"Planning an international trip? Travelers should prepare for the possibility of extra scrutiny of their phones when crossing borders, especially when entering the United States.

The Canadian government warned travelers in a recent travel advisory that U.S. border agents are entitled to search your electronic devices and “don’t need to provide a reason when requesting a password to open your device.”

Some recent cases have made travelers nervous about their privacy, such as when a Brown University professor with a U.S. visa was deported to Lebanon after border agents found a photo of Hezbollah’s leader on her phone.

“While 100% privacy may be impossible in these situations, there are a few things you can easily do that make it much harder for someone to see your private data even with physical access to your device,” said Patricia Egger, head of security at encrypted service Proton Mail.

Here are tips on protecting your device privacy while travelling:"

https://apnews.com/article/internet-privacy-smartphones-travel-e0a3146ae7966ea0e4157dbfae1f6a81

#USA #BorderControl #Surveillance #Privacy #Smartphones

"Some of the most picturesque landscapes in the United States can be found along the border with Mexico. Yet, from San Diego’s beaches to the Sonoran Desert, from Big Bend National Park to the Boca Chica wetlands, we see vistas marred by the sinister spread of surveillance technology, courtesy of the federal government.

EFF refuses to let this blight grow without documenting it, exposing it, and finding ways to fight back alongside the communities that live in the shadow of this technological threat to human rights.

Here’s a galley of images representing our work and the new developments we’ve discovered in border surveillance in 2024."

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/12/exposing-surveillance-us-mexico-border-2024-year-review-pictures

#USA #Mexico #Surveillance #BorderSurveillance #BorderControl