Canadian journalist's detention at US border raises press freedom alarms • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by DanBC » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 12:14 PM UTC

mzw_mzw wrote: post #144

Disclaimer: US border control, including in this case, is in my view terrible, unjust, and counterproductive. That being said: There's a weird "OMG A JOURNALIST WAS HASSLED!" angle to the story that, frankly, smells of aristocratic entitlement. Journalists aren't some superior class entitled to swan about the world freely while us filthy plebeians wait in line for toilet paper; at least in America, they're citizens w…

> at least in America, they're citizens with no more -- and no fewer -- rights than anyone else

The border problems journalists have are mostly not connected to their 1st amendment rights (which, after all, only operate for journalists inside the US) but are about protecting sources.

Many of the US states have laws to protect journalistic materials and journalist's sources.

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

#232

Post by 91bananas » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 12:40 PM UTC

micaksica wrote: post #182

sshanky wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On entering Canada, I've been asked to open my laptop, turn it on, enter an administrator level password, and then search for *.jpg. Everything shows up -- cached browser images as well. The agent asked a lot of questions, but I was allowed to pass eventually. This all took place out in the open, where they would normally collect a form from you. I immediately started using TrueCrypt with the plausible deniability op…

Why *.jpg? Do they just assume everyone is smuggling porn on laptop hard drives or something? You'd think if you were looking for evidence of terrorism or immigration issues you'd be more interested in emails and documents. These searches, if true, have nothing to do with border security and more to do with fishing for anything and everything they can charge you with once they aren't encumbered with warrants and cour…

Or maybe it's just rogue agents that want to see if you have any provocative pictures of your spouse on your devices?

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

#233

Post by Symbiote » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 1:18 PM UTC

empressplay wrote: post #115

DrJokepu wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Unlike in the US, illegal and unadmitted entrants to Canada, the UK, Australia (and probably everywhere else) don't have constitutional protection. So while a Canadian could possibly protest, a non-Canadian really hasn't got a leg to stand on.

The American constitution obviously doesn't apply in the UK, but laws like the Human Rights Act do, and regardless of nationality.

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

#234

Post by Symbiote » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 1:35 PM UTC

TillE wrote: post #17

nostromo wrote: post #3

I'm so embarrassed how America treats people entering the U.S. It's the first experience foreigners have in our country, and we make it one of the worst experiences in the developed world. Industries that benefit from tourism should lobby the Federal Government to improve the travel experience to, from, and within the US. I personally would fly at least a few more times a year if the TSA/CBP process treated people wi…

It's usually a pretty grim experience even as a citizen reentering the US, but at least we're not required to give our fingerprints. I would never travel to a country which demanded that.

It was years ago, but I think I had my fingerprints taken to enter the USA. I'm British.

Plenty of articles about it online. I used to be involved with organising meetings for scientists, and we'd never arrange one in the USA because of the hostility towards foreigners, particularly from Africa.

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

#235

Post by chinathrow » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

tajen wrote: post #116

chinathrow wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more depressing is the fact that many countries take the US as their idol and start also requiring all 10 finger prints at border crossing. It's an epidemic these days.

Can you please remind me what is the problem with fingerprints? It's not akin to searching for furry porn on your computer and blaming it as child porn depiction – Fingerprints don't link you to supposed-crimes-that-everyone-has-done. Is it the same topic as privacy?

The problem is that you and everyone else will be a suspect.

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

#236

Post by jliptzin » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

upstarter wrote: post #215

makecheck wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I’ve always found it ridiculous that the content of devices is fair game. Even more important to me is the fact that once you lose exclusive physical control over your hardware, you must consider it compromised, and therefor have it recycled (it is enough to simply connect a prepared USB device to your device for a couple of seconds in order for you to lose total control over it and be under permanent and total rem…

Out of curiosity where do you live now?

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

#237

Post by chinathrow » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 2:03 PM UTC

twr wrote: post #146

chinathrow wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's highly unlikely that the Canada Border Services Agency, of all organizations, is able to defeat competent modern crypto implementations. It's also quite unlikely that they can circumvent a basic `tar -c /dev/block/* | gpg -se ...` scheme that's trivially doable on unlockable Android phones. (Replacing the bootloader with a maliciously crafted variant that returns false partition data after bootup would work, but…

If you are asked to provide your password, encryption will not help you.

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

#238

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 2:16 PM UTC

makecheck wrote: post #51

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…

[deleted]

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

#239

Post by jliptzin » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 2:17 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #202

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…

Differential access to civil rights are a big part of why I gave up my driver's license. Pulling over a driver and pointing a gun at them? Trivial. Pulling over a livery vehicle and searching the passenger? Complicated. Demanding someone in a car give you their phone's password? Trivial. Doing the same at the airport? My weekends filled for a month hosting fundraisers for PACs.

I am not sure I understand the last part of your post could you elaborate further?

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

#240

Post by GuiA » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 2:19 PM UTC

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'm sorry this happened to you. I don't think anyone should do this under any pretext - accepting will open you to so much more potential risk than not.

In moments like this, I'm happy to be employed by a large company that has a strong vested interest against people snooping through my emails.

If such a situation were to happen in my case, I would just reply "I cannot do that as this phone belongs to $company. My employer knows of my travel itinerary and if I am delayed they will be very happy to send lawyers to sort things out."

It's sad and dystopian, but I trust my employer to watch out for my interests more so than any government.