Story time: when I worked at Google we had a specific policy for traveling to and from China. IIRC it went something like this:
1. You absolutely aren't allowed to take your regular phone and laptop;
2. You will be given loaner devices to take into China;
3. If you're asked to open such devices on entry, comply and then, when you can, inform IT;
4. Once you got back, I'm not sure what happened to those devices. I believe they were in the very least wiped. They may even have been destroyed in certain circumstances (eg if a border official examined the open device). But that's speculation.
I never travelled to China so never used this. A colleague who regularly traveled to China told me some stories about this.
But yes it does seem prudent to wipe your device and restore when you land. Then again, border officials can also deny you entry with very little justification so who knows?
> it does seem prudent to wipe your device and restore when you land. Then again, border officials can also deny you entry with very little justification so who knows?
For example, if they instruct you to turn on the device, and they see the setup screen or even just that it has no photos, no messages, nothing, might raise suspicion I would imagine.
Good luck trying to argue with them that absence of data should be considered normal and not a reason for them to harass you :(
That's exactly like the travel advisories to the US for EU firms. If it bothers you this much, why this Don Quixote act, why not do something about it where you actually can? Otherwise it's just bashing the Chinese for internet happy points. Just like reddit.
You are referencing something orthoganol to the subject at hand here (searches of devices while going through customs, which garvi is right to point out occurs in a range of countries).
(Not only that but it was a very poor reference, with almost no detail given in the linked article of China's alleged involvement in the hacks.)
1. You absolutely aren't allowed to take your regular phone and laptop;
2. You will be given loaner devices to take into China;
3. If you're asked to open such devices on entry, comply and then, when you can, inform IT;
4. Once you got back, I'm not sure what happened to those devices. I believe they were in the very least wiped. They may even have been destroyed in certain circumstances (eg if a border official examined the open device). But that's speculation.
I never travelled to China so never used this. A colleague who regularly traveled to China told me some stories about this.
But yes it does seem prudent to wipe your device and restore when you land. Then again, border officials can also deny you entry with very little justification so who knows?