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Customs officials have copied Americans’ phone data at scale (washingtonpost.com)
44 points by alanwong 1368 days ago
3 comments

Thankfully we know the drill already - use burner phones when visiting privacy hostile countries.

Sad for how many traditionally "free" countries that is becoming true on border crossings

Except that the U.S. is a privacy hostile country so if you live here you risk a search whenever you leave.
How does this phone data capture work? Do they need to physically plug in your phone to a machine of theirs? I travel a lot and have never been asked to hand over my phone to a customs officer.
The article suggests "10,000 electronic devices per year" so that's not every traveller, not by a long shot. They are taking some people's phones aside, plugging them in and sucking data off.