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I recently read an article about an employee who was detained in US customs and was asked to unlock his phone. The article specified that he was a US citizen. http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/12/14583124/nasa-sidd-bikkannavar-detained-cbp-phone-search-trump-travel-ban *Puts on paranoia hat* Now I run the possibility that homeland security/TSA/CIA/{Insert other federal agencies here} will attempt to gain easy access to rootkit my phone by simply demanding that I unlock my phone for them. I am sure agencies already have the capabilities of doing this in the US, but I can see the same thing could happen at the customs border of other counties as well. This made me wonder about the legal implications of evading this. For example let's say you are traveling to China, and at immigration they ask you to step aside for some more questions. They could ask me to unlock my phone or be detained for a few days, but what if my phone was already broken and would not turn on at that moment? I think its unlikely for any agency to say, "Well because your phone will not turn on we will detain for a few days just to make sure." I am sure there is a clause somewhere that says they can detain anyone for any reason but the point would be they cannot try and leverage unlimited access to your phone (any possibly most of your life) in exchange for a shorter detained time. So here are my thoughts on some ways one might make a phone temporary inaccessible on demand if and when they ask you to step aside. 1. Factory default your phone. Not sure I like this option because it would only prevent them from any personal info currently on the phone. It would not stop them from a possible rootkit. If it were me, I would wipe then through the phone away after they do whatever it is they want to do with it. 2. Remove and destroy battery (possibility the usb port as well). I am making the assumption that they agency you encounter does not have the means to forensically take apart and power your phone at the airport. I have never worked at a airport but I know there are a lot of phones out there and I find it unlikely they have the tools and parts to make any or majority of phone operations from a defunct state at an international airport. This obviously means you would need to replace the party you destroy but they cannot access a phone with no power. What are your thoughts? These are the solutions I was able to think of, I want to know if someone has come up with better solutions.