LogFAQs > #984466956

Be warned, however, that denying customs officials access can at the very least lead to hours of uncertain detention in a bleak, windowless CBP office. At some US airports and in various states, court rulings have put limitations and restrictions on what CBP officials can do to access your devices, but theres little guarantee those restrictions will be followed in practice if border agents have your computer or phone in their custody without oversight.

Broadly, the CBP outlines two types of device searches: basic, where an officer manually reviews a devices content; and an advanced search where a device is connected to external equipment and its contents can be reviewed, copied, or analyzed. The latter search requires a reasonable suspicion of a crime, CBP says. The agencys official guidance avoids explicitly saying people are required to hand over passwords, skirting around the issue by saying devices should be presented in a condition that allows for the examination.

If the electronic device cannot be inspected because it is protected by a passcode or encryption or other security mechanism, that device may be subject to exclusion, detention, or other appropriate action or disposition, the agency says online.

For non-Americans coming to the US on a visa or from a visa-waiver country, Wessler warns that they face a far starker dilemma: Refuse to give up a passcode or PIN and you may be denied entry. Theres a very practical assessment people have to make about what's most important to them, he says. Getting into the country but sacrificing privacy or protecting your privacybut risking that you may be turned around at the border.

Minimize the Data You Carry

For the most vulnerable travelers, theres one clear solution to that dilemma: The best way to keep customs away from your data is simply not to travel with it. Instead, like Lackey, set up travel devices that store the minimum of sensitive data. Don't link those "dirty" devices to your personal accounts, and when you do have to create a linked accountas with an Apple ID for iOS devicescreate fresh ones with unique usernames and passwords. "If they ask for access and you cant refuse, you want to be able to give them access without losing any sensitive information," says Lackey.

(Social media accounts, admittedly, can't be so easily ditched. Some security experts recommend creating secondary personas that can be offered up to customs officials while keeping a more sensitive account secret. But if CBP agents do link your identity with an account you tried to hide, the result could be longer detention and, for noncitizens, even denial of entry.)

If you cant create a separate travel device, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also suggests logging out of apps and cloud servicessuch as Google Drive, or MicrosoftOne Driveso that border agents cant access documents or data you are storing remotely. Backing up data, such as photos or files, to the cloud services before you travel can help to remove data from the phone.

The only sure way to protect yourself is to not carry information with you or to carry as little as possible, says the ACLUs Wessler. As long as you have a device and there's stuff on it, that's potentially vulnerable to search.

That vulnerability to search comes in part from the fact that privacy rights for digital devices at the border remains troublingly unsettled in US law, says UC Davis law professor Elizabeth Joh. While the Supreme Court decision in Riley v. California in 2014 declared warrantless searches of devices at the time of arrest unconstitutional, no case has set such a precedent for the American bordermuch less for non-Americans seeking those same privacy rights.

Since 2014, several federal appeals courts have come to conflicting opinions about when its constitutional for customs and border agents to search electronic devices, but the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in. Until it does, the border zone will remain in a kind of legal limbo.

The government, after all, has the power to open bags crossing into its territory or even dismantle cars to search for contraband, Joh points out. "What does that mean in an age when people bring their digital devices across borders? The Supreme Court hasnt spoken to that issue," Joh says. "The real problem here is there's still no good set of protections for a portal into your private life."