What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?

Re:What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at t... by DashRattlesnake on Thursday February 16, 2017 @05:26PM (#13664160)

> But non-citizens, possibly including LPRs, cannot: if an alien attempts to cross the border with a device they can't unlock "because they don't have the corresponding 2FA token with them" (as one friend suggested they do), they'll be detained, their devices confiscated, and then put on a flight out of the country.

Wouldn't an OK mitigation be to give the device to a US citizen for the border crossing? The US citizen could legitimately say it's not mine, it's my friend's and I don't know their password. The alien would have no item to be unlocked.

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Re:What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at t... by infinite8s on Friday February 17, 2017 @05:56AM (#13667378)

If you were traveling with said friend (you being the foreign national and friend being the US citizen), CBP would just make you unlock your own phone. This is not like a logic game you can outwit.

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Re:What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at t... by DashRattlesnake on Tuesday February 21, 2017 @12:22PM (#13697332)

> If you were traveling with said friend (you being the foreign national and friend being the US citizen), CBP would just make you unlock your own phone. This is not like a logic game you can outwit.

It's not a logic game, you're just adding hurdles to the search which make it less likely, and leaning on the legal privileges of the citizen. To do what you propose, CBP would have to flag the citizen for search and connect them to the foreign national before they pass immigration and customs. If they manage to do that, the foreign national needs to comply. If compliance is not an option for them, this idea won't work.

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