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Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

nytimes.com

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Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#51

Post by makecheck »

jliptzin wrote: post #21

Don't be fooled, Canadian border patrol proudly engages in this as well. I was recently driving across the border to Montreal on vacation when Canadian border agents, in addition to searching my car and personal belongings, demanded to see my cell phone and turn over the password. I simply asked why, since I didn't think I was doing anything suspicious, at which point the agent angrily responded "because I can and no…

I’ve always found it ridiculous that the content of devices is fair game. There is literally nothing on a phone that couldn’t be digitally downloaded after crossing the border (therefore no “threat” by bringing the phone with you). Similarly, there is no possible way to harm an airplane based on what is present on a laptop; and even if there were, you could buy in-flight WiFi and download the bits after boarding. You could cross the checkpoint with a blank device and in seconds have it populated with whatever you wanted to have. It’s insane.

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#52

Post by sanswork »

huangc10 wrote: post #16

As a Canadian living in the US, I've had a lot of trouble with US Customs at both airports (YVR, YYZ) and border crossing (Vancouver, Niagara). However, I don't deny that it is at times necessary for Customs officers to be more strict. I would rather the officers do their jobs correctly and prevent incidents (drug smuggling, terrorism etc.) from happening. Although at times they do seem to be unnecessarily aggressive…

99% of my experiences crossing the border between the US and CA have been pretty pleasant though I have had some stand out bad ones. At YYZ flying to Florida my wife and I were pulled out of line into secondary screening. We go up to the desk and they ask us how we can afford to be in the US for 3 months without working. We tell them we have savings they ask if they can see our bank accounts and we say sure then they say "thats ok go take a seat for a minute". They then held us there for over an hour until exactly when our flight was scheduled to depart then called us up and told us we could go. The whole time we had to sit there and watch them sit behind their desks chatting. It was infuriating and we lost our business class seats because the next flight was nearly full.

Ambassador bridge is constantly a positive experience for us but Rainbow bridge my wife(Australian) always gets grilled rudely.

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#53

Post by loeg »

chinathrow wrote: post #46
jliptzin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, from now on I will back up my phone to the cloud, wipe it before going over a border, then reinstalling after. It's the only sane thing to do.

For that you would need to be able to fully trust your cloud storage provider, the ISPs used in transint to and from, the used encryption methods and last but not least: the baseband firmware of your phone.

Perhaps still better than trusting border patrol with physical access to the device.

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#54

Post by neom »

colmvp wrote: post #42

I tried arguing this persons privacy yet I got highly downvoted on /r/canada, for points that I felt I couldn't refute, specifically that crossing a nations border is not a right but a privilege, and that most Western nations have similar POVs when it comes to the right for border officers to inspect laptops/phones. I know that the ACLU and EFF have fought to defend Americans from having their laptops/phones inspecte…

Not a defense as I somewhat agree with you, (and yes, it is a privilege not a right): Juggling processing the millions and millions of people coming in and out and doing it quickly and affordably vs utilizing a courts when you need to inspect/assess something seems impossible, for example just between canada and the US alone last year, well over 11 million trucks crossed the border.

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#55

Post by mtgx »

jliptzin wrote: post #21

Don't be fooled, Canadian border patrol proudly engages in this as well. I was recently driving across the border to Montreal on vacation when Canadian border agents, in addition to searching my car and personal belongings, demanded to see my cell phone and turn over the password. I simply asked why, since I didn't think I was doing anything suspicious, at which point the agent angrily responded "because I can and no…

And it's about to get worse for Canadians:

https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cnslttns/ntnl-scrt/thm09-...

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#56

Post by vijayp »

If he actually flew out of YVR, he was probably in a us preclearance area -- us customs are located in some Canadian airports so flights can go directly into us domestic terminals.

Since those screenings are on Canadian territory, us agents do not have police powers or the right to detain people. They can deny entry but people can leave at any time unless they have violated Canadian law. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclea...)

If this was the case, he could have simply left the airport at any time.

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#58

Post by jliptzin »

exolymph wrote: post #50
jliptzin wrote: post #21

Don't be fooled, Canadian border patrol proudly engages in this as well. I was recently driving across the border to Montreal on vacation when Canadian border agents, in addition to searching my car and personal belongings, demanded to see my cell phone and turn over the password. I simply asked why, since I didn't think I was doing anything suspicious, at which point the agent angrily responded "because I can and no…

> I asked what would happen if I didn't turn the password over and just went back home to the US, they told me they'd seize the device and put me in prison until they break into it. I guess it depends on how much you care about your personal info or how sensitive your data is, but I wouldn't budge based on this. I'd say, "Okay, I want to talk to the American embassy," then wait it out. Edit: To be clear, this would b…

Actually if I were alone I would have done that just to prove a point, but I was with my SO and I didn't want to ruin his vacation as well.

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#59

Post by DrJokepu »

exolymph wrote: post #50
jliptzin wrote: post #21

Don't be fooled, Canadian border patrol proudly engages in this as well. I was recently driving across the border to Montreal on vacation when Canadian border agents, in addition to searching my car and personal belongings, demanded to see my cell phone and turn over the password. I simply asked why, since I didn't think I was doing anything suspicious, at which point the agent angrily responded "because I can and no…

> I asked what would happen if I didn't turn the password over and just went back home to the US, they told me they'd seize the device and put me in prison until they break into it. I guess it depends on how much you care about your personal info or how sensitive your data is, but I wouldn't budge based on this. I'd say, "Okay, I want to talk to the American embassy," then wait it out. Edit: To be clear, this would b…

Is this a right you have in Canada? Can't they just be like "yeah, no"?

Re: Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms

#60

Post by hackuser »

colmvp wrote: post #42

I tried arguing this persons privacy yet I got highly downvoted on /r/canada, for points that I felt I couldn't refute, specifically that crossing a nations border is not a right but a privilege, and that most Western nations have similar POVs when it comes to the right for border officers to inspect laptops/phones. I know that the ACLU and EFF have fought to defend Americans from having their laptops/phones inspecte…

Rights are independent of laws and not subject to geography. We talk about universal rights; the U.S. Declaration of Independence says, for example,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ...

The government may not respect your rights, but you still have them.

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