Our digital strip-search ads CENSORED

OpenMedia r1

Paov,

For too long now, border officials have been searching travelers' smartphones without a warrant. We knew we needed to take action to stop these massive privacy violations.1

...

So we set out to buy billboards inside the Vancouver International Airport Skytrain terminal to warn travelers. But we just got notice that Vancouver airport officials are refusing to run our ads, with no explanation.

It's blatant censorship, and we won't stand for it. With your help, we're going to increase our publicity budget and put ads outside the airport and in bus stations instead. We'll have to spend a little more to alert the same number of travelers, but we won't let censorship stop us.

Vancouver International authorities don't want people to know about digital strip searches at the border, but we're fighting back. Will you chip in to post ads outside the airport and elsewhere along the border to resist their censorship?

Canadian Border Services agents have a virtual blank permission slip to search phones and laptops, with no clear guidance from the Public Safety Minister on what they can search. Agents don't even have to declare what they are searching for, and anything found could be used against the phone's owner.

Worse, if we refuse to unlock our phones, we face fines, losing our device, or even winding up in jail.2 The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says the only way we can really protect ourselves is by completely wiping our phones before we travel!3

The Public Safety Minister has refused to stop these warrantless digital strip searches. And Parliament hasn't stepped up to prevent them, either.

Most people don't even know their phones are at risk for a search when they travel. That's why OpenMedia wanted to post huge advertisements in the Vancouver International Skytrain terminal, letting people know about digital strip searches so they could be prepared.

But Vancouver International authorities won't let us post our ads. They're censoring us from telling people that their privacy is at risk.

We're not going to let this outrage go without speaking up. OpenMedia is going to post billboards outside the airport and in public transit so we can get our message out. We're also going to sound the alarm about Vancouver International's censorship and how authorities don't want people to know about digital strip searches.

We're running video and transit ads to protect travelers from warrantless digital strip searches. Will you chip in?

DONATE NOW

For our privacy rights and freedoms,
Victoria, and the whole team at OpenMedia

Footnotes:
[1] Feds reject call for explicit instructions on border searches of smartphones, computers: Global News
[2] Can Canadian border agents search your phone or laptop? A new guide explains: CTV News
[3] Border guards have 'wide open' rights to search your smartphone, B.C. civil liberties group warns: CBC

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