UK Police Charge Activist for Refusing to Hand Over Passwords(motherboard.vice.com) |
UK Police Charge Activist for Refusing to Hand Over Passwords(motherboard.vice.com) |
Love to see any/all the interesting info one can find from the politicians.
I have sadly seen people commenting on similar articles on HN about how they don't ever plan to visit the US over these searches. Even a NASA engineer got searched.
Plus TSA has been known to steal also. I hope private jets become cheaper some day to avoid all this, well there are jet sharing programs. Drive straight to the runway and take off :) I guess if you have a huge company like Google or Apple, a private jet is basically free with all the write offs. Probably boosts productivity without all the waiting in lines.
I'm a US born citizen and I don't even look forward to flying. I haven't yet in my life but do want to fly and travel more someday. Every single day lately there's aways some news story about some major airline messing with people, or some story is talked about back to back on every news program involving the TSA.
Of course, as a fairly unremarkable middle-aged white guy, I didn't get stopped at all.
If I'd fly to the US (unlikely), I'd definitely wipe my phone or leave it at home. But since I'm also 'unremarkable', I'm now wondering if perhaps the chance of getting into trouble is ridiculously small for me, and that perhaps I'm in a bit of a bubble of my own going through all this (pointless) trouble to be 'safe'.
Surprised more app developers are not creating solutions to this kind of thing - e.g. some form of multisig authorisation to access certain files or 2FA that relies on the second factor only being available at times access is genuinely needed.
So technical solutions would simply be to have a backup somewhere, with no trace of the backup software on the device itself. Get to where you're going, go to the website, or download the app, or plug it into another computer, and restore your data from the internet via access codes you have memorized. Or simply travel with a device dedicated for travel, and not your personal goings on.
But obviously, technical solutions don't solve the root poison, which is government destruction of rights and social health in the name of "protecting our rights and society from terrorists".
Also, what's to stop them from asking for your email or other account passwords?
There's no technological solutions to things like this, only political ones.
e.g. I send a partial key to my cousin and grandmother which live in another country. When crossing borders I then logout and cannot log back in without their part of the key. A local judge will not be able to compel someone in another country to cooperate - and my grandmother's local judge will not be able to compel her since the request is being made in another country.
Kind of hokey - but maybe it works?
The problem is that HN-types want to assert cryptographic power over agents of governments, ie I won't show you my files and you can't make me so I win.
I only know US border control considerations and they can only legally ask for access to what you have on you when you cross the border. If you are an American citizen (or permanent resident) you can decline, and they may well seize your device(s) but cannot deny you entrance. If you are a visitor to the US they can legally deny you entry if you do not comply with their vague and ever changing requests.
But in neither scenario could they legally demand access to a backup copy: they can only ask for access to items in your possession while crossing the border, otherwise they would need to get a warrant.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/business/border-enforc...
If you do not have even the ability to comply, justifying contempt becomes increasingly difficult.
As a traveller, just before going through security you wipe your device and "sell" it to a vendor in exchange for a voucher that will allow you to exchange it back when you land and go through the security at your destination. You take the new device, provision it with your cloud data, and go on your visit; when you go back, you go through this process again, in the other direction.
Lots of problems to be solved with that idea, not the least of which is the business model, but it would allow you to travel without any electronics on your person.
Alternatively keep the main OS on a USB or hard drive, and get that in/out of the country by other means.
There are other options. Generally, carrying obviously visible sensitive files with you in person is not a necessity.
Here's another example that might make this more clear. Let's say I embezzle a million dollars from my employer, and they sue me to get it back. (Let's just pretend that I avoid criminal charges for simplicity.) When they win and I tell them, "I can't comply, I gave it to my cousin in France to hold on to," what do you think the judge does? I'll tell you what the judge does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Beatty_Chadwick (This only applies to the U.S.. I suppose in the U.K. you would do two years and then be released.)
You really want something that looks like an in-use device and gives no hint that you have sensitive files stored anywhere else.