Adam Schwartz, Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who fights for digital privacy and civil liberties. He explains why U.S. border searches of phones and laptops are increasing. He describes what counts as the border, how immigration status changes risk, and practical steps to prepare devices, handle inspections, and preserve legal options.
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volunteer_activism ADVICE
Enable Two-Factor And Use A Password Manager
Turn on two-factor authentication and use a password manager to generate long unique passwords for iCloud and other important accounts.
Kerry Parker recommends LastPass and switching iCloud from older two-factor verification to the newer two-step authentication for stronger security.
insights INSIGHT
Border Law Treats Phones As Exceptionally Sensitive
U.S. border law treats physical bags and electronic devices very differently for privacy purposes.
Adam Schwartz explains phones contain orders of magnitude more intimate data than a bag, making warrantless device searches a catastrophic privacy invasion.
insights INSIGHT
Massive Surge In Border Device Searches
Border device searches spiked massively: ~5,000/year in 2010–2015, ~25,000 in 2016, and projected >100,000 for 2017.
Adam links this to more powerful tools like Cellebrite and proposed border staffing increases, raising future search risk.
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What are your rights at the border? It depends on your immigration status, and even US citizens will not enjoy their usual Constitutional rights in this situation. This is an important topic that should not be overlooked. I have a insightful and revealing discussion with Adam Schwartz from the Electronic Frontier Foundation about the recent escalation in US border searches of electronic devices. We’ll discuss what’s happening and how you can prepare for potential searches at the border, and why this is important for every citizen whether you plan to leave the country or not.
Adam Schwartz is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Adam works to ensure that new technologies expand instead of shrink our privacy, freedom of speech, and other civil liberties. Before joining EFF, Adam worked as a Senior Staff Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. Adam graduated in 1995 from the Howard University School of Law.
Also, in the news this week: 600M iCloud accounts are purported to have been hacked – are you at risk? And the Senate has taken the first step towards allowing your internet service and cell phone providers to once again do whatever they please with your web surfing and app usage data. I’ll tell you how much you need to worry about these and what you can do about them!
For Further Insight:
Website: https://eff.org/
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EFF
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eff/
Additional Sources For You:
https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017
https://medium.freecodecamp.com/ill-never-bring-my-phone-on-an-international-flight-again-neither-should-you-e9289cde0e5f
https://act.eff.org/action/don-t-let-congress-undermine-our-online-privacy
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