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Comment by orbitingpluto | Hacker News Reader

Why would you cross any border with electronics with data on them? Especially if you went to 33C3? Especially in this climate?

Why didn't you just SSH everything? You can easily resync your contacts/data on your phone after you cross the border. You can keep the few you must have on the recently reset phone. If you travel often, why don't you have a second phone for just this to save you time?

I'd think most of us have tech junk piling up. It's less effort to reset or have a 'travel drive' than top go through all the paperwork to (maybe) get stuff back.

Maximum laziness. If customs asks you to unlock your phone, nothing gets you through quicker then quick unquestioning compliance. (Of course the current climate is stupid and needs to change.)

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I travel with my wife and 2 kids. I have NOTHING! And yet, I am hyper aware of how I might be perceived.

It's one thing to fight the good fight! And its another to poke the bear.

I don't agree with your "maximum laziness", perhaps the author was arrogant? Or ignorance?

I love the idea of porn on a burner phone, but even then... (Legal) porn has a very different meaning in different countries. The author is really playing with fire.

Scott Adams (Dilbert guy) suggested a few months ago a "Better Surrender Technique"[1]. Surely this could be applied to the U.S. Customs...

[1] http://blog.dilbert.com/post/147192672916/better-surrender-t...

When I said maximum laziness, I tend to think of things in maximizing the expected value of my time.

Crossing the border with $3-4k in electronics? Say there's a 5% chance they demand passwords & access. I don't want some nosepicker TSA agent going through my stuff. Refusal to give access means I lose it.

So E(X) is $150-200 worth of my time. That means an old i5 laptop. If I need anything I can grab an SSH key off the web somewhere that lets me get another SSH key somewhere else...

Plus, you're more at risk of your stuff being stolen when traveling anyway. You shouldn't be risking all of your data getting taken away for good. Even if you comply, that doesn't mean they won't take everything away from you. That raises the potential loss significantly.

And fuck Dilbert. I bet that guy has late stage syphilis by now. He's becoming increasingly deranged and disconnected from reality. Oh, the irony.

Placing your hands outside the car window is the standard procedure for a felony police stop. This will signal to the police officer that you have been stopped for a felony driving infraction in the past or are a felon. This is dangerous advice to give anyone already afraid of being profiled by police.

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