I thought tech people liked hard problems ;)

Please, by all means use whatever technical measures you want at the border. My criticism was of hn commenters armchair quarterbacking, as thought the ability to bypass these checks (at great effort) makes it ok that you have no expectation of privacy.

Tech people like hard tech problems. We notoriously hate hard people problems.

I have mixed feelings on the matter. At an international border, non-citizens shouldn't have an expectation of privacy.

At the same time, this man's private sexual preferences shouldn't be used to evaluate his fitness to enter the country.

Does violating the privacy of travellers routinely actually make you safer?

It most likely does not but what you're overlooking is that it makes some people "feel" safer.