Refusal to Give the Govt Passwords to Personal Mobile Criminalized in Hong Kong
hk.usconsulate.govAbsolutely ridiculous law. I pray to God the US does not follow. That being said there is some strange law trickery where passwords and pins are safe but biomentrics aren't. We should just standardize it in the US.
The US has been doing that for years already. There's plenty of stories of people (US citizens included) being detained by border agents in US airports for refusal to provide said agents with access to their devices.
They can detain you and take your device, but they cannot compel you to give up your password, to be clear. As a US Citizen you have a right to re-enter the country.
The letter of the law says you are correct. Reality however disagrees. People who are most definitely US citizens have in fact been put in jail for the simple not-crime of refusing to provide passwords to their devices to law enforcement.
Isn't that law in the UK as well?
China takes the west as role model...
Soon USA will follow. Using arguments like child safety, terrorists and not supporting Israel.
Maybe there will be some reasonable limitations on this. Say only allowing it with in 2500km of the borders. Everything inside that is fair game for immigration officals.
But what do you think about Hongkong? Do the authorities there have valid reasons to do this? Any advices for Hongkong people? for visitors to Hongkong?