Alissa Azar1d ago

Seeing a lot of “how to prepare” type posts for ICE at airports, which is great… but almost every post I’m seeing has said to turn off biometrics (great) and turn your phone off completely while going through security.

As someone who has been given an insanely difficult time at airports the past 3 years, please don’t rely on turning your phone off alone. It might work for some people, but I’m not allowed past security without showing all of my electronics turn on, and they have to remain on until I get through.

I have quite a few posts detailing my experiences. If it’s helpful I can try to dig them up and reshare. I know it won’t be the same for everyone, but what I go through is pretty intense and maybe getting an idea of some of the things they do will help.

Show threadLukefromDC

@alissaazar Note that a phone which is on but "before first unlock" (not decrypted) is exactly as secure as if it was off if it previously spent a few minutes in the off state to clear RAM contents.

This is because anyone can push a power button, but the passphrase has not been entered. So long as biometrics is not enabled they cannot get in. They should not be able to steal the phone in domestic travel but can in international travel. If its graphene this won't help them one bit as Cellbrite can't get in, and supposedly US citizens can re-enter even after defying demands to answer questions beyond citiizenship/identity or decrypt devices.

Real world: protecting your privacy and those around you might mean having to accept the risk of being denied boarding. In domestic travel there is usually at least Greyhound as an alternative if this happens.

I would not advise anyone to travel into the US internationally now. This is Nazi Germany 2.0, if you can get out best advice is to stay out until the civil war here is over.

Mar 23 at 7:05pmWeb