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I store information on my phone like my private thoughts, because I know that it’s an encrypted, secured device I always have with me. I wouldn’t store that information on paper — the best analogy is that it’s a backup of parts of my brain.

When you go through customs, they can’t just search your brain. They can search your possessions, but they can’t mind dump you.

That’s the critical distinction. It’s not my property that’s the problem. It’s that it’s an extension of my brain.




They only reason border agents don't use a mind-dump machine is that they don't have the technology.


hahahahaha this is true


Continuing the "devil's advocate" perspective, perhaps the thinking that phones are an extension of the brain is the wrong way to think of them.

> I know it's an encrypted, secured device I always have with me

What if you didn't know that? What if you thought of it as just a suitcase?

If someone carries a notebook that contains printed pages of encrypted material, what is the expectation?

Whatever the answer to that question is, the expectation shouldn't change based on what medium the material is stored in.


Are border agents allowed to read your diary? What if you put a simple lock on it?


...it's not your brain, it's a fancy electronic notebook.





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