Canadian border agents increasingly being nosey with tech

[Drak3]

57 minutes ago, floofer said:

I don’t have anything to be embarrassed about down there.

I feel like some part of this is a lie.

[MoonSpot]

14 minutes ago, schwellmo92 said:

Been happening in Australia for years, I assumed most civilised countries did this (or had the powers to). I've personally had my phone gone through when returning from holiday, it was an uneasy feeling that's for sure. 

Attn: @colonel_moretits

As LTT is a civilized site, please add schwellmo92 to LTT watch list.  If the Australian Government felt they were worthy of such, who are we to question and do any less?

Feel free to forward all their 'goings on' here to their gov as well for good measure.  Oh, and BCC China, their mom(s) and that nosey unqualified porn addicted gossiping intern too; cause why not?

[Zodiark1593]

11 minutes ago, CUDAcores89 said:

or just travel with "burner" tech.

Me: "Uhm, Mr. Border Patrol, you sure you want to see my Note 7? It's got an automated self-destruct feature ya know."

[S w a t s o n]

Embarrassing, this is was supposed to be a USA meme, not a Canadian meme.

 

There is no hope left for humanity

[hobobobo]

If i ever go to NA, burner phone it is.... At least the Chinese are polite enough to hack into the phone remotly, without asking or taking it away

[Tech_Dreamer]

But..But.. Canadians are soo Nice

[Beskamir]

So... basically the solution here is to have 2 accounts on our devices so that they can access some whatever benign stuff you can deceive them with to satisfy their curiosity but still be able to protect your privacy? #proprivacyTips (and I guess by extension that means #procriminalTips too but what can we do)

[ThePointblank]

Here's the issue.

 

At the border, under current Canadian law and legal precedent, you have less rights to privacy than if you were stopped at the side of the road by a police officer. The legal basis is that since you are presenting yourself to CBSA with a request for entry into the country, any goods you have on you, including your personal belongings, is subject to examination by a border officer to determine if it is eligible for entry into the country, under the Customs Act, RSC 1985, 98.(1):

 

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-52.6/page-27.html#h-75

 

Quote

Search of the person

• 98 (1) An officer may search

  • (a) any person who has arrived in Canada, within a reasonable time after his arrival in Canada,

  • (b) any person who is about to leave Canada, at any time prior to his departure, or

  • (c) any person who has had access to an area designated for use by persons about to leave Canada and who leaves the area but does not leave Canada, within a reasonable time after he leaves the area,

  if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the person has secreted on or about his person anything in respect of which this Act has been or might be contravened, anything that would afford evidence with respect to a contravention of this Act or any goods the importation or exportation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated under this or any other Act of Parliament.

Furthermore, under the Customs Act, RSC 1985, 99.(1), Customs officers have the legal right to examine any good entering Canada up until the good is released from customs inspection:

Quote

Examination of goods

• 99 (1) An officer may

  • (a) at any time up to the time of release, examine any goods that have been imported and open or cause to be opened any package or container of imported goods and take samples of imported goods in reasonable amounts;

  • (b) at any time up to the time of release, examine any mail that has been imported and, subject to this section, open or cause to be opened any such mail that the officer suspects on reasonable grounds contains any goods referred to in the Customs Tariff, or any goods the importation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated under any other Act of Parliament, and take samples of anything contained in such mail in reasonable amounts;

  • (c) at any time up to the time of exportation, examine any goods that have been reported under section 95 and open or cause to be opened any package or container of such goods and take samples of such goods in reasonable amounts;

  • (c.1) at any time up to the time of exportation, examine any mail that is to be exported and, subject to this section, open or cause to be opened any such mail that the officer suspects on reasonable grounds contains any goods the exportation of which is prohibited, controlled or regulated under any Act of Parliament, and take samples of anything contained in such mail in reasonable amounts;

  • (d) where the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that an error has been made in the tariff classification, value for duty or quantity of any goods accounted for under section 32, or where a refund or drawback is requested in respect of any goods under this Act or pursuant to the Customs Tariff, examine the goods and take samples thereof in reasonable amounts;

  • (d.1) where the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that an error has been made with respect to the origin claimed or determined for any goods accounted for under section 32, examine the goods and take samples thereof in reasonable amounts;

  • (e) where the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that this Act or the regulations or any other Act of Parliament administered or enforced by him or any regulations thereunder have been or might be contravened in respect of any goods, examine the goods and open or cause to be opened any package or container thereof; or

  • (f) where the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that this Act or the regulations or any other Act of Parliament administered or enforced by him or any regulations thereunder have been or might be contravened in respect of any conveyance or any goods thereon, stop, board and search the conveyance, examine any goods thereon and open or cause to be opened any package or container thereof and direct that the conveyance be moved to a customs office or other suitable place for any such search, examination or opening.

In addition, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, 139, a officer has the legal right to go through your personal belongings:

Quote

Search

• 139 (1) An officer may search any person seeking to come into Canada and may search their luggage and personal effects and the means of transportation that conveyed the person to Canada if the officer believes on reasonable grounds that the person

  • (a) has not revealed their identity or has hidden on or about their person documents that are relevant to their admissibility; or

  • (b) has committed, or possesses documents that may be used in the commission of, an offence referred to in section 117, 118 or 122.

 

Furthermore, under the law, if the officer has suspicion that there's something being hidden in a good or some form of illegality, they have the legal right to have the item seized for further examination under Customs Act, RSC 1985, 111:

Quote

Seizures

Seizure of goods or conveyances

• 110 (1) An officer may, where he believes on reasonable grounds that this Act or the regulations have been contravened in respect of goods, seize as forfeit

  • (a) the goods; or

  • (b) any conveyance that the officer believes on reasonable grounds was made use of in respect of the goods, whether at or after the time of the contravention.

• Seizure of conveyances

  (2) An officer may, where he believes on reasonable grounds that this Act or the regulations have been contravened in respect of a conveyance or in respect of persons transported by a conveyance, seize as forfeit the conveyance.

• Seizure of evidence

  (3) An officer may, where he believes on reasonable grounds that this Act or the regulations have been contravened, seize anything that he believes on reasonable grounds will afford evidence in respect of the contravention.

• Notice of seizure

  (4) An officer who seizes goods or a conveyance as forfeit under subsection (1) or (2) shall take such measures as are reasonable in the circumstances to give notice of the seizure to any person who the officer believes on reasonable grounds is entitled to make an application under section 138 in respect of the goods or conveyance.

Customs officers powers are also extremely broad, under Customs Act, RSC 1985, 153, it is illegal to do anything that might hinder a customs officer's ability to carry out their tasks:

 

Quote

 

General

False statements, evasion of duties

153 No person shall

• (a) make, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the making of, false or deceptive statements in a statement or answer made orally or in writing pursuant to this Act or the regulations;

• (a.1) make, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the making of, false or deceptive statements in an application for an advance ruling under section 43.1 or a certificate referred to in section 97.1;

• (b) to avoid compliance with this Act or the regulations,

  • (i) destroy, alter, mutilate, secrete or dispose of records or books of account,

  • (ii) make, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the making of, false or deceptive entries in records or books of account, or

  • (iii) omit, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the omission of, a material particular from records or books of account; or

• (c) wilfully, in any manner, evade or attempt to evade compliance with any provision of this Act or evade or attempt to evade the payment of duties under this Act.

• R.S., 1985, c. 1 (2nd Supp.), s. 153;
• 1988, c. 65, s. 80;
• 1993, c. 44, s. 105;
• 1996, c. 33, s. 39;
• 1997, c. 14, s. 46.

Hindering an officer

153.1 No person shall, physically or otherwise, do or attempt to do any of the following:

• (a) interfere with or molest an officer doing anything that the officer is authorized to do under this Act; or

• (b) hinder or prevent an officer from doing anything that the officer is authorized to do under this Act.

 

Basically, if you have information that you don't want anyone else to see, keep it off your personal electronic devices at the border, and turn on airplane mode!

The same issue is true elsewhere; basically, the legal line of though is similar.

[Sithon1]

This is actually old news. If you watch the tv show Border Security they do this all the time to people crossing borders. Most of the time it's foreigners, who have no choice . " let us look into your device or we will refuse entrance to you". Most people comply.

[Ithanul]

17 hours ago, TetraSky said:

It's not really a new thing
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/border-phone-laptop-search-cbsa-canada-cbp-us-1.4002609
 

When you go to another country, you should expect to have your shit looked into and if you refuse to comply, have it seized and/or get refused access to the country.

 

The last line of that article I linked is quite telling

 

This sort of crap happens all the time to people travelling to the US, why shouldn't it happen when travelling to Canada?

Yep, I get to hear enough from others in my unit when we travel with hardware.

 

Folks been hung up in France, Germany, and many other countries over the hardware we have to travel with at times.  Even with official documents, border agents love to get nosey and act like they can ignore that document.

[Princess Luna]

17 hours ago, TetraSky said:

This sort of crap happens all the time to people travelling to the US, why shouldn't it happen when travelling to Canada?

It's quite insane that you can get your VISA cancelled and entrance to Canada denied if you have say furry/feral drawn pornography on the device because bestiality is a crime in Canada.

[HarryNyquist]

You know, I don't think I need to leave the US anyway.

[SenKa]

3 hours ago, Princess Luna said:

It's quite insane that you can get your VISA cancelled and entrance to Canada denied if you have say furry/feral drawn pornography on the device because bestiality is a crime in Canada.

Sounds like an oddly specific example... Do you have something to say? 

[Princess Luna]

54 minutes ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

Sounds like an oddly specific example... Do you have something to say? 

It's a true story I heard at Derpibooru (largest imageboard of MLP), person had some... erotic innocent draws of ponies on his laptop... got entrance on Canada denied due to endorsing bestiality which violates local law.

 

Makes me consider worthy having a different SSD/OS to swap your personal one during traveling

[Monkey Dust]

5 minutes ago, Princess Luna said:

It's a true story I heard at Derpibooru (largest imageboard of MLP), person had some... erotic innocent draws of ponies on his laptop... got entrance on Canada denied due to endorsing bestiality which violates local law.

 

Makes me consider worthy having a different SSD/OS to swap your personal one during traveling

Seriously? I thought the clopping off thing was a joke, I didn't realise people actually rub one out to pony porn.

[jagdtigger]

Im really glad we dont have e BS like this inside the EU....  I would have a crap ton of problem because all of my devices are encrypted and no way in hell im gonna gve up my password.

[HarryNyquist]

1 hour ago, Monkey Dust said:

Seriously? I thought the clopping off thing was a joke, I didn't realise people actually rub one out to pony porn.

You must be new to the internet. /s

[exetras]

Quote

The CBSA said that between November 2017 and March 2019, 19,515 travellers had their digital devices examined, which represents 0.015 per cent of all cross-border travelers during that period.

 

During 38 per cent of those searches, officers uncovered evidence of a customs-related offenses — which can include possessing prohibited material or undeclared goods, and money laundering, said the agency.

Most Canadians who cross over don't have to worry about this. He went to Guatemala and Columbia which are drug producing countries and said he went there to learn Spanish. it a bit suspicious. which is probably why the CBSA agents tagged him.

 

but in this case the Attorney\Client privilege needs to be respected and it will probably head up to the higher courts.

[samcool55]

It's likely the people at the border aren't very tech savvy so if you behave like the average internet derp and allow them access while hiding the goods very well (hidden partition, maybe a 2nd drive inside the laptop or something, i dunno). I guess your chances to pass without any confiscation are bigger than locking everything and not giving them any access at all.

[vanished]

Wow I am absolutely stunned.  This is so completely unacceptable it's insane.  I already had written off traveling to the US for any reason because of shit like this but now apprently I can't even leave the country.  What is this North Korea?

 

On 5/5/2019 at 2:43 PM, Zodiark1593 said:

Though I'd probably keep a heavily encrypted 2 GB flash drive with my rabbit pictures to entertain the NSA for awhile if they bite.

That's a great idea actually, just carry an absolute pile of small flash drives, like 100 of them, all with strong encryption and different passwords, and nothing at all harmful on them just to waste their time.  If everyone did this eventually they'd have to give up on this ridiculous behaviour.

 

On 5/5/2019 at 4:07 PM, MoonSpot said:

After which they can plant anything they want into said devices to incriminate political dissidents & rivals.  Hooray for the not-so-brave new world.

I don't agree at all with the rest of that post but this is so true.  It's something we might expect of Russia or China but not here at first glance but really, nothing would surprise me at this point.

 

15 hours ago, Beskamir said:

So... basically the solution here is to have 2 accounts on our devices so that they can access some whatever benign stuff you can deceive them with to satisfy their curiosity but still be able to protect your privacy? #proprivacyTips (and I guess by extension that means #procriminalTips too but what can we do)

No, the solution is to completely wipe everything before crossing so you can consent to the check and have no thing to show them.  Then, just rebuild everything using what's in your memory on the other side.  Huge PITA but apparently that's the world we live in now.  Attacked on all sides by our own governments.  I wish I was older enough to remember when it was by the people, for the people, instead of a dictatorship oppressing us in much the same way that countries our grandparents fought against did back then.

[MoonSpot]

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

 but now apprently I can't even leave the country. 

 

Comment from what appears to be Trudeau on this particular concern.

 

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I don't agree at all with the rest of that post but this is so true.  It's something we might expect of Russia or China but not here at first glance but really, nothing would surprise me at this point. 

Yeah, I got a bit hyperbolic when drawing a line in the sand.  The frack everyone else route doesn't ever work, but sometimes you got to concede a bit in the sort term so we can swing around a clean up the rest on a second pass later.

[Hellion]

Why is this even news when almost every other country has the same practices?

 

Is it bulllshit? Yes. But Canada didn't invent the wheel here...

 

Those stating that cloud storage is a viable solution are clearly very ignorant to how many data breaches take place every day with these terrible services.

[ThePointblank]

8 hours ago, jagdtigger said:

Im really glad we dont have e BS like this inside the EU....  I would have a crap ton of problem because all of my devices are encrypted and no way in hell im gonna gve up my password.

Actually, EU customs agents have similar powers; they can detain and seize personal electronic devices, and compel you to hand over the password or to unlock it for them; otherwise they have every authority to throw you in jail or deny you entry until you do so.

 

7 hours ago, exetras said:

Most Canadians who cross over don't have to worry about this. He went to Guatemala and Columbia which are drug producing countries and said he went there to learn Spanish. it a bit suspicious. which is probably why the CBSA agents tagged him.

 

but in this case the Attorney\Client privilege needs to be respected and it will probably head up to the higher courts.

Correct. CBSA looks at a person's risk profile based upon the information provided to him. Traveling to Guatemala and Columbia are already a red flag due to their status of major drug producing and smuggling countries. Traveling alone as a younger male is another red flag. And traveling to learn the local language is yet another red flag. That's 3 red flags in the basic information alone, and if the traveler appears nervous or looks like they are hiding something, you will get sent to secondary for a closer inspection.

[Gullerback]

Watching that border police/patrol tv series, you might be shocked how much drugs people try to smuggle daily from Columbia and Guatemala.  When they hear a Drug source country they almost always start asking different questions, swabbing bags for drug particles etc.   They keep doing it so more must be getting through than not.

[Zodiark1593]

34 minutes ago, Hellion said:

Why is this even news when almost every other country has the same practices?

 

Is it bulllshit? Yes. But Canada didn't invent the wheel here...

 

Those stating that cloud storage is a viable solution are clearly very ignorant to how many data breaches take place every day with these terrible services.

Clearly you neglected to consider my mentioning that data should be encrypted before sending it to the cloud. Even in the case of a breach or seizure, a potential attacker will still need to brute force your encrypted file(s) to get at them, which if done right, the data should be no longer relevant (to you) by the time it gets cracked.