"As someone with a child in the US, this new Trump threat to scrutinise tourists' social media is concerning. Providing my user name would be OK the authorities would get sick of scrolling through chicken pics before they found anything critical of their Glorious Leader but what if I have to hand over my phone at the border, as has happened to some travellers already?"
"I would rather get deported. There's nothing criminal or egregiously immoral on there; I don't foment revolution or indulge in Trump trolling, tempting as that would be. But my phone does not paint a flattering picture of me. Does anyone's? Those shiny black rectangles have become contemporary confessionals, and we would like to believe they abide by the same kind of confidentiality rules."
"There's a jokey online trend of people posting pictures of themselves weeping, with the caption that their partner checked their phone for infidelity, but found something much worse the next image reveals it's the calculator app, used for infant-level arithmetic (15-9 say, or 300 x 2). Occasionally, it's a daft Google search (quickest way to make money how to stop being batshit crazy) or simply a million open tabs full of weirdness."
Proposed scrutiny of tourists' social media and border phone searches creates deep privacy concerns for travelers. People keep trivial, intimate, and potentially embarrassing content on phones, including notes, search histories, app usage, open tabs, and playful or private prompts. Many would prefer refusal or deportation over handing over devices. Smartphones function as personal confessionals filled with ordinary but revealing details that are not criminal. The prospect of authorities browsing photos, messages, or app content blurs boundaries between security screening and intrusive surveillance, raising fears about dignity, confidentiality, and arbitrary judgment.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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