US Customs block Canadian man after reading his Scruff profile

Post by al2o3cr » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 12:09 PM UTC

smsm42 wrote: post #160

Mikeb85 wrote: post #27

In the US right now visiting, am Canadian. Was a pain, was held up over an hour at the border (via land). Apparently they don't believe there's any reason for a Canadian to visit the US as a tourist, we only want to work illegally (they're partially right, only came to visit family, our national parks are nicer). Also, based on my family members' experiences of working in the US, it's easier to work illegally than to…

The problem is it's very easy to make entering the country hard for legal immigrants and tourists - you just make tons of strict rules, tell border control to enforce them vigorously and voila! But it's much harder to crack down on illegal immigration, since by definition they won't follow laws and rules. You'll need to spend a lot of money and effort on finding them and getting them out, on enforcing eligibility che…

Post by chopin » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 12:11 PM UTC

xbmcuser wrote: post #197

mc32 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but I suspect we will see other countries do the same, not as retaliation, but more because they'll want catch up to the US in terms of border security ...and it will become a normal thing except in third world counties too inept or poor or corrupt to care to implement this where the dissidents will be free from hassle, for a while.

The world is going through it isolationist phase so yes it is likely other countries will do the same. Though in the future I am seeing a possibility where governments ask for your social media handles and all that data is trawled using an ai which assess your risk profile according to the needs of the government asking the questions. Instead of all your private data getting into the hands of the government or outsid…

Post by bugabooh » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 12:19 PM UTC

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.

Post by kahnpro » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 12:27 PM UTC

angry_octet wrote: post #234

boomboomsubban wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's undecided about Canada. There is a law that could say it's punishable by a year in prison, but the law is from thirty years ago and hasn't been tried in this situation. The CBSA says that you can be arrested for failing to divulge a password though, and for now it is their opinion that matters.

If you read the link you will see that the CBSA policy is not to attempt to arrest people for this, due to the uncertainty. https://bccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CBSA-FOI-Docs.p...

Post by kahnpro » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 12:30 PM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #215

Buge wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Canada also requires your password at the border. Recently one guy even faced 1 year in prison for refusing. That can't be true; at least, there must be a hell of a lot more to it. Why would Canada want to pay provide prison space for a foreign national who's committed such mundane a crime as non-cooperation, and without ill-affect on any Canadian citizens?