Quebec resident Alain Philippon to fight charge for not giving up phone password at airport
Found on CBCNews on Saturday, 07 March 2015
Alain Philippon, 38, of Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Que., refused to divulge his cellphone password to Canada Border Services Agency during a customs search Monday night at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
He's been charged under section 153.1 (b) of the Customs Act for hindering or preventing border officers from performing their role under the act.
Giving away your phone or laptop password does not improve any airport security at all; it's just for snooping around and teaching the civilian the lesson that officials can do everything. Fortunately, for laptops there is a solution: an encrypted dual-boot system with a hidden OS, just like Truecryt offered it: depending on the password, the PC either boots your important OS, or another OS which will satisfy the curiosity of anybody else. That should be available for smartphones too.