Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the Data On Your Devices and In the Cloud | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Contents

• Download

• Executive Summary

• Part 1: Digital Privacy Guide for Travelers

• What is the Border?

• Risk Assessment Factors

• Factors About You

• Factors About Your Data and Devices

• Before You Arrive at the Border

• Talk to Your Employer

• Minimize the Data That You Carry Across the Border

• Protect What You Carry Over The Border

• Social Media and Online Accounts

• When You Are at the Border

• What to Expect

• Basic Rules for Everyone

• Try to Avoid Implicit “Consent”

• What Could Happen When You Comply With An Order?

• If You Comply With an Order, Should You State That It Is Under Protest?

• What Could Happen if You Refuse To Comply With an Order?

• Should You Attempt to Persuade the Agents to Withdraw Their Order?

• After You Leave the Border

• Make a Record of What Happened

• Change Your Passwords and Login Credentials

• Government Offices That May Help You

• Part 2: Constitutional Rights, Government Policies, and Privacy at the Border

• The Law of Border Searches and Seizures

• The Fourth Amendment at the Border: Digital Privacy

• The Default Constitutional Privacy Rule

• The Border Search Exception

• The Exception to the Exception: “Non-Routine” Searches

• Border Searches of Digital Devices

• Interior Checkpoints

• The First Amendment at the Border: Freedom to Privately Speak, Associate, Acquire Information, and Gather News

• The Fifth Amendment at the Border: Freedom From Self-Incrimination

• Passwords

• Fingerprints

• The First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment Intersection at the Border: Freedom From Discrimination

• Consent: Waiving Constitutional Rights at the Border

• What If You Are Not a U.S. Citizen?

• Federal Policies and Practices on Digital Searches

• Federal Agencies that Oversee the Border

• Device Search Policies

• Search

• Seizure

• Searching Social Media and Other Cloud Content Without Using Travelers’ Devices

• Part 3: The Technology of Privacy Protection

• Encryption

• Understanding Weaker Screen-Lock or User Account Passwords

• Strong Full-Disk Storage Encryption

• Activating Encryption

• Choosing a Strong Password

• Do Not Forget Your Password

• Turn Off Your Device

• Secure Deletion and Forensics

• Some “Deleted” Information is Not Really Deleted

• Overview of Secure Deletion

• Built-In Factory Reset Features

• Wiping Hard Drives and Removable Media

• Individual File Secure Deletion

• Clearing Free Space

• Flash Media

• Encryption and Secure Deletion

• Cloud Storage

• The Role of Cloud Storage in a Border Data Protection Strategy

• Forensics

• Risks Associated with Cloud Storage

• Personal Cloud Storage

• More Elaborate Data Minimization Ideas

• Conclusion