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International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

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Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#11

Post by MikeTaylor »

staticelf wrote: post #2

I recently visited the US and I thought the process was going to be hell after reading a lot of these threads on HN. Turns out it was pretty chill, got some questions before boarding and was selected for extra security check. Then upon landing I got like 3 questions from the officer, how long I would stay, where my friends were and what the purpose of my trip was. Sure they didn't seem very friendly but it wasn't a b…

Exactly. The Basecamp instructions are written on the assumption that not all of their employees will be "lucky" all of the time (where "lucky" means "treated with what in most countries would be considered a bare minimum of respect").

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#13

Post by matt4077 »

staticelf wrote: post #2

I recently visited the US and I thought the process was going to be hell after reading a lot of these threads on HN. Turns out it was pretty chill, got some questions before boarding and was selected for extra security check. Then upon landing I got like 3 questions from the officer, how long I would stay, where my friends were and what the purpose of my trip was. Sure they didn't seem very friendly but it wasn't a b…

I don't think most people who oppose these policies do so because they expect themselves to suffer from them. It's quite obvious that the US isn't going to detain 100% of travellers for hours, if only because it would be prohibitively expensive.

I'd say the opposition is fuelled by (a) an aversion to be in a situation where you have basically no rights, as opposed to the uniformed goons on the other side, (b) the fear that such policies are used to target others, such as journalists, thus having an impact on me even without being applied to me, and (c) solidarity with people who may be at a higher risk for reasons such as their ethnicity, political opinion etc.

There are other ways these policies have a chilling effect without being applied wholesale. I have, on previous flights, chosen the halal food option just for kicks (and gotten bewildered looks when I chose a red wine for dinner). I wouldn't do so flying to the US these days. That may seem inconsequential, but I can easily see someone not sharing that anti-war article on Twitter these days, at which point the possible consequences have become quite real.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#14

Post by Markoff »

tremon wrote: post #5

Besides the obvious "don't cross the border with work data", I found this recommendation much more interesting: [ask] for someone to remove you from the Basecamp team for 1Password so you no longer have access to Basecamp logins and passwords. Maybe we should temporarily suspend our employee's accounts too when they travel to the US.

maybe just stop traveling to US would be easier and cheaper solution, why one need to be physically present anywhere in 2017?

i find it odd, i can understand it for my father that when some of his agricultural company partners has training, people from neighboring countries must travel there for hours to stay there for few hours and go back, but IT company in 2017?

reminds me of Huawei which is still organizing teleconferences (!) for trainings, because why not let people call across half planet in horrible quality instead of providing cheap full HD video stream work live chat, it's not like there are hundreds of us, max 100 people present

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#15

Post by cr1895 »

oblio wrote: post #12

I know we would only have anecdotal evidence here, but I'd like to hear from other HackerNews readers. My guess is that based on where you're from and how you look, your experience with the CBP can vary wildly. Edit: s/TSA/CBP.

FYI: TSA and CBP are not the same. You first interact with CBP when you enter the US, and then you interact with TSA for security while flying within the US.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#16

Post by jlebrech »

Fzzr wrote: post #4
sidchilling wrote: post #3

Woah... this definitely seems over the board! If all of this is required, it's a recent thing, I guess. I have been to the US multiple times with a B1-Business Visa and didn't do any of this stuff. I just showed up and the customs officer asked a bunch of questions about my purpose of visit and that's about it. I didn't need any invitation letter or hotel bookings, etc. Hotel bookings and a LOT of other documentation…

Yes. Recent (this administration) policies allow for demanding passwords etc. at the border. There was an incident where a NASA engineer lost control of sensitive data as a result https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-nas... It's not paranoia. Welcome to 2017. Edit: It's not like they're scanning every cell phone that enters the country... but they reserve the right to.

what does customs need with a spaceship?

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#17

Post by Fzzr »

jlebrech wrote: post #16
Fzzr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Recent (this administration) policies allow for demanding passwords etc. at the border. There was an incident where a NASA engineer lost control of sensitive data as a result https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-nas... It's not paranoia. Welcome to 2017. Edit: It's not like they're scanning every cell phone that enters the country... but they reserve the right to.

what does customs need with a spaceship?

Nothing, he was just selected (based on who knows what criteria, they don't need warrants) to be scanned. Whether or not they actually cared about the sensitive data on the device, he still lost control of it long enough for it to be copied or compromised.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#18

Post by pjmlp »

Markoff wrote: post #14
tremon wrote: post #5

Besides the obvious "don't cross the border with work data", I found this recommendation much more interesting: [ask] for someone to remove you from the Basecamp team for 1Password so you no longer have access to Basecamp logins and passwords. Maybe we should temporarily suspend our employee's accounts too when they travel to the US.

maybe just stop traveling to US would be easier and cheaper solution, why one need to be physically present anywhere in 2017? i find it odd, i can understand it for my father that when some of his agricultural company partners has training, people from neighboring countries must travel there for hours to stay there for few hours and go back, but IT company in 2017? reminds me of Huawei which is still organizing telec…

Even most IT companies in 2017 still don't allow for home office, and the few that allow it, do a very timid "only in exceptional cases".

Meanwhile working for enterprise consulting companies, all of which have offshore teams, means remote work is a daily activity.

Funny enough some customers are exactly those companies that forbid home office to their own employees.

Re: International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees

#20

Post by SCdF »

Just don't travel there.

I'm sure I'd be fine: I've been fine a dozen times before. That was before they decided that it was OK to demand passwords and so on. Maybe now it would be worse. Or maybe my skin colour lets me off the hook.

Regardless, I'd rather just not waste jet fuel on flying to a place that treats anyone this way.

Your phone/tablet/laptop is, for better or worse, a gateway to your entire life. It contains your photos, bank account credentials, messages between friends, messages between you and your wife, photos between you and your wife…

Random border thugs absolutely should not have the right to rummage through it in another room.

There are plenty of ways to do meetings remotely. There are plenty of places in the world you can travel to for work meetups that aren't the US.

Just don't travel there.

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