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US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

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

#201

Post by socket0 »

b3lvedere wrote: post #178
ojii wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for people who are not US citizens, the solution is pretty simple too: Don't travel to the US.

Or just don't bring any electronic devices with you on the travel.

That's likely to be a red flag and used against you. Remember, as a non-US citizen, border guards don't have to prove you're guilty of anything. Any suspicion, no matter how trivial or unreasonable, and you have to be able to convincingly prove your own innocence. No electronic devices will probably simply result in them asking for the passwords to your accounts on Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.

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

#202

Post by dromen »

tempestn wrote: post #113
sneak wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My phone almost always costs around a thousand dollars, roughly the amount the guy persecuted by the CBP was complaining about losing on flights. It's also instrumental for getting me from the airport I land at to my hotel, as well as remembering the name and address of the hotel I need to travel to from the airport. I would do what you suggest but a) the Apple store isn't always open when I land, and b) I have no wa…

And besides, it still wouldn't help. They could hand you a device and tell you to log into your social media accounts. If you say you don't have the passwords because of whatever technical measures you cooked up to make them temporarily inaccessible, you're back to, "Don't do that next time. You're not entering today."

What if you don't have social media accounts?

Reports like this tend to trigger a Google search for my own name and correspondence with all sites that show up, "please delete all my shit".

Finally deleted my Facebook account last week, too.

Maybe we need a religion that forbids using social media, or more broadly, your real identity online?

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

#203

Post by robteix »

nxtrafalgar wrote: post #194
system16 wrote: post #70

After many unpleasant dealings with US Customs, I avoid flying to or through the US completely even if it costs me more. The last time I flew from Canada to Singapore through the US, the US Customs officer - on Canadian soil - was hostile, asked me numerous questions about my travel, itinerary, who I was intending to meet, and my personal finances. When I questioned if all this was necessary as I'm not even traveling…

As a New Zealander, it amazes me that the US and Canada do not have closer relations with regards to customs and so forth. I understand that both countries are large, but this situation seems a little ludicrous. I recently travelled to Australia on business - which, I suppose, is the larger neighbour in the same way the US is to Canada. Through immigration and customs at both airports, I was never obliged to actually…

It used to be much more relaxed. After 9/11 things changed and the US started paying more attention to border crossings.

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

#204

Post by pdpi »

Freak_NL wrote: post #185
rasengan0 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what about the old My-dog-ate-my-sim-card-routine aka ditching your 2fa token ... like i really don';t know because I denied myself access: "...Then, before you cross the border, make sure you don’t have the SIM card that allows you—or customs officials—to receive that text message, essentially denying yourself the ability to cooperate with agents even if you wanted to. Zdziarski suggests mailing yourself the SIM car…

Then you will quite possibly be denied access simply because they cannot harvest your social media profiles for profiling. Kennywinker 's comment is right that technological cleverness won't help much here. Carry no devices, and you are suspicious and/or non-cooperative (unless you are over the age of sixty). Carry devices with no data, and you are suspicious and/or non-cooperative. Carry devices with carefully prepa…

> Then you will quite possibly be denied access simply because they cannot harvest your social media profiles for profiling.

Not just because they can't. Because you specifically took steps to prevent them from doing it.

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

#205

Post by Buge »

ojii wrote: post #116
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.

And for people who are not US citizens, the solution is pretty simple too: Don't travel to the US.

The US isn't the only country that does this. Canada does it too, in fact recently a guy was facing 1 year in jail for not giving up his password. At least you don't face jail time in the US. New Zealand does it as well.

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

#206

Post by Buge »

czechdeveloper wrote: post #100
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'm not US citizen. I have no one to contact and no one cares about me. And I will never travel to USA.

It's not just the US. Canada and New Zealand do it as well.

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

#207

Post by Buge »

kogepathic wrote: post #129
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.

> Everyone proposing clever technical solutions. Burner phones and encrypted cloud data etc... you are solving the wrong problem. Yes, and this is why I will happily pay airlines more to transfer in another country that is not America (e.g. Canada, Mexico). It sucks because it makes travel more expensive, but US airports are not traveler friendly (they could start by having international transfer zones so you don't h…

Canada also requires your password at the border. Recently one guy even faced 1 year in prison for refusing. At least in the US you don't face prison time. New Zealand asks as well.

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

#209

Post by vinay427 »

ralfn wrote: post #98
abandonliberty wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not as distant as you think. Travel organisations avoid even layovers in the US (in Europe at least) just like they would war zones and North Korea. And some (but definately not all) companies have a wiped devices policy for US bussiness trips. When it comes to stuff like this the US is graded on a curve. The same incidents under Obama feel like friendly diplomacy might make it better. Now, maybe Europe and places li…

> Now, maybe Europe and places like Canada should just return the favor. A bit like how travel visa's are often a reverse FU. Ever notice how many destinations dont charge tourists visum costs except when you are from the US or another country that would charge them as well?

I understand your point, but it's rather impractical and more importantly not very politically amenable for countries that benefit from US tourists/visitors and are less paranoid about security to reciprocate for the sake of reciprocating. This is how we end up in a downward diplomatic spiral. I'd much rather prefer (as someone who visits countries that reciprocate and those that don't) to have places like the Schengen Area hold what they see as a moral high ground.

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

#210

Post by k-mcgrady »

Buge wrote: post #207
kogepathic wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone proposing clever technical solutions. Burner phones and encrypted cloud data etc... you are solving the wrong problem. Yes, and this is why I will happily pay airlines more to transfer in another country that is not America (e.g. Canada, Mexico). It sucks because it makes travel more expensive, but US airports are not traveler friendly (they could start by having international transfer zones so you don't h…

Canada also requires your password at the border. Recently one guy even faced 1 year in prison for refusing. At least in the US you don't face prison time. New Zealand asks as well.

Sources to back this up?
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