What Are Your Rights if Border Agents Want to Search Your
Phone?
… American border
agents have the legal authority to conduct searches at the United States border
that a police officer on the street wouldn’t. Laws created that allow agents to search bags
without a judge’s approval, for purposes of immigration or security compliance,
have been extended to digital devices.
… Can agents force
you to unlock your phone or laptop?
No. But they can ask you to comply voluntarily and
make the experience rather uncomfortable if you resist. Travelers must decide
how much trouble they’re willing to put up with.
You may end up
losing your device, since agents could seize
the device for weeks before it is returned. They could also copy the data. (That data must be destroyed “as expeditiously
as possible” if it is not valuable, according to Homeland
Security policy.)
… Can agents force
you to turn over social media passwords?
No. But those who unlock their phones are most
likely giving agents full access to their social media accounts, even if they
don’t tell them the passwords.
(Related). “Papers,
fingerprints, retina and iris scans, blood sample and full DNA workup please, Comrade
Citizen.”
Biometric Checkpoints in Trump’s America
President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban
called for, among other things, the speedy completion of a “biometric
entry-exit tracking system” for all travelers to the United States.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the idea has been
debated in Washington for more than a decade. The implementation of such a system was one of
the recommendations from the sprawling document known as the 9/11 Report, published
13 years ago by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States.
In fact, members of Congress mandated the
creation of an enhanced entry-exit database before the attacks of 2001, as part
of immigration reform in 1996. After the
September 11 attacks, Congress set a 2006 deadline for the implementation the
system, and specified that agencies government-wide—not just “scattered units
at Homeland Security and the State Department”— should be able to access it. When the federal government missed that
deadline, Congress issued a new target for 2009.
… Keeping track of
foreigners who are coming and going, the thinking goes, could prevent a
terrorist attack from being carried out in the United States by non-citizens
overstaying their visas. The “large
majority of jihadist terrorists in the United States,” however, have been
American citizens or legal residents, according to a terrorism-tracking
project by the think tank New America. “Every jihadist who conducted a lethal attack
inside the United States since 9/11 was a citizen or legal resident,” according
to New America’s research.
I’m not sure I get this at all. Is there an international body that enforces
the Geneva Conventions? Would this apply
only during wars or do we need new definitions of “armed” conflict? Did any company in any country at war ever
declare itself “neutral” and refuse to contribute to the war effort?
'Digital Geneva Convention' needed to deter nation-state
hacking: Microsoft president
Microsoft President Brad Smith on Tuesday pressed the
world's governments to form an
international body to protect civilians from state-sponsored
hacking, saying recent high-profile attacks showed a need for global norms to
police government activity in cyberspace.
Countries need to develop
and abide by global rules for cyber attacks similar to those established for
armed conflict at the 1949 Geneva Convention that followed World War Two, Smith
said. Technology companies, he added,
need to preserve trust and stability online by pledging neutrality in cyber
conflict.
Interesting. Isn’t
there some old law about record retention?
Trump staffers using app that deletes their messages: report
Trump administration staffers are reportedly communicating
by using an encrypted messaging app that erases messages shortly after they
have been received.
The
Washington Post reported on Tuesday that officials were using the app,
called Confide, to avoid being caught
talking to the media, as President Trump moves to crack down on
leaks.
The Post report followed a report from Axios
last week that reported Confide had become a favorite app for Republican
staffers.
… The reports
raise questions though about the possible violation of federal records keeping
laws that require certain government employees to use their official email
address for communications. [Thought so.
Bob]
“The whole f---ing campaign was about Hillary's emails and
now Trump's team is violating the Presidential Records Act by using Confide,” tweeted former
Obama staffer Tommy Vietor.
Am I missing the clues? I read this as, ‘our earlier guesses were
wrong.’
New clues into how FBI cracked the iPhone
The FBI has released highly redacted contract solicitation
documents it sent to companies when trying to crack the iPhone of Syed Farook,
one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December 2015.
… However, both
Thompson and Locaria say that formatting within the documents released last
week by the FBI suggests that the bureau went to a company that is not already
a government contractor. Cellebrite has
been a government contractor for several years.
… "It's odd
they're redacting requirements that don't identify the contractor
specifically," he said.
“There are several clauses that only require offerors to
make certain representations,” such as certifying that they have an affirmative
action plan in place. “The fact they
redact them may indicate that they are not in compliance with these traditional
government contract requirements,” he added.
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