Now I want to go to Canada repeatedly just to get them to try to decrypt my phone. "You know, I don't recall the darn password. I'll just go have a seat while you do your thing."

I'd be interested to know if they could!

They won't. They'll just keep the phone and send you on your way. You might be lucky if you get it back in 4 months likely never.

In civilized countries stealing is against the law...

Civilized countries just call it something else, like "civil forfeiture", and then make it the "law".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United...

It might be fun to include some variety . Hotel reservations all stored on Minidisc. Family photos on zip drives.

A 5¼ inch floppy disk has gotta be pretty good "security" at the border in 2018.

Make sure the zip disk has the click of death.

Best case result of this is you sitting there for several hours, and then them deciding to seize the device anyways.

It would be interesting. However those people can vindictive and if you fall in their crosshairs they can ruin your life. I wouldn't mess with them just because at least.

My experience is that entering Canada is a little less of a problem and that it's only become more of a problem due to pressure on the Canadians from the US to beef up their border security or else. The more strict checks seem to apply both to Canadians and non-Canadians. And entering Canada, the law is not actually suspended at the border and its vicinity .. unlike some other places.

That said I've travelled dozens of times in a multitude of ports of entries and the vast majority of people have no problem, they're not searched, they're not detained. I haven't seen anyone standing in front of me in line have a problem either. You can avoid 99% of the problem by being polite, answering questions truthfully, and treating the border guards with respect. Yeah, it sucks if they have a bad day and they're rude to you or they ask you invasive questions, just play along and be nice. You'll be fine. If you are suspicious or if you piss them off they will potentially make your day very very bad.

All that said, I think the land border between the US and Canada should just be open.

By the way, you can also go on vacation without a phone ;) disconnecting will make your vacation better!

I don't know about that. They were a royal pain in the 90's if you had a bus of high school students. I remember them grabbing a couple of girls (didn't even talk to them first) and taking them away while not allowing the adult counselors to be with them. That lasted about an hour and the girls were crying when they returned. They also kept a group of buses their for multiple hours. I'm not even sure what they were looking for.

The US side would nod their heads and says there was nothing to be done about it.

I entered Canada a couple of times in the 90s and it was basically cursory look at my passport + have a nice a day. Something like 5 seconds. Today I am a Canadian citizen and overall the experience is much worse than it used to be in the 90s or even 10 years ago.

Which border crossing had those incidents? So those girls were on the bus with you, they came back crying, and you have no idea why? Is there more context here?

Just sort of to tie this in to current events, some guy just drove into Canada without stopping the other day: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/driver-who-skipped-...

Now by luck police spotted the vehicle in Vancouver and tried to pull it over.

If someone tried this sort of stunt going the other direction what do you think would happen?

> And entering Canada, the law is not actually suspended at the border and its vicinity

So police in Canada can demand your unlocked phone at any point, not just at the border?

Well, possibly. My point is that in Canada, at least on paper "Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.". Now obviously this is always work in progress and there are situations where asserting your rights is a problem, but people should follow up on these incidents and they do have recourse. Unlike some other places.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check...

"The context of the search, and the activity that brings a person into contact with the state, can have an impact on the person’s reasonable expectation of privacy."

...

"The degree of personal privacy expected at borders, where travellers expect to be searched, is lower than in other enforcement situations (R. v. Simmons, [1988] 2 S.C.R. 495 at page 528; Monney at paragraph 34; R. v. Jacques, [1996] 3 S.C.R. 312 at paragraph 18).

The expectation of privacy is reduced in the school setting in relation to the responsibility of teachers and other school authorities to provide a safe environment and maintain order and discipline in the school (M.(M.R.)).

Prisons carry a decreased expectation of privacy (Weatherall; R. v. Conway, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1659). However, the lowered expectation of privacy within a prison does not allow the seizure without a warrant of bodily samples taken as part of a medical examination (R. v. Dorfer (1996), 104 C.C.C. (3d) 528 (B.C.C.A.))."