Free to get fucked over

I've come to believe that was actually a typo. The correct title is "land of the fee".

Land of the free™

Oh, because they are outside US borders they claim not to need a warrant, but that doesn't stop them using US law to prosecute him though.

I think the supreme court has said they can search phones without warrants at the border and points of entry, so airports.

well they have the "border search exception" so at the border, no, they generally do not need a warrant for "routine searches" of electronic devices. Fucked up, but that is the law on the books and US courts have virtually always upheld it when it comes up.

Another day closer to Chiron.

What's a warrant?

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/cbp-search-authority/border-search-electronic-devices

You'll be surprised by what you don't know.

Assuming we lived in a rational world with a fair and impartial justice system

That's like assuming unicorns will protect all that is good and sugar is effective weight loss

Should have been born a child fucking billionaire if you don’t want to be sentenced to prison for 30 years.

What color are you and how far left are your politics?

It’s bullshit but with the current laws. Back up your phone before you head home wipe it before going through border control, and restore your backup when you get home.

Nah, they just lube up the rubber gloves and fist you, checking in case there's a micro SD stashed up there. You should still make your flight if you relax.

Like resisting arrest when there's no legal reason you were being detained or arrested?

Unfortunately according to the federal government you automatically consent to limited 4th amendment protections when you choose to fly. Domestic flights have more legal protections, but international flights basically wave your right to privacy.

They are allowed to ask for your phone's password and do a "non-forensic" search of your phone for just about any reason. A more extensive "forensic" search where they plug your phone into another device can be made if they present reasonable suspicion. If you refuse a search they can hold onto your phone for several weeks.

The smarter move would have been to just refuse to give the password and trust that they wont want to go through the hassle of cracking your phone once it's in custody.

Basically the only real way to protect yourself is to not keep any incriminating information on your phone. The courts have ruled that these searches only extend to data that can be physically accessed on your device and things like social media and cloud storage are not subject to the search. So it's just best to save everything on the cloud and then restore it once you are done traveling.

Hotter take: The phone was empty when he handed it over. There was nothing to delete.

If they succeed I guess in the future an officer could delete your phone to save face then blame it on you.

Yeah, they are masters of parallel construction. ( Aka lying)

that was the issue I was going to bring up. If the officer wants to try varuous pin numbers how is it the owners responsibility as to what the phone does.

My phone is set to automatically wipe after X number of incorrect pin attempts. If I just kept telling law enforcement the wrong pin number because I cant remember it exactly, what is the difference if the phone wipes. Once the phone is out of my hands how can I be responsible for what the phone does? (Assuming I dont issue a remote wiping command)

The law isn't that stupid.