TL;DR
- Warrantless border searches of phone are up 18% this year.
- The increase has been speeding up across Q3 and Q4, and shows no signs of slowing down yet.
- If you want to keep your data private when traveling, your best solution is not to travel with it at all.
No one has any business seeing what’s on your phone — not without a judge signing off on a legitimate warrant, anyway. Yet every year at the US border, Customs agents go through tens of thousands of devices, taking advantage of the weakened legal protections afforded to travelers. If that sounds bad to you, we’ve got some even more upsetting news, as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) device searches are increasing at a disturbing rate.
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