Friends and I are considering some travelling around the world, including perhaps a trip to China. There is much negative press on the state of digital privacy in China, but what exactly should I pay attention to if I do visit? If I am your typical privacy enthusiast with a GrapheneOS phone and Linux laptop, how might I prepare for the trip privacy-wise? I’d also love to hear any firsthand experience as to which concerns are myths and which ones are real.
Don’t bring data you are not ok with a foreign government forcing you to handover. That’s the simplest solution.
Back all your important data up, then wipe your phone before you go. Same with the laptop. You can’t be coerced into giving something you don’t have.
Threat modeling is important. If your just an average Joe being a tourist it is highly unlikely the Chinese government is going to take your devices to search.
Source: travelled to China for an extended period of time.
Buy and use a burner phone while you’re there, and remember that VPNs are illegal.
If you use a sim card from a European country or the US, CA, AU, NZ, JP, etc. all your traffic will be routed through your home country anyways and you won’t be affected by the great firewall.
Do not use any wifi networks ever! Don’t even look at them. Turn off wifi.
Using a SIM card with a decently sized roaming plan is absolutely the way to go.
