this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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Leopards Ate My Face
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AFAIK the current rules for citizens are:
If your phone has a biometric ID -- face unlock, fingerprint unlock, etc. they can just force you to unlock it. If it has a password they can't.
They can take your electronics and refuse to give them back. If your phone is locked with a password, they can't force you to give them the password, but they're allowed to keep it, and then use a tool to break into it, so they can search through everything on it. Eventually they have to return it, but there's no requirement to do it quickly. Think months, not hours.
In theory, they're not supposed to search your devices while they're online, so they're only searching whatever's stored locally on the phone, but reports are that they don't actually follow this rule.
The only thing that's different for citizens is that they can't refuse you entry into the country. You can still be forced to surrender your electronics, but you're supposed to be allowed to proceed.
Now, that's the "old way". Those are the Biden-era rules, and they frequently bent or broke those rules. You can guess how much they're bending and breaking the rules now that Trump will let them get away with anything.