The Electronic Frontier Foundation has just updated its 2011 guide to Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border with an all new edition that covers the law, administrative rules, technological options and potential repercussions of crossing the US border while not undergoing the warrantless seizure and indefinite retention of all of your sensitive data -- in a guide that breaks out the different risks for US citizens, US permanent residents, and visitors to the USA.

As I've previously noted, the law regarding what protections you have at the border is frustratingly unsettled, with grey zones on everything from being compelled to unlock a device to being compelled to turn over your passwords for social media and cloud services, and since the big online platforms are not designed with this threat-model in mind, you're really fighting against the tech when you try to minimize the amount of data you can access at a border crossing.

EFF's guide provides essential nuance on this, looking at recent court decisions and administrative rules, and offering its view of what Constitutional protections you should have, once more cases make their way to court and get ruled on.

But it's also an eminently practical guide to the legal and technological choices you can make, based on the sensitivity of your data, your risk tolerance, and your personal beliefs.