and seizure at their borders to when you have gained entry and sometimes far worse for non citizens.
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A good option is backing up your data, encrypting it, then uploading to a server you can retrieve it from once you've crossed
Setting up some stuff might look less sus than a freshly wiped device though
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Australia has full rights to search hardware on entry. Careful coming here too.
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Exactly. Don't make assumptions just because you are travelling to a "friendly" country.
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america has freedom of speech but i guess not in this case.
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America HAD freedom of speech. Now they're disappearing people for it.
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"Freedom of Speech" is a euphemism for hate speech and racism in the US.
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Freedom of speech means whatever they want it to in that moment it seems
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My company isn’t organizing any off-sites to the US for my remote first company anymore because of this shit lol. I think partially because nobody outside of the US would even go
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No need to go to the us. Fuck that hellhole.
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Some of us that left still want to visit family when they're dying
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Sponsored by Home Depot
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If you really need to go to the US - Don't bring any electronic devices with you through security or while transitioning through borders.
Leave your devices at home. Bring a single function camera with you if you want.
Once you get across the border ... buy a new or used phone. If you have friends or family waiting for you, ask them to get you a phone, maybe even an old phone or get them to buy a used phone that you can use during your stay (pay them to get it of course).
Set up your new phone - load your data through cloud based systems ... if you are organized enough, you can set up a cloud based password manager to handle all your other data services.
Then when you leave, reformat and reset your phone and either try to sell off the phone you just bought, give it away or just toss it.
Go through security again without a device.
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Turn off your phone before going through customs or tsa. They can’t compel you to give your password out, but biometrics don’t fall under that category.
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better to get a cheap burner phones, than through that hassle.
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And they can refuse you entry if you don’t comply.
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Yup, that’s true.
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Doesnt work. They wont let you in if you dont unlock your phone. Same thing if you wipe it. They can refuse you for any reason.
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Well ain’t that some bull shit.
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For now anyway.
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If you bring a burner phone and they search it and see nothing on it, they'll think that suspicious too and might deny entry.
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source
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No explicit source, but it's common sense and within their abilities, keep in mind recently changed rules around searching in general have changed recently...
Border agent: I'm going to search your phone give me the password.
(eventually you agree because it's a burner)
You: Here you go
Border agent: There's nothing on this phone, no email, no pictures, nothing? What are you trying to hide?
You: Well it's a new phone I just got
Border agent: And you haven't logged into anything yet?
You: Ya.
Border agent: looks like you're trying to hide something, this isn't normal behaviour
You: start looking nervous as the border agent's tone changes
Border agent: You're looking a little nervous now, are you hiding something?
You: no, just trying to travel
Border agent: Goes away and talks to someone, then comes back and says, sorry were going to deny you.
They can deny anyone for any reason. It would ultimately come down to how you handle the situation, but DO expect to be grilled about it if you haven't set it up to look real.
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Fill it with Cat photos 😼
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I've heard past suggestions of things like Goatse
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Yup. That's a possibility. I work in security and would tell them it's just how we do things. If they send me home I will spend the week with my family instead of sitting in stupid training all week.
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Heh, about time to get factory reset on speed dial.
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You know having a freshly wiped phone right before getting searched would make you just as suscious, right. They would assume the worst about you, and either deport, or just detain you to a black site for months. Just use a burner.
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I thought that was basic opsec. Burner phone with a week of use, paid in cash on you. Real phone (if you need it) in a bag, battery removed and separate by any means. That's not just crossing borders, that's anything longer than a city bus.
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What phones have removable batteries?
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Just wild that you have to practice opsec crossing a border that used to not even ask for your passport lol
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Dude, I practice opsec crossing county lines sometimes, what's your excuse? This is how it's always been, you all are just realizing how a dude from Queens and Jersey sees the world. That's all that dumbass is. He's no better than his roots.
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Burner phone is the way to go, wherever you travel.
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Brilliant. Sometimes the obvious items we set and forget needs a reminder.
In addition, just generally, stop using biometrics and only use encrypted messaging.
If you’re not using Signal or WIRE for personal texts and FaceTime, you’re doing it wrong. It’s a new era.
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It’s not the traceability of the phone. It’s the contents of the phone.
The contents of our phones is deeply personal and some courts have ruled that makes them part of the fourth amendment protections, but it’s not made it to the Supreme Court (afaik, ianal) and border patrol doesn’t care as this case makes evident.
The benefit of a burner phone is that you don’t knock out your primary phone in order to remove “incriminating” evidence like that time your friend texted you that Donald Trump is an orange bellend.
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It's not that the border patrol doesn't care, they have an exception
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Its possible to own a phone and never use a SIM. This is the recommend option. Never connect to a cell tower. Just use WiFi.
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164 comments