4 Tips to Protect Your Digital Privacy When Crossing the Border - Merit Educational Consultants
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4 Tips to Protect Your Digital Privacy When Crossing the Border

Whether you’re an American traveling abroad or a foreigner visiting the United States, you need to protect your digital privacy.  US Customs can legally search your devices and demand access to your computer and phones with little formal cause or oversight – basically breaking the 4th Amendment of our Constitution. Yup!  But there are steps you can take to make it more difficult for them to invade your privacy.  Here are 4 tips to protect you and your personal information:

#1: Lock Down Devices
Encrypt your hard drive using BitLocker or Filevault.  Turn off your devices before entering customs because you’ll have full protection with these tools when your computer is fully powered down.

#2:  Withhold your Passwords
Legally, American citizens can’t be deported for refusing to give up passwords but custom officials can detain you and they can seize your devices for months. But, they’ll have to allow you to return to the US and you will be able to go home – but your devices may be held up in a forensic facility if they really want to get into them.

#3: Phone Home
Call a friend or family member (or your lawyer) before you enter and after you get through customs to ensure that someone can represent you should you be detained.  Without your phone or devices, you may not have the ability to get legal help while in their custody.

#4: Make a Travel Kit
If you’re concerned that you may be a target of suspicion at the border, leave your computer and devices that contain all of your sensitive and private information at home.  Travel with a laptop and devices that have been wiped clean and have only the information you need for your travels. 

These tips may seem extreme, and they probably are for most of us, but if you have a Muslim name or you’re traveling to and from Muslim countries, these tips may protect you from personal invasion. To learn more about how to further protect yourself, read Wired’s article “Guide to Getting Past Customs With Your Digital Privacy Intact.”  

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