How to protect your smartphone data if border agents ask for your phone
Reports say Chinese border agents are checking some smartphones for protest photos at the Hong Kong border
It looks like one of the most controversial policies of US border security is now being adopted by China: Searching through smartphones. Reports say Chinese border agents are requesting to check the phones of some Hongkongers suspected of joining anti-government protests.
Some of the city’s residents, both local and foreign, have been asked to hand in their phones for inspection when crossing the border into mainland China.
The main target appears to be pictures of anti-government protests, but some travellers revealed that immigration officers have also gone through private messages.
“They asked if I supported the protesters and kept saying that Hongkongers were bribed and manipulated by foreign forces,” one of the travellers told the Post, claiming he was kept at the border for six hours.
