Mastodawn

If you're not from the US and want to travel here. Don't.

I thought as a (German and white) visitor I'm gonna be fine.

Border and customs protection took my phone, forced me to unlock it and stole god knows what data from it. The agent was powertripping and made sure to let me know that I am powerless and he can just send me home or do godknowswhat to me.

He directly said "if you're annoying I'm just sending you home".

Apparently my trans ass was part of a "random search". Lol.

I'm fine now and with Lexi luckily. I don't know what kind of malware is on my phone, or what they took from it. I've been crying all throughout my connecting flight.

This place is a dystopian shithole. Please don't go here.

❤️

lea Mar 29, 2024

surprisingly they didn't care that I admitted to committing crimes earlier that day in multiple chats, even though I'm sure they read through those

solo Mar 29, 2024

@lea how long did they have it for??

lea Mar 29, 2024

@solonovamax 40 minutes at least

solo Mar 29, 2024

@lea I doubt they managed to read through all those messages unless they took a full device image & read it later. though your phone also might not have had said messages cached.

as for malware, I'd run through the installed apps and kill/search anything you don't recognize.

were they "major crimes" or "minor crimes"?
bc if minor crimes then tbh they won't bother with that shit, but if it's smth ""major"" they may come after you as you attempt to leave the country

gayass Mar 30, 2024

@lea what crimes

ideogram Mar 29, 2024

@lea I'm so sorry. Borders & customs are always shitful cunts.

@lea as someone from a better part of the US. Still don't come here. The only reason to visit this state anyways is medical care from Mayo Clinic, and why would you come to the country notorious for expensive medical care for medical care? Especially when you have to go through what Lea went through.

genstar.service Mar 29, 2024

@lea Isn't this what was all over the news about China???

lea Mar 29, 2024

@Genstar The difference is that china is the bad one but when the US does it it's fine

solo Mar 29, 2024

@lea @Genstar something something tiktok ban something facebook microshit goog something

mama mia Mar 29, 2024

@lea i've never experienced this level, but US CBP people can be assholes, even to me as an American citizen.

crafti Mar 29, 2024

@lea I wanna give these assholes my Pixel rebooted in repair mode and wanna see what they'll do about it

alex Mar 29, 2024

@[email protected] @lea gonna walk through tsa with my phone and watch in recovery mode

crafti Mar 29, 2024

@graphite @lea they'll just go "wtf is this, power it on"... but repair mode should be more unassuming for most folks...

alex Mar 29, 2024

@[email protected] @lea what does repair mode do?

crafti Mar 29, 2024

@graphite @lea allocates a sandbox partition, making your phone boot into that, instead of the actual data partition, so technicians and do stuff on your phone without ever touching the actual data.

for stupid people, they wouldn't notice that your phone is actually just in a decoy environment.

https://youtu.be/97F-IqTbyVw?t=73

First look at the Pixel's Repair Mode feature

YouTube

alex Mar 29, 2024

@[email protected] @lea ohhhhhhhhhhhhhg

crafti Mar 29, 2024

@graphite @lea except the "your phone is repair mode "notification, haven't tried it myself since I am on graphene and it lacks the more proprietary google features incl. feature drops

abtmtr.link: FURRY REVOLUTION Mar 29, 2024

@crafti @lea @graphite i’m sure they’ll just assume your phone is broken LOL

Voxel (old account)Mar 29, 2024

@crafti @lea @graphite Samsung has this feature too (even before Pixels), is there any difference in how it works?

Luka Rubinjoni Mar 29, 2024

@crafti @lea Something in the range from "deny entry and send you back" to "hold you without trial in an army base for twenty years, or more"

Rajnhildo Ursidino

evdonia_corner_emblem

@lea Your phone probably has to be chipped up. The US is a totalitarian hellscape.

If I go, I won’t bring my phone, at the very least.

#1 lighttpd fan Mar 29, 2024

@lea shit like this is why i keep my phone in a resettable state at all times so if i am ever forced to unlock it, i can wipe /data and hand it over without losing much

lea Mar 29, 2024

@slonkazoid I wouldn't even have been able to unless I set up a decoy PIN that triggers a wipe when entered

#1 lighttpd fan Mar 29, 2024

@lea wiping the phone is a less than 30s operation, boot into recovery and pick "Clear Data"

zephi Mar 29, 2024

@lea I wasn't planning on visiting the USA anyway because of how hostile some places are to queer people, but this sounds insane.

If someone forced me to give them my phone and do god knows what with it just so I could go into their house, I'd never speak to them again.

#Guigui 🇫🇷Mar 29, 2024

@lea it's so sad that my bf lives in the US, I feel so bad for him

lavender Mar 29, 2024

what the hell

blobfoxdeadinside

lavender Mar 29, 2024

i hope you are okay, and remember to try and change everything you can

Gaelan Steele Mar 29, 2024

@lea god, my fucking country sometimes

6x6 Mar 29, 2024

@lea I’m really sorry to say this but you need to assume they have cloned your phone. I think the EFF have some resources and guidance for this. Im sorry you got put through this, it’s disgraceful.

@lea if i thought traveling to a different country was hard enough now i have to factory reset my phone every time i go through customs? fun

Frikisada Mar 29, 2024

@lea my travelling to the US plan of getting a freshly formatted older phone with me seems more like a valid option and less one of my paranoid delusions

neocat_flag_demiguy

@lea That is so fucked up. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I feel like every day I find another reason to wish I didn't live here.

I hope the rest of your trip is better than this and you get back out safely

Bill Hooker Mar 29, 2024

@lea Boosted for reach. I'm so sorry this happened to you.

Atomic Fox Mar 29, 2024

Borders in general are an embodiment of oppression.

US border control in particular tends to behave as though the whole world is filled with people who are rushing in to destroy the USA. From my observation, most of the people trying to destroy the USA were born here.

PedestrianError

@tsukkitsune Whereas actually the USA is filled with people (if you can call billionaires and their lackeys that) who are rushing to destroy the whole world.

Cassana 🍻Mar 29, 2024

@lea I’m sorry this happened to you, but yes, they’re technically allowed to check phones and laptops, however with good reason and without power tripping (yeah right?). I went to the US last year and had eveything powered down and stored away, and encrypted even so. Still, border checks were rather paranoid, except for my outbound flight, where they just waved me through.. I hope the rest of your trip will be a lot less stressful. :)

MylesRyden Mar 29, 2024

Let me just apologize for most of the people of my country. I am very sorry for your experience.

But I agree, it would be best if we just came to you rather than you returning here. I hope to see you on the road, somewhere other than the US, sometime!

Vel, Velvet, Velveteen Mar 29, 2024

@lea Yeah, the same thing happened to me twice. They said it was because I was coming to visit for 3 months which is the max time allowed by the ESTA. It's super gross.

SnugglyBun (mk.absturztau.be edition)Mar 29, 2024

@lea wew, i wanted to come to the USA to finally see if i could met with a lot of my friends i know online who are stuck in that fascist ethnostate disguised as a fair democracy.
but now after stories like this i want them to get out from there as soon as possible.
also honestly i wonder where i'm gonna live? my country Argentina is seeing it's biggest turn to the far-right since the latest military coup. Our current president is a fucking piece of shit who is enforcing genocide denial, has led to even more inequality and poverty, has given even more power to the police state, sides with Israel, is destroying LGBT and BIPOC rights, etc.

lea Mar 29, 2024

@SnugglyBun That's the reason I'm here as well (currently with my girlfriend <3), but next time I'll make her come to Germany instead. I'm not going through this hell again

Personally, I'd say Germany and the surrounding countries are fine right now. I don't think this sort of thing could happen here, and people have actual basic rights here

Jes - Hedgehog Edition Mar 29, 2024

@lea as someone from the US, it's that bad even if you're from the US. say you accidentally go too far from detroit into canada, if you turn around and go back your car gets turned upside down and you get searched.
if you do the same on mexico it's even worse.

Log 🪵Mar 29, 2024

@lea The US hires your childhood bully as its cops. And it's seriously considering turning its civil cold war into Civil War 2: the Racism That Never Died. Your state department/ministry would also recommend not going, if it were brave enough.

Gosunkugi Mar 29, 2024

@lea I could sworn I read they weren't allowed to demand to open phones/laptops anymore. Fuck. This sucks, I am really sorry.

lea Mar 29, 2024

@Gosunkugi That applies to normal cops I think, but the border guard people can basically do whatever they want to foreigners as far as I know

Larry Mar 29, 2024

@lea
You had a typical border experience. Once you make it in there, assuming you don't have to interface with their law enforcement nor medical 'systems,' you may have a pleasant visit.

@lea I went there once and I was sweating and worrying about CBP wanting to check me all over but they just waved me through

still, I don't think that it's worth it to go there a second time

neofox_peek_owo

@me I've seen it generally recommended to cross borders with a blank factory set phone if you have any concerns relating to things on your phone being seen by border agents

@jessienab but won't that raise suspicion and thus make them kick you out?

eepymeowers Mar 29, 2024

@lea isn't what they did to you illegal????

lea Mar 29, 2024

@[email protected] as a traveler you basically have no rights here, especially at the border :(

Noyesster Mar 29, 2024

@lea this is why I’m trying to get out of the US. It’s not much better for those of us who live here and it’s getting worse every day. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like depending on how the upcoming election goes. It’s terrifying

spinny_cat_androgyne

@lea forcing you to unlock it is a direct violation of the fifth amendment. they illegally forced you into it.

GOD airports suck here. i've been sexually assaulted twice, once by tsa giving me a "totally normal pat down"

spinny_cat_androgyne

@lea oh this article is actually super helpful https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/04/bill-rights-border-fifth-amendment-protections-account-passwords-and-device

The Bill of Rights at the Border: Fifth Amendment Protections for Account Passwords and Device Passcodes

This is the third and final installment in our series on the Constitution at the border. Today, we’ll focus on the Fifth Amendment and passwords. Click here for Part 1 on the First Amendment or Part 2 on the Fourth Amendment. Lately, a big question on everyone's mind has been: Do I have to give my...

Electronic Frontier Foundation

@ezra @lea
I may not want to go to that dystopia, but it needs to be shared.

@lea hello android repair mode

Mari [MOVED]Mar 29, 2024

@lea the US is pretty awful but sadly the majority of countries are worse still.

BenderIsGreat34 Mar 29, 2024

@lea I will never travel via the US again. Nightmare. They held us in a room for no apparent reason - myself, my wife and our baby. All we were doing was flying to Frankfurt via Seattle, originating from Vancouver, BC. Never again. I have no desire to enter the US again.

James Lee Jobe Mar 29, 2024

It's always been this way in my lifetime. And now? Worse. When the Patriot Act was passed it was the most fascist law we've passed since WW2. They can snatch up anybody.