this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
121 points (97.6% liked)

Technology

82414 readers
3517 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
121
U.S. customs searched a record number of electronic devices last year— Recently revised directive adds flash drives, smart watches to searchable devices (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 22 hours ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

United States customs officers conducted a record number of searches of electronic devices last year of people travelling to the U.S., and a recent update to its directives adds new devices such as smart watches, SIM cards and flash drives to the list of things subject to search.

Officers searched 55,318 computers, cellphones and other devices in 2025, up 17.6 per cent from the 47,047 devices searched in 2024 and up 32.4 per cent from the 41,767 devices searched in 2023, according to statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

top 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] pankuleczkapl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

USB killer would be a fun thing to bring to the US and have it searched despite your claims that it is not a flash drive

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

I wonder how that would go if you explicitly tell them what it is and they did it anyway. Hiding its purpose might cause issues, but telling them and being ignored must be different?

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 14 hours ago

I doubt the fun would last long for you...

[–] mikezane@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Time to take a flash drive, load it up with viruses and start traveling in and out of the United States.

[–] SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Just make a zip bomb and brick their PCs. nakedhumans42.zip will need to be inspected.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Have it take over the computers camera, take a picture of them, use AI to remove their clothes, do a Nelson HaHa pointing at the camera pic, then brick the computer.

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 44 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

My German company has a travel directive to use clean-slate Laptops and virgin burner phones when going to the US for some time now already.
There are reasons for that...

[–] Zombie@feddit.uk 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Would be even better if your company had a travel directive not to travel to the US.

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 minutes ago

Would be kinda hard for an international company that has several work locations in the US... ;-)

[–] silverneedle@lemmy.ca 10 points 19 hours ago

Completely understandable, Americans are definitely using these searches for industrial espionage.

[–] RegularJoe@lemmy.world 17 points 21 hours ago

EFF has an article on this, too. They have links on how to limit ad tracking on iphone and android.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/targeted-advertising-gives-your-location-government-just-ask-cbp