Carrying a burner phone and 7 other precautions to take when you enter Trump’s America
From encryption to deleting social media apps to leaving devices at home, advice on how to protect your digital privacy at the US border
When entering the United States through an airport or seaport, your electronic devices – laptops, phones, tablets – can be subject to search by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
A basic search involves an officer manually reviewing the device’s contents without using any external tools.
An advanced search uses specialised equipment to access, copy and analyse the data on your device. This more invasive search requires reasonable suspicion of a law being broken or a national security threat, and must be approved by a senior Customs or Border Protection official.
But border agents do not need a warrant to conduct either one of these searches.
An electronic device subject to search is any “that may contain information in an electronic or digital form, such as computers, tablets, disks, drives, tapes, mobile phones and other communication devices, cameras, music and other media players”, according to Customs and Border Protection.
We say everyone should have a plan before travel
The issue has made headlines in recent weeks after a lawyer was detained in early April at the Detroit airport by customs officials, who told him they would confiscate his phone unless he gave it to them to look through his contacts.