It’s the digital security training team at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), with security news that keeps you, your sources, and your devices safe.
This October, we’re bringing you a twist on our weekly newsletter. Read along as we shine our flashlight into the darker, creepier corners of the online world. After all, it’s spooky season, and we all have the potential to be the heroes when it comes to safeguarding our data.
Last week, we covered the pernicious persistence of data brokers, whose vampiric approach toward our personal data is as storied by this point as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” This week, let’s talk about an emerging issue: the “horror stories” travelers face when traveling to the United States. And it’s not just anxiety talking; under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, phone searches at the border are at an all-time high.
In early 2025, news outlets saw this coming and offered advice about preparing one’s phone before travelling. In June, however, Alistair Kitchen, a journalist from Australia, was pulled into the warren of subterranean hallways beneath the Los Angeles airport and held for hours due to reporting he’d done on protests at Columbia University. Kitchen had deleted said reporting prior to travel. The advice on preparing one’s phone for travel didn’t turn out to make much of a difference.
This is in keeping with the murkiness of policies toward journalists crossing the border. As the American Civil Liberties Union points out, “journalists carrying sensitive information about their work or sources are also insufficiently protected. The CBP directive states that ‘work related information carried by journalists shall be handled in accordance with any applicable federal law and CBP policy’ — but it’s unclear what this means.”
If you are traveling to the U.S. soon, you can be forgiven if your mind starts racing and the words on your screen start blurring together. In the name of calling forth our inner Ripley, though, let’s make a plan, starting by getting to know the issue.
Under what authority are device searches at the U.S. border permissible? The document currently governing CBP’s authority to search electronic devices cites more than half a dozen codes that essentially exempt the agency from a requirement of reasonable suspicion. To quote CBP policy, “As a constitutional matter, border search authority is premised in part on a reduced expectation of privacy associated with international travel.”
Do I have to consent to the search of my electronic devices? Your citizenship status determines whether or not you must comply with CBP’s search policy to gain entry into the country. The policy states, “If a traveler being admitted as a U.S. citizen does not present their device in a condition that allows for examination, the U.S. citizen traveler will not be denied entry into the United States based on CBP’s inability to complete an inspection of their device.” That said, though, if border agents can’t access a device because it’s protected by a passcode or because it’s encrypted, the device itself “may be subject to exclusion, detention, or other appropriate action or disposition.” You may also face longer “processing time” if you do not comply.
Meanwhile, travelers who are not U.S. citizens who don’t comply with device searches can be turned away at the border. Those traveling on a visa are in hazier territory; as we note in our article on this topic, “CBP has broad discretion to deny entry to foreign nationals arriving on a visa or via the visa waiver program.”
Will I be affected? The CBP’s website notes that “in Fiscal Year 2024, less than 0.01 percent of arriving international travelers encountered by CBP at a port of entry had their electronic devices searched.” This percentage is ticking up, and if we learned anything from Alistair Kitchen’s case, it’s that previous reporting and social media posts precede one’s travels. Still, even with an increase in device searches at the border, it can be hard to predict if you will be directly affected. It’s a good idea to be prepared, even if the only outcome is increased peace of mind.
How can I prepare for this? First, travel only with the electronic devices and data you absolutely need. There are two ways to accomplish this. You can audit the device you use every day and remove sensitive information (you can transfer it to a local storage drive or cloud-based storage). An easier but more expensive option, however, is to travel with a secondary device that receives operating system updates and can support privacy-protecting tools like Signal.
No matter which option you choose, make sure you sign out of all apps and software, remove yourself from sensitive conversations on chat apps, and remove sensitive photos and documents from your device. This is just for starters; review our checklist (and print it out and follow it) for more.
Who can I turn to for assistance? Before you travel, talk with your colleagues about policies and procedures, both for travel prep and for steps to take if you need assistance. Freelance journalists, filmmakers, and others can reach out to their local ACLU affiliates or the Committee to Protect Journalists.
FPF’s Digital Security Training team is also happy to help. We offer training sessions on travel preparation strategies for phones, computers, et cetera. Reach out to us if we can be of service.
In solidarity,
Davis
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Davis Erin Anderson
Senior Digital Security Trainer
Freedom of the Press Foundation