Do I need to provide PIN or password for my digital accessories, when entering Canada?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 23 Jul, 2023
- |
Tell them the password is 1234. When it doesn’t work, say “That’s strange. I wonder if the boot sector is infected with a virus. I’ll have to take it to the repair shop when I get home.”
The BCCLA has obtained the CBSA guidelines regarding access to digital devices. Unfortunately the PDF appears to be a bitmap rather than text so I can’t copy and paste from it without OCRing it. However, some relevant excerpts:
Although there is no defined threshold for grounds to examine such
devices, CBSA’s current policy is that such examinations should not be
conducted as a matter of routine; they may only be conducted if there
is a multiplicity of indicators that evidence of contraventions may
be found on the digital device or media.
…
CBSA officers shall only examine what is stored within the device.
Officers are not to read emails on digital devices and media unless
the information is already downloaded and has been opened (usually
marked as read).
…
In instances where access to digital devices and media are password
protected, officers are to request the password to access the device
and record it, as well as any alternate passwords provided, in their
officer notebook.
…
Passwords are not to be sought to gain access to any type of account
(including any social, professional, corporate, or user accounts),
files or information that might potentially be stored remotely or
online.
…
If a traveller refuses to provide a password to allow examination of
the digital device, media or the documents contained therein, of if
there are technical difficulties that prevent a CBSA officer from
examining the digital device or media, the device or media may be
detained by the CBSA officer under the authority of Section 101 of the
Customs Act… for examination by a CBSA expert trained on digital
forensic examinations…
…
Until further instructions are issued, CBSA officers shall not arrest
a traveller for hindering or for obstruction solely for refusing to
provide a password. Though such actions appear to be legally
supported, a restrained approach will be adopted until the matter is
settled in ongoing proceedings.
You would need a lawyer to give you legal advice, but from a cursory examination of the guidelines, it would appear that you should be unlikely to be requested to provide passwords without good reason, and that you may refuse to provide them and would not be arrested for doing so, however your devices may be confiscated, and you may also be refused entry.
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As a rule, you can be asked to disclose pretty much anything when entering any country, not just Canada. Most rules of normal legal due process (warrants before searches etc) don’t apply at borders, even to citizens, although at least citizens generally can’t be denied entry.
At the end of the day, visiting another country is a privilege, not a right, and you need to play by their rules or they won’t let you in.
Of course, the fact that immigration officials and immigration bureaucracy are essentially unaccountable to their foreign citizen “customers”, who can’t even vote the bums out, doesn’t help…
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Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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