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Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

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121–130 of 228 posts

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#121
What if the phone can be put into "suck mode" that just makes it completely infuriating to get any information from for a while after you've flown a long distance in a plane?

Sure, you can open Facebook and stare at a loading icon until you give up. You can go to a profile page and see images that are failing to load. At some point you're going to stop wasting everyone's time.

The reason this is better than just a "trip mode" is that it's so banally realistic. Of note: because of the weirdness of connecting to cell networks after having moved thousands of miles in airplane mode, most phones I've owned already do this to some extent.

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#122

Or we just give up social media. What, exactly, has been gained from the days of just posting on anonymous message boards and using email? Nothing but giving unimaginable power to creepy guys like Zuckerberg and the ability for governments and employers to track your entire life. I'll pass.

So instead of asking to see your social media account at the border they would be asking to see your email account. How is that better?

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#124
post #4

To be effective, this would need to become a kind of norm for overseas travelers, the same way traveler's checks used to be. The idea would be that just as you don't carry a bag with your birth certificate, stock certificates, property titles, and jewelry with you, you also don't carry a 10 year archive of every email you've ever sent or a detailed list of every person you've ever spoken to. In particular, it needs t…

> I think it's crazy that people walk around with phones that have access to years of email communications The one anti-pattern on every website is using your primary email address for both notifications and password resets. There is zero reason why you'd ever want an email address you have authed on your phone to handle Facebook/Twitter password resets, but the only way to avoid this is if you're willing to give up…

> There is zero reason why you'd ever want an email address you have authed on your phone to handle Facebook/Twitter password resets

There's a really obvious reason: because you need to reset your password while on the go.

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>In particular, it needs to be normal enough that a significant fraction of all travelers do it. Yes, exactly. Border agents are trained to look for anything out of the ordinary. Currently, using a feature like this would immediately raise a huge red flag and encourage more questioning, detention and possibly even deportation based on the person's country of origin and the mood of the border agent. Incidentally, tha…

Thankfully, as US citizens we are free to establish a norm of using features like this, with no fear of deportation.

And as a US citizen, if I want foreign nationals to be deported more easily, I will not help establish the norm.

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#126
post #69

Why not go further with the idea of a Travel Mode toggle and have it be tied to the device itself. This cuts out any possibility of any data being left on the device from being analyzed easily, social media or otherwise. Google and/or Apple could add this as a new menu toggle similar to Airplane mode. Once switched on, while in an airport, prevents the device from being unlocked. Then by utilizing geofencing, once th…

This would make it very difficult to call a Lyft or let your family/friend know you're ready to be picked up.

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#127

Social Media needs a "delete everything older than X days" function.

Agreed. Conversations and status updates are about what's going on now, aren't they? After two weeks, delete 'em. Keep a backup on your PC at home.

Same for hosted email.

The software with a human-usable UI (automated backups, viewable in a useful client) for all this doesn't yet exist, but it could.

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#129
post #122

Or we just give up social media. What, exactly, has been gained from the days of just posting on anonymous message boards and using email? Nothing but giving unimaginable power to creepy guys like Zuckerberg and the ability for governments and employers to track your entire life. I'll pass.

So instead of asking to see your social media account at the border they would be asking to see your email account. How is that better?

>How is that better?

My private email account can't be proven to exist, or submit to NSA requests either.

Re: Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>In particular, it needs to be normal enough that a significant fraction of all travelers do it. Yes, exactly. Border agents are trained to look for anything out of the ordinary. Currently, using a feature like this would immediately raise a huge red flag and encourage more questioning, detention and possibly even deportation based on the person's country of origin and the mood of the border agent. Incidentally, tha…

Thankfully, as US citizens we are free to establish a norm of using features like this, with no fear of deportation.

If you are willing to do this, then why not just say "no" to the CBP and DHS? You must be allowed in if you are a citizen so the only risk is them keeping your phone for a few weeks while they try to hack it to get inside. I believe they are required to send it back to you once they are done by law or agency policy.

That's what I plan to do if I ever get asked - telling them to piss off. Worst they can do is confiscate my phone. I am choosing to remain silent. If they still persist on hassling me and end up taking my phone even temporarily, I will treat that device as now being compromised and will take the appropriate action.

Last year I was hassled (not at the border) on two occasions. Once in NYC in the Port Authority by the cops that patrol that facility and a second time in the suburbs of NJ. In NYC the cop didn't like that I was getting testy with a Port Authority employee for not letting me though to get to my bus. He intervened without cause and asked for my ID. I told him "nope". He tried making up some story to justify him asking me and I told him "I'm not giving you my ID. I'm leaving, bye." and then walked away.

In NJ I was detained for way too long under suspicion of several random things. This wasn't even a traffic stop. I parked the car and then they drove over and harassed me for a solid 45 minutes. First they claimed I was drunk. Then they said I was on this particular street to buy drugs. Then they said I could actually be dealing the drugs. They frisked me for "officer safety" and then tried to get me to walk the line and do a bunch of sobriety tests. I told them I wasn't doing any sobriety tests. They lied and said I could be arrested for mere refusal. I told them they were full of shit and that I can only be arrested for refusing the actual breathalyzer, not the voluntary tests. I then remained silent for rest of the encounter. Not a peep, just dirty looks back and forth. Eventually they had to let me go. Moral of the story is that cops do back down plenty of times but you have to have the will to test them. And it greatly helps if you know the law.

One last thing - if you are wondering why I didn't just take the sobriety tests if I'm sober, there's a damn good reason. Some years ago, my friend got arrested in that same town for blowing a 0.00. How you ask? Because first he did the voluntary tests which no one in the history of mankind has ever passed - at least not according to any police officer. Those tests are always used to compel something else like a search, breathalyzer, etc. It's an excuse to justify further harassment in many cases. So my friend did their tests and "failed". So they compel the breathalzyer and he gets a 0.00. He thinks he'll finally be free to go when they tell him that based on his failure on the voluntary tests he is clearly under the influence of something. And since it isn't alcohol, it must be drugs. So they arrest him, take him down to the station and draw blood. They charge him with intoxication and illegal drug use (because he said he doesn't take any medications for anything) before the blood results come back because those take 2 weeks or so. Even though they come back totally clean he has still been charged and is required to show up in court anyway. He had to spent $500 or so on a lawyer to represent him that day and get that bullshit dismissed. I am not sure if he got the arrest wiped from his record - I don't think he did. Which means he now has a record for no reason at all. Please take this story into consideration the next time you interact with law enforcement. I no longer cooperate with law enforcement for anything other than a minor traffic stop, maybe not even then. If a stop were to start going somewhere else (i.e. they are fishing for stuff or trying to screw me just because they feel like it) my attitude and strategy for dealing with them does a complete 180. The only reason I may comply for minor things is simply because it's the quickest way to be back on my way. 99% of the time their minds are already made up. Nothing you say will get you out of a ticket in most cases, so there's no reason to cooperate anyway. Playing nice is just for expediency, but as soon as that turns into something else, you need to switch gears immediately.

Sorry for the long post. My interactions with police last year are a sore spot for me (there were other interactions I left out).

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