Hi all,
I am travelling soon to the US, for my vocation and as a long-time private person I will be taking some steps to maintain my privacy as I enter the country.
As this is an interesting area of the topic, I have decided to throw the question open to all of you.
What precautions (IT, physical, mental, otherwise) do you undertake when travelling internationally?
M.
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A lot of the comments here are straight up nuts. Do what you do at home. If that’s a VPN, go for it. If you rawdog it, whatevs.
Https is on almost everything at this point, so just be smart like normal.
I doubt anyone cares enough to bug you that much.
You weren’t kidding, holy shit. Like, I understand wanting to make sure that your privacy is protected at all costs, but at the same time some of these suggestions sound straight up tinfoil hat.
The US is not some fucked up dystopian police state where everyone is “out to get” the next person they see on the street (but I’ll wholeheartedly agree that some parts are absolute shit). No, there aren’t cities where if you blink all your shit’s gonna be stolen (parts of some, sure). In fact, most people will actually actively try to lend a hand, the worst that might happen is a total stranger ignores you when it’s obvious you may need help with something.
Idk, as an American who’s travelled the US quite a bit, I guess it kinda pisses me off when I see generalizing statements like those. Just like it would literally anyone else.
Edit: if you’re truly worried, why not just stay home or something?
Guessing you’ll take a burner phone? On arrival and Dep in Aus they can demand you open it and they can search anything. If you refuse they quarantine your phone for 14 days and prob use some Israeli software to access the contents
and prob use some Israeli software to access the contents
wut?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)
Not quite how that one works, but I believe that was the intended reference.
Last time I completely re-flashed my phone and only loaded it up with some “travel” accounts that were very basic. It was quite a lot of hassle, though.
This time I think I will just sign out of and delete any cloud services/accounts of concern (including my password safe) from the phone. I will sanitise it of anything I don’t want getting into anothers hands.
Once I am safely across the border I can re-download/install what I need.
Here are some helpful links from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) on the topic:
https://www.eff.org/wp/defending-privacy-us-border-guide-travelers-carrying-digital-devices
https://www.eff.org/files/2017/03/10/digital-privacy-border-2017-guide3.10.17.pdf
https://www.eff.org/files/2018/01/11/border-pocket-guide-2.pdf
https://www.eff.org/issues/border-searches
I’m sure there’s more that I haven’t put here, feel free to sift through the search page
Having lived in the U.S. my whole life, (and this doesn’t speak for everyone), it’s not the dystopia people make it out to be all the time. In fact, people will likely judge you for wearing a face mask. If you care about hiding your face, sunglasses and a cap is enough. Remember to be reasonable with your threat model!
You absolutely can opt out of facial recognition at the TSA! But you have to be on your guards and make sure you request it! They might fake not knowing so you should insist!
If I just would have known it earlier.
It was quite the surprise when boarding the return flight without having to show any baoarding passes.
