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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 8th, 2023

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  • Even if such a thing existed, which given the analysis parameters makes it far too complex for automation (like for instance, how would such a software distinguish between old deleted data still residing in empty space and a vault file hidden in empty space without a follow up analysis of the data itself. It would probably alert the user for something, but the amount of false positives would probably lead an untrained user to ignore the alerts eventually) i would guess it doesn’t, but if it did, it would have to process petabytes every day, from all over the country and the system would have to be maintained, which going by government record of informatics systems, doesn’t seem likely that it would be readily available for everyone that gets stopped at a border stop consistently. It’s like an anti virus search, with all the false positives it comes up with, but 100 times slower, plus the transmission of the entire disk clone file, plus the cloning process itself.

    Moreover the cost of maintaining such a system when 95%+ of the population doesn’t have the know how to use complex data obfuscation measures and LEO rarely obtains information out of these cursory searches for arrests. On published news articles LEO always ends up using snitches, google searches or usage of the TOR network in a given area to catch criminals. Data forensics only come into play later on. Presumably, dollar for dollar, they would probably invest in what works best instead of casting such a wide net.

    In sum, I’m not cleared to know such information, but i am guessing such a thing, while technologically possible, seems economically unfeasible and liable to be used only in specific cases. If i had a border security budget, i would certainly not invest in a mega server to swift through every bit of empty and occupied space of all the randomly selected people for a search that come in through the ports of entry. However i could be wrong.


  • I think you overvalue the skillset of border security. This may seem trivial to you but it’s uncommon to hire people trained to this level of competence and put them at every point of entry. A decent cybersecurity investigator needs a big salary.

    That would probably happen if you were already a suspect of something or a high profile person and they moved in resources for you. No way border security is randomly sweeping for headers and entropy, they basically just look at it with the explorer and clone it, possibly using some software to scan for known security vulnerabilities to access encrypted parts. That would be a court ordered search or a high profile crime investigation, or maybe a really really unlucky day where the expert was already there for another reason, but the rest i agree.

    If your threat model makes you a high profile person, then smuggling data in hidden containers is definitely not the best solution. A non associated personal cloud server is best.



  • So the point is not wealth but spite ? You don’t have to act in good faith to cooperate with others. Like i said, in trade, a prosperous peer is worth more and generates more wealth than an ailing one.

    This is not an argument on good faith, it’s self interest and selfishness. It’s right there on game theory and pretty much the entire course of biological history and evolution. One might profit from destroying and seizing the resources of a peer, but in most cases that profit is inferior to quid pro quo cooperation.

    To me this is just acting deranged and nonsensical. Just being belligerent for the sake of cruelty and destruction. It’s more believable to me that its motivations are about projection of power and hegemony like other commenters have pointed out.



  • So it’s 2020 and the US is still using special forces to carry out coups and arming rebel militias around the world, often to mediocre results and incredibly hard consequences, such as runaway rebel militias and an absolute mistrust of the US as a partner.

    Yeah good job US. It would be worrying if the CIA & co were not so famously demonstratedly laughably incompetent. Stop orchestrating coups and arming militias. It will never work out the way you expect. It’s so ridiculous. One would think that after some 50 years of failure in the middle east and south america a country would learn what not to do, but here we are. I guess some countries take a little while more to learn.



  • Well most recently this year i crossed US borders at the Texas point of entry. I was told expressly to always provide them with my devices, as if i said no thank you i would be denied entry to the US and it would go on the record for future visa applications, which could be denied on grounds of that, thus affecting future assignments. When you get a work visa, you have a time limit to enter the US and if you miss it, you need another. I was told i was completely responsible for any data that third parties could obtain and i would be fired and legally prosecuted if sensitive data was seen by people who did not have security clearance and NDA clearance for the data i was carrying, which border security does not have, even though some US government personnel do have those clearances.

    Fortunately my company provided cloud space for any personal or company data i would be carrying and i wasn’t asked for anything because i came from Europe and i guess they weren’t too suspicious about me, so in the end it wasn’t an issue. Nevertheless, i had to take mandatory corporate training to prepare for any immigration interviews and had to sign specific liability agreements for the data i carry since it is highly sensitive.

    I don’t just work as a liason in the US, but this was the most recent. For the industry i work in, this is pretty standard.

    You can say no, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences, in my case I’d lose my job or lose assignments, which would probably mean I’d be put only on European assignments or demoted to a domestic only position, which would be paid substantially less. So in essence, i can’t really say no nor slack on opsec. Being able to feed my family is more important than protesting on grounds of principle for me. Also i could have issues getting to the US in the future, for any reason that may be, since getting a work visa requires grueling consulate interviews and they check literally everything. It’s one of the most annoying places to get work visas to, even coming from Europe. It took me one year of scheduling and attending interviews to be cleared for it. I was even asked to provide all my personal social media account handles.


  • I guess your company trains to different standards than my company then. A multi national globe operating company can never afford to fire employees for refusing to cooperate with authorities during border checks. At most it can train them to secure data during border crossing.

    If the company i work for did what you suggest, they would fire all their employees in the space of a week or have them all detained or refused entry to countries. They’d lose billions in business. Only a domestic or low volume company can afford having their employees routinely detained at borders in such a manner.

    It just doesn’t make any sense what you’re saying, but you do you bud. All the best.


  • You’re free to do that, but seems like a good way to be put on a list to be harassed more in the future. You make a cop/border agent feel stupid and he/she will make sure to make your life harder.

    The records will show you’re trying different ports of entry and if a border guard doesn’t like you, you will be selected for investigation and getting off that list may take years. Worse, you can be banned from entry for no reason and good luck appealing that.

    Personally i like to treat the customs agents real nice. I call them sir or ma’am, i follow their instructions and i show them a squeaky clean phone and they let me off with a smile at the first port of entry. Being combative with an agent will not change the laws. Moreover if you have obligations to a company, they will not look kindly to this sort of attrition causing delays and will pass you over next time they need someone. This of course means you won’t get paid as much (or, depending on circumstances, at all).

    I agree with the other poster, picking battles is the way to go.


  • They will detain you. I know the US procedure because i was instructed as i worked there as a representative for an overseas company in Europe.

    If you’re a national of the US they will detain you and hold you in detention to ask you questions. During this time your phone will either be cloned or confiscated to be decrypted at a later date. You will be released after a few hours. They will likely not bruteforce it, but rather attempt to use security flaws present in your device/firmware. They will do the same to your laptop.

    If you’re not a national of the US, you will be denied entry and flown back to where you came from. This is common practice in a lot of western countries.

    What you should do is not carry sensitive information across borders, by using a cloud service to sync at your destination or use hidden encrypted containers in your device.


  • I’m not a religious man, but i honestly can’t understand how someone can go like “my god is good and this is what my god wants. I’m doing a good thing for my god in their name” and then proceed to do this. Remember they’re doing this in the honor of the shabbat, so it’s really a message for high up.

    Either these people are completely delusional on their actions or their god is a being of extreme prejudice and hatred, unworthy of being worshipped by anyone.

    Either way the entire Jewish community and history is forever tarnished because of Israel. Jews everywhere and in the future will never completely ever live this down. It’s shame of the highest order.


  • Ever since Germany was united by Bismarck they’ve been on the wrong side of history. The 2 world wars, the stance on nuclear, their policy on EU international relations with Russia and now their stance on Israel.

    I find it impressive how they can beat all statistical odds to always choose wrong. They’re really good at doing things and very hard working. They just suck at choosing the right thing to do, most of the time.

    They did help fund the EU and they are keeping other EU countries in check from wanting to spy on every European’s private messages, like France, Sweden and apparently Belgium, and i really like that.


  • Like most places in the middle east, peace could have already been accomplished without US interference. That’s all it takes.

    However the US keeps funding and arming belligerent actors in the region, causing war after war after war since the beginning of the cold war. Without US interference, they would have fought it out and reached some sort of compromise to survive. Everything the US gets involved in is in for death and misery for decades in the region and will always end up worse than it began.

    The current Israeli-Palestine situation is not a 70+ year long accidental mishap that nobody knows how to fix. It’s a cafefully orchestrated stage going according to plan. I mean they stopped Germany in the 1940s. World powers could easily stop Israel too, if they wanted. I don’t know if anyone can stop it. It seems that not even registered voters in the US can stop this.


  • Trump would only win if the Democrat party found someone seemingly more inept than him.

    I am impressed that the Democrat party managed to present not one, but two outstandingly incompetent candidates. In a row. That’s some bottom of the barrel advanced scraping techniques right there. They even managed to get a representation of both sexes.

    I’m sure Mr. Biden will be terribly distraught, as soon as he is able to understand what’s happening around him at the moment.