Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

dailyxtra.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 398 posts

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#81

Post by davedx »

abandonliberty wrote: post #72
mc32 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see members of congress agreeing to privacy right at the border for citizens --only a very few would support the same for non-citizens, even Dems. There is no political upside to that position and it serves a very small percentage of Americans, indirectly, so, that's not going to fly.

You're mostly right. At some point these experiences may affect tourism, business, and desirable immigration. But it's probably too distant of an effect to have that much political capital.

Yeah, who cares about business, tourism and desirable immigration? None of those things are worth much to the US economy I guess.

(Our family was seriously considering a touring camper holiday to the US in a year or two. Now: no way in hell.)

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#82

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #66
kennywinker wrote: post #49

Everyone proposing clever technical solutions. Burner phones and encrypted cloud data etc... you are solving the wrong problem. Instead of engineering a way for the few people who care deeply to avoid this at great effort, engineer a way for this to not be legal. Write your congressperson, donate time and money to political parties, make privacy at the border for ALL (not just citizens) a priority in every election.

I can see members of congress agreeing to privacy right at the border for citizens --only a very few would support the same for non-citizens, even Dems. There is no political upside to that position and it serves a very small percentage of Americans, indirectly, so, that's not going to fly.

[deleted]

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#83

Post by darkhorn »

NamTaf wrote: post #48

Over the last few years I've gone from wanting to visit the US and planning it as one of the next few holidays I'd like to do, to wanting to visit the US but holding off until 'later', to now simply not wanting to visit due to these sort of policies and actions at the border. It's a shame; US citizens are generally lovely people, the US natural environment is beautiful and, hell, the US makes killer craft beers that…

Educated won't visit the USA anymore. Only the people with desperate need for a job will "visit" the USA.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#85

Post by RileyJames »

kennywinker wrote: post #49

Everyone proposing clever technical solutions. Burner phones and encrypted cloud data etc... you are solving the wrong problem. Instead of engineering a way for the few people who care deeply to avoid this at great effort, engineer a way for this to not be legal. Write your congressperson, donate time and money to political parties, make privacy at the border for ALL (not just citizens) a priority in every election.

Agreed. Technical solutions are a temporary stop gap for those who need to cross the border while the law stands. Or a form of protest, but not a long term solution.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#86

Post by aanm1988 »

vogt wrote: post #30
lacampbell wrote: post #19

I'd love to visit the United States, but this is just creepy. I don't even give my family passwords. Not worth visiting on my own dime if I'll just be turned back for refusing to comply.

I've recently relocated to Washington state and am close to the Canadian border. I thought about driving a few hours to check out the sights in BC and satisfy a many years long Tim Horton's drought this weekend (I'm originally from New England where we had Tim's for a brief shining moment in time), but decided against it after reading a plethora of instances online where Canadian authorities have done the same to peo…

I've found the Canadian guards meaner, and I'm a Canadian citizen.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#87

Post by nickff »

SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #75
struppi wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! Also, clever technical solutions won't help when not having any data is seen as suspicious. Like, you cannot tell them "I don't know my passowrds. They are in a password safe, and I do not have access right now". When the law says you have to hand over your passwords, "I don't know them right now" is probably not a valid excuse anyway.

Do you have any basis for your last point? I legitimately don't know many of my passwords, there's no legal obligation to know them, and the law generally cant compel you to do impossible things (eg, tell them something you don't know). They can subpoena my password safe, just like any other file on my computer, and possibly require I unlock it (this is disputed), but I don't see any reason they can demand I reproduc…

If you say you can't remember your password, they can't force you to remember, but they can tell you to go home.

When you're a foreigner attempting to enter the USA, they can simply deny you entry for failing to do what they want. US CBP has the authority to make arbitrary decisions not to admit foreigners, and CBP faces almost no scrutiny.

Most other countries give their border guards similar authority with respect to foreigners not entitled to enter by some treaty (e.g. EU).

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#88

Post by JumpCrisscross »

mc32 wrote: post #66
kennywinker wrote: post #49

Everyone proposing clever technical solutions. Burner phones and encrypted cloud data etc... you are solving the wrong problem. Instead of engineering a way for the few people who care deeply to avoid this at great effort, engineer a way for this to not be legal. Write your congressperson, donate time and money to political parties, make privacy at the border for ALL (not just citizens) a priority in every election.

I can see members of congress agreeing to privacy right at the border for citizens --only a very few would support the same for non-citizens, even Dems. There is no political upside to that position and it serves a very small percentage of Americans, indirectly, so, that's not going to fly.

> There is no political upside to that position

In this case you have a gay Canadian man lawfully entering the United States. I think you could find vocal American constituents who care about such people not being profiled, harassed and threatened with violence on the whims of a single person.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#89

Post by aanm1988 »

mahyarm wrote: post #46
confounded wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Canadians?

It's the pre-screen areas are inside Canadian airports, on Canadian lands. Anything the us border cops can do there, they do so with the permission of the Canadian government.

Which really, should be whatever they need to do. The twist being at any point you should say "No, I'm staying in Canada" and they should say okay bye.

Re: US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

#90

Post by JumpCrisscross »

kennywinker wrote: post #49

Everyone proposing clever technical solutions. Burner phones and encrypted cloud data etc... you are solving the wrong problem. Instead of engineering a way for the few people who care deeply to avoid this at great effort, engineer a way for this to not be legal. Write your congressperson, donate time and money to political parties, make privacy at the border for ALL (not just citizens) a priority in every election.

I just emailed my U.S. Senators, U.S. Congresswoman, New York State Assemblywoman and Senator as well as New York City Councilman. You can find your representatives here [1]. It's a simple email saying this is an issue you care about. Pretend it's a Hacker News comment...

[1] http://act.commoncause.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sunlight...

Post reply on HN